The Yankee Clipper was one of the Tall Ships owned and operated by Windjammer. She was built in Kiel Germany in 1927 and her original name was CRESSIDA. She was a rare armor-plated vessel, 197 feet long, and she carried three masts.
The ship was confiscated as a war prize during WW 11 and was used as a submarine scout. She was eventually acquired by the Vanderbilts and renamed PIONEER. She was considered one of the fastest Tall Ships on the West Coast, where she raced off Newport Beach in California. PIONEER was sold to Windjammer in 1965, renamed YANKEE CLIPPER, and sailed as a passenger ship until Windjammer went out of business in 2007.
The YANKEE CLIPPER was a sight to behold when she sailed into Admiralty Bay, largely due to the fact that she really SAILED. Heeled over, sails filled with wind, the Clipper would tack into the bay and drop anchor about the same time she dropped her sails. I often watched her sailing in and knew that the passengers were having the time of their lives. The Clipper came once a week, arriving at 8:00 and departing early the following morning. THAT tourist ship was the gravy on top of my mashed potatoes, pretty well every passenger came to the Pizzeria for conch fritters, lobster pizza, lime pie and copious amounts of rum punch.
The rum punch at the Pizzeria was a beverage prepared by my staff, to this day I have never made it myself. Because of the effect it had on the Clipper passengers I had them change the recipe so that it wasn’t made with just strong rum; drinking more than two of Mac’s rum punches could be lethal and the passengers drank it down like soda pop. The day I spotted a passenger trying to dance with one of my gas cylinders with a Cuban cigar dangling from his lips was the day I had the rum punch recipe weakened!
The passengers on board the YANKEE CLIPPER were fun-loving folks and the Captain and crew made sure they had a memorable time. Each morning the Captain would have “Story Time” on deck, telling his passengers about the Island they would be visiting that day. This meant that the tourists would go ashore knowing what there was to see and do. Monday mornings Bloody Marys and sticky buns were served without fail, and each evening at around 5:00 it was time for Rum Swizzles and snacks, a social time for passengers and crew alike. Due to the ship’s size, the interaction between the crew and the passengers was constant and many friendships were forged as a result. Casual was the name of the game, and passengers were encouraged to take the bedding from their cabins to sleep under the stars up on deck. It was a fun cruise, and as a result the Clipper enjoyed a steady repeat clientele.
Mac and I had become friendly with the Captain and crew, and were often invited on board for Rum Swizzles or dinner. One day the Captain asked us if we wanted to attend that night’s Toga party, everyone had to wear a sheet (just a sheet, nothing else!) and only one safety pin was allowed. That wasn’t as easy as it sounded, one safety pin didn’t help much, but Mac and I did our best and boarded the Clipper wearing our sheets. I took along a big bowl of conch fritters for the snack table, and the Rum Swizzles started to flow as soon as we got up on deck.
The passengers were having a ball. Mac and I already knew many of them from previous years, there were always familiar faces on board as well as first-timers, and they were a fun bunch. Everyone had donned a sheet and secured it with the single safety pin allotted to them, stepping carefully to avoid an accidental dis-robing. One couple had decided to do something “out of the box”, and made their entrance with great fanfare. The lady was dressed in her sheet, but she had made a costume for her husband that had the whole ship howling with mirth.
They had collected leaves from the beach, and made a Roman-like covering for the man’s genitals and backside by sewing the leaves together. They had also made a head-band from the leaves, and the outfit was hilarious. Mac suddenly shouted, “Oh no!! Take it off! Take it off!”. The laughter grew as people figured Mac was trying to get the man to perform a strip-tease.
Mac had a good reason for shouting “take it off!” – he noticed that the leaves they had collected and painstakingly sewed together were Manchineel leaves, and Manchineel is poisonous. The Captain told us the following week that the lady’s hands had blistered terribly from sewing the leaves together, and that the man’s forehead had suffered the same fate. As for the rest, well, all I can say is that poor man couldn’t do much of anything for the rest of his vacation!