Burmese teak decks. A gleaming helm with a stainless-steel wheel and compass. Thick Honduran mahogany planks laid over sturdy white oak frames.
Below, twin V-8 Detroit Diesels — engines known as “screaming Jimmies” — that still start like a charm.
It could be yours. The Maryland Port Administration is selling its Trumpy, a midcentury-modern statement on floating luxury no longer up to the job of economic development in Baltimore.
The Mary Lynn, which hauled political bigwigs and captains of industry around the Port of Baltimore for almost 40 years, is sitting aground in an Eastern Shore boat yard waiting for the outcome of a government surplus auction.
Bidding starts at $50,000.
“It’s really a very nice piece of Chesapeake Bay history,” said Rob Groves, property manager for the port administration. “It still has a lot of potential left in it.”
Oh, the potential in a Trumpy yacht (no political jokes, please).
Sixty-three is old for a wooden boat, but not the end of its voyage. Imagine the potential if this icon of the Chesapeake Bay were to find a home in Annapolis, where a museum or tour company with vision and money could use it to share the story of wooden boatbuilding at its pinnacle.
The state puts millions into restoring historic mansions in Annapolis. Why not a 70-foot historic boat?
“She really is in good shape,” Groves said. “They made a decision not to put any more money into it and hope that someone else will.”
John Trumpy & Sons started building boats in 1909 as Mathis Yachts. The company moved from New Jersey to Annapolis right after World War II, taking over a Spa Creek boatyard with its own pedigree.
Workboats, pleasure boats and then torpedo boats for the war effort gave way to bespoke motor yachts built in an American style. The boats’ clean lines were complemented by sleek interiors of gleaming wood, accented with aluminum trim and the latest in durable coverings, vinyl.
Marilyn Monroe cruised aboard a Trumpy. John F. Kennedy philandered on the presidential Trumpy, Sequoia II. These were the playthings of millionaires named du Pont, Firestone and Armour.
And then, it all stopped.
After building 400 yachts, a 65-footer named Sirus was the final one to power down the Severn River in March 1973.
“We just had a devil of time maintaining quality,” John Trumpy Jr. told The New York Times a year later. “The art is simply dying, and I am not going to convert to fiberglass.”
He auctioned off all his equipment, with plans to redevelop the yard as waterfront real estate. He was following the steps playing out in wooden boatyards across the country.
When the Maryland Port Administration proposed buying the Mary Lynn for $375,000 in 1987, then-Gov. William Donald Schaefer and other members of the Board of Public Works were skeptical.
Port Administrator David Wagner convinced them that the boat in Florida was the right successor to the Nymph, an older, smaller boat used for dozens of economic development tours every year.
“This new vessel, because it has newer engines and much more up-to-date equipment on it, has the capability of cruising at about 15 or 16 knots,” Wagner told them. “Which means that we could go to Hart-Miller [Island] and back within a morning, or we could even come to Annapolis and back within a day.”
A luxury yacht built in 1960 might feel like roughing it compared to modern superyachts that take up dock space in Annapolis during hurricane season. There’s no room for Jet Skis, a Jacuzzi or a helicopter landing pad. The berths look like your grandma’s guest bedroom.
But there is an appeal.
Earl McMillen III set up the McMillen Yachts in Rhode Island and has spent years restoring Trumpys like the Freedom and Maemere, both built in Camden in the 1920s.
President Jimmy Carter sold off the presidential yacht in 1977. Today billionaire investor Michael Cantor has Sequioa II in a Cambridge yacht yard for restoration.
Maryland has already dumped one Trumpy. In 2003, then-Gov. Robert Ehrlich decided the Maryland Independence, the 112-foot governor’s yacht docked a short walk from the State House, had to go. The state sold it on eBay for $275,000.
You can still find Trumpys on the bay, their carved “T” emblem a nod to anyone in the know. Bernadette, a 71-foot fantail houseboat in Chesapeake, Virginia, is for sale for $2.2 million.
“A millionaire today, really doesn’t mean much,” said Don Trumpy, John Jr.’s nephew. “Now we’re talking about a multimillionaire’s dream.”
The decision to sell Mary Lynn reflects the changing way the Maryland Port Administration sells the harbor as a place to do business.
“It’s outlived its usefulness,” said Richard Scher, spokesperson for the port.
Three years ago, the port sent the Mary Lynn to a marine surveyor. He found the kind of wear and tear expected on an old wooden boat, recommended some fixes and a deeper look.
In April, the state sent it to a Cambridge yacht yard, where work crews took the yacht apart and discovered $85,000 worth of needed repairs. The state approved $100,000, then decided it was done.
“It has not been used in recent years and has become cost-prohibitive for us to continue to maintain,” Scher said.
Groves spent 18 months researching Trumpys and fell in love with the Mary Lynn, dropping words like “gorgeous,” “stunning” and “spectacular” into his description.
The boat shed where Mary Lynn and its sisters were constructed is a restaurant today, surrounded by offices and shops in the spaces where the sons of Trumpy and their employees made special boats.
The auction notice for Mary Lynn is clear. This is an “as is” sale.
The winning bidder will be responsible for all needed repairs, paying the rent or finding a new home. The deadline is Nov. 4.
It will take someone with a bank account and the vision to use it, to give the Mary Lynn another chance.
“That’s what we all want,” Groves said.
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