The 93-foot yacht “Honey Fitz,” one of the perks of office for former presidents, from Harry Truman to Richard Nixon, is scheduled May 9-14 to visit Jacksonville.
Commissioned in 1931 by Sewell Avery, financier and Montgomery Ward board chair, the yacht originally was named “Lenore,” after Avery’s daughter.
The vessel was expropriated by the federal government in 1942 and then used as a patrol and training vessel.
The yacht was transferred to the Navy in 1945 at the end of World War II and then became the official pleasure craft for the nation’s chief executives.
The vessel was made famous by President John F. Kennedy, who renamed the yacht after his maternal grandfather.
Kennedy and his family spent much time on the yacht while he was in office, including Easter and Christmas holidays in Palm Beach and cruising along the coast of New England and the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.
When Nixon took office, he renamed the yacht “Patricia” after his wife, and later ordered the historic wooden boat sold to be replaced with a larger vessel.
During the yacht’s first stop on a 12-port Good Will Tour that will end in August in Nantucket, Mass., Jacksonville Maritime Heritage Center is hosting a fundraising cruise aboard the Honey Fitz.
The 21/2-hour cruise along the St. Johns River Downtown is scheduled to depart from the Northbank near the Landing at 4 p.m. May 11.
Cost of the cruise is $250 for two passengers and the vessel’s owner is donating all ticket proceeds to the maritime heritage center and the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.
For more details and reservations, email [email protected] or call (904) 355-1101.
(904) 356-2466
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