YACHT FANTOME ANCHORS IN BAY

Schooner FANTOME, July 1939.
Four months after her arrival in West Seattle,
the schooner is locking through en route
 to her SYC moorage. Photographer unknown.
Original photo from the archives of the S. P. H. S.©

"Residents who live on the bluffs of West Seattle above Elliott Bay rubbed their eyes and took a second look this morning when they saw a stately frigate moving gracefully through the haze and into the harbor. Painted like a century-old man-o-war, she was, with her gilt figurehead, a carved spread eagle, glinting in the morning sun. Shades of 'Old Ironsides', or the ghost of Captain Vancouver.
      But as the vessel moved closer and came to anchor, they saw a gleaming brasswork and polished teak, and flying from her ensign staff astern the coveted white and crimson flag of the Royal Squadron, England's proudest yachting society.
      She is the four-masted, schooner-rigged, FANTOME, one of the world's largest private yachts, and aboard is her owner, the Hon. A. E. Guiness of London, whose 'Guiness Stout' has been a popular beverage in England for many years, and a distinguished party of guests.
      The FANTOME is a vessel of 1,260 gross tons register, 257' long. She came to Seattle for a 41' dinghy manufactured by the Chris-Craft Co, which joined the yacht in the harbor. The dinghy will sleep eight persons and cost $12,000. She will be used as a 'ship to shore' tender in waters not deep enough to accommodate the huge yacht.
      The FANTOME left Southampton 4 February [1939] and arrived in San Francisco 12 March, where her owner and his guests joined the yacht. They had crossed the Atlantic on the liner Queen Mary and went from New York to San Francisco by airplane.
      After a cruise of B.C. and Puget Sound waters, Mr. Guiness and his guests will leave Vancouver, B.C. for England but the FANTOME will remain in the Pacific Northwest. Capt. T. H. Frogbrooke commands the FANTOME yacht that carries a crew of thirty-four men. She is a unit of the Royal Yacht Squadron of Southampton.
      En route to the Pacific Coast the FANTOME called only at San Juan, P. R., for bunkers, and the Panama Canal. The yacht was built seven years ago for the Duke of Westminster. She is of the frigate type, resembling an old-time man-of-war. The vessel's taffrail is resplendent in gilt and carvings; she has a carved golden spread-eagle for a figure-head. A twin-screw Diesel-powered vessel, the FANTOME maintains a speed of eleven knots.
      The yacht will remain anchored on the south side of the harbor tonight and tomorrow, elegant for all to see."
Seattle Times
30 March 1939
For a short log entry on the fate of the FANTOME please see the Scott Rohrer article here