Superyacht tied to controversy over Justice Clarence Thomas’ travels slips into Baltimore

Robert Schmidt saw the 161-feet, 6-inch Michaela Rose superyacht docked in the Inner Harbor as early as Wednesday.

“We noticed it as soon as we got out of the Uber,” Schmidt said. “It’s hard to miss. It’s a really big boat.”

Schmidt is a member of the Marine Trawler Owners Association, which is sponsoring events this weekend in Baltimore for a group of about half a dozen boaters to familiarize themselves with the Inner Harbor ahead of Sail250 Maryland.

He and his wife live in Dallas but dock their boat at the Inner Harbor Marina for its reasonable rent and the walkability of the neighborhood.

It was at a happy hour at the Rusty Scupper where Schmidt and friends learned about the Michaela Rose’s connection to fellow Texan Harlan Crow, a real estate developer and GOP megadonor who has hosted Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on luxury vacations aboard the yacht.

ProPublica reported in 2023 that Thomas, who joined the Supreme Court in 1991, regularly accepted trips from Crow on his yacht and jet without reporting them.

In 2019, ProPublica said, Thomas and his wife, Ginni, flew on Crow’s large private jet to Indonesia, then joined Crow for “nine days of island-hopping in a volcanic archipelago on a superyacht staffed by a coterie of attendants and a private chef.”

Thomas also traveled on the Michaela Rose during an extended cruise in New Zealand more than a decade ago, the news site reported.

ProPublica said the failure to disclose this trip and others violated post-Watergate laws requiring justices and judges to disclose most gifts.

Thomas shared in a statement to ProPublica that Crow and his wife were family friends and he was advised the hospitality he received from them, as friends who had no business with the court, did not need to be reported.

Crow told ProPublica he had offered Thomas “hospitality” over the years but that the justice never asked for it and that it was no different from how he had treated “our many other dear friends.”

The superyacht was owned as recently as 2024 by Crow, according to news reports.

According to the ship-tracking site Marine Traffic, the vessel is a pleasure craft that sails under the flag of the United Kingdom. Marine Traffic and Vessel Finder noted the yacht was docked in the Inner Harbor on Friday.

It wasn’t clear if Crow or Thomas was aboard the luxury superyacht when it was docked in Charm City.

Staffers at the Rusty Scupper said the Michaela Rose had been docked at the Inner Harbor Marina most of Friday. They couldn’t make out any faces, but they said it looked like people aboard were having a good time.

Late Friday afternoon, the Michaela Rose left port and headed to Oxford on the Eastern Shore.