Meteor was the third Imperial German royal yacht of that name to be owned by second German Emperor / Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941, reigned 1888-1918). It was a schooner designed by A. Carey Smith and H. G. Barbey and built at the Townsend & Downey shipyard on Shooters Island off Newark Bay and the North Shore of Staten Island, on the western coast of Upper New York Bay / New York Harbor.
It was launched at a grand ceremony on 25 February 1902 in which it was christened by eldest first daughter at age 18 years old of Alice Roosevelt (1884-1980), before a crowd of hundreds which included her father, 26th President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919, served 1901-1909), and Prince Heinrich (Henry) of Prussia (and Imperial Germany, 1862-1929), younger brother of the Kaiser Wilhelm II.
The yacht was used occasionally for racing but was not successful and was eventually sold to Dr Harries only seven years later in 1909 who changed its name to the Nordstern. It then passed through the hands of a series of owners including the press baron Maurice Bunau-Varilla. In 1940, it was requisitioned by the United States Navy and was then scrapped after the Second World War (1939/1941-1945). The final name that she carried was the Aldebaran.
References
- "The Emperor's Yacht – Meteor III", Scientific American, 86: 141, March 1, 1902,
"Meteor III.," which was designed by Cary Smith & Barbey, of New York, is an improved and enlarged "Yampa"—the latter, a very successful schooner that was designed by Mr. Smith and spent a great deal of her time in European waters. The "Yampa" eventually passed into the hands of the German Emperor, and under the name of "Iduna" has figured largely in the foreign regattas. The Emperor was so well pleased with the "Iduna" that last fall he placed an order with these architects for the construction of a larger and faster yacht, which should embody the best features of the "Yampa"
- Stephens, W.P. (1902), "The Yachting Outlook", Outing, Outing Publishing Company, p. 121,
The noble schooner yacht, Meteor III, just launched at Shooters' Island, in Newark Bay, is the legitimate outcome of a practical study of the American schooner, begun by Mr. Smith in Prospero as long ago as 1877. She is largely a bigger and finer edition of the ocean cruiser Yampa, designed by him in 1887, and now owned by the Emperor under the name of Iduna.
- Lillian Ross (14 June 1946), "The Kaiser's Yacht", The New Yorker
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