G.L Watson & Co. has suggested an owner looking for a project should restore the historic 48-metre Caritas, in a bid to save her. The company said: “Caritas is the last opportunity to save and restore a significant high pedigree interwar yacht. She has been long forgotten and our discovery of her has occurred just in time to save her from being scrapped. A fine example of a 1920s Cox & Stevens-design and Krupp-built yacht, the 48-metre Caritas should re-join her restored stablemates Dona Amelia (ex-Haida) and Talitha G (ex-Reveller).”

Caritas started life in Kiel, Germany, in 1925 and was built for sugar magnate Joseph Percy Bartram. Built by Krupp and designed by Cox & Stevens, she spent the majority of her early years sailing out of Stamford, Connecticut and New York. On 1 December 1941 she was requisitioned by the US Navy and commissioned as the USS Garnet in July 1942. Since being decommissioned in 1946, she has been serving as a land-based museum and gift shop, among other things, off Highway 101 in Oregon.

All her engines and pipework were removed many years ago, and she has much of her original timber. G.L Watson & Co. says: “Restored to modern superyacht standards and regulations, her interior volume will provide owner and guest accommodation for 10 with a spacious main salon and separate dining room on the main deck. The shade deck is large enough to provide ample space for dining, lounging or entertaining outdoors, as well as storage for a motor launch, RIB and dinghies. As is typical with American yachts of the period, the whole aft Main Deck is shaded by an elegant sun awning creating a comfortable and private space for dining and lounging above the yacht’s counter stern. The current condition of Caritas makes her an ideal candidate for restoration projects similar to those we have completed on Blue Bird, Nahlin and most recently Malahne.”

Dr William Collier, managing director of G.L Watson & Co. said: “Caritas is to the best of our knowledge a unique and last opportunity to undertake the restoration of a yacht that combines both pedigree and elegance within truly practical proportions. She needs to be saved and restored so that she can take her place in the treasured fleet of great classic yachts.”