Cleopatra's Barge

• This unusual ship, the first ocean-going yacht, was built in 1816 by George Crowninshield and captained by Benjamin W. Crowninshield.
• The elegant Cleopatra's Barge was built for pleasure voyages and cost $50,000 to build. The furniture was later appraised at $7,000. She was eighty-three feet long and twenty two feet wide. Many thousands visited her before she made her maiden voyage in March of 1817.
• Capt. George Crowninshield died on the yacht in November of that year. The yacht was later dismantled and fitted as a merchant vessel. It was eventually sold to King Kamehameha I of Hawaii, in 1819 and shortly after was wrecked on a reef.
• Crowninshield's journal of his 1817 trip went up for auction in Aug. of 2022.

See Also

• Postcard Image courtesy of CardCow.com

• Vertical File in Salem Collection - Cleopatra's Barge

• The Story of George Crowninshields' Yacht, Cleopatra's Bargeby F. B. Crowninshield.

• George Crowninshield's Yacht Cleopatra's Barge Peabody Museum, 1959.

• Essex Institute Historical Collection Vol. 25, pp. 81-117

• Ships and Sailors of Old Salem by Ralph D. Paine.

• One hundredth anniversary of the building of "Cleopatra's Barge", 1816-1916 Peabody Museum

• "Journal of Salem's first yacht trip goes to auction" Salem News, Aug. 8, 2022, p. A1