Lot 88: The schooner yacht Germania leading the fleet

John J. Holmes, 21st Century
The schooner yacht Germania leading the fleet
signed 'John J. Holmes' (lower right)
oil on canvas
24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.5 cm.)

Germania was a magnificent all-steel schooner designed by Max Oertz in Hamburg and built by Krupp Germania Werft at Kiel in 1908. Ordered by Dr. Krupp von Bohlen & Halbach in direct response to Kaiser Wilhelm II's obsessive passion for yachting and his consequent desire to see German successes at Cowes, she was a beautiful creation and much admired wherever she went. Registered at 191 tons gross (124 net & 366 Thames), she measured 123 feet in length with a 27 foot beam and carried sails by Mählitz. Surviving the Great War, she passed into the hands of a Norwegian owner, Christoffer Hannevig, who renamed her Exen.