The New York herald., 1922-01-22
'KAISER'S OLD YACHT
ON MYSTERY CRUISE
Half-MoOn, Once the Germa-
MIA, to Visit Mediterran-
can Ports.
NAVY DIRECTING MISSION
Gordon Woodbury. of New
York, Present Owner, Will
Make Voyage.

The former schooner yacht Germania,
once the property Of the deposed Kaiser
but now owned by Gordon Woodbury..
Assistant Secretary of the Navy under
President Wilson. and rechristened by
him the Half-Moon, will depart from
the pier at the foot of East Twenty
fourth street next Monday or Tuesday
on the first leg Of voyage to the Med
iterranean to last three months.
Mr.. Woodbury. said on board yester-
day he could not discuss the object of
the expedition but that it was being un-
dertaken at the request of the Navy
Department It Is expected the Half
Moon will return to New York by Slay
l and start out again on a similar
mission October /, this time to the
South Seas. Mr. Woodbury. is to be ac-
companied by Major William T.. Hoke
and Capt. George Hoke, brothers and
both former army officers: Wendell
Baker. Of New York, and Charles f..
Meyer, of Chicago. Included In the
ships company will be the skipper.
Capt John Swanson, and two mates. a
cook and his mate. steward and stew
ards mate and twelve sailors.
After leaving New York the Half
Moon will sail to Washington. where
Mr.. Woodbury. will receive final instruc-
tions from Secretary OF the Navy
DENLY. She will then start for tho
Azores via Bermuda The itinerary in
cludes Gibraltar, Malta, Alexandria,
Smyrna, Constantinople. Piraeus, Naples.
Venice, Genoa. Marseilles, Gibraltar
again and home. 1t was originally in
tended to pass through the Suez Canal,
but Mr.. Woodbury. said yesterday this
plan had been changed and that the
latter part of the program would not
be undertaken until autumn.
Crafts Interesting History.
Few sailing craft to-day have a more
interesting history than the Half-Moon.
She was built by Bertha Krupp In 1908
and presented to the builders husband.
Count Won Bolen. as wedding gift.
The couple spent their honeymoon
aboard and used to pace for hours up
and down the planking of the yachts
deck, which is flush from Prov TO stern
and OF a whiteness so dazzling that the
feet of even kitten would likely mar
it. A few years later at kiel Yacht
Club regatta the Kaiser was guest on
board His admiration Of the schooner
was so pronounced that the Count and
Countess Won Bolen presented 1t to
him and he accepted the gift. perhaps
because of reports in yachting circles
that the Germania was capable OF show
ing her heels to his own American puilt
Meteor.
AT the outbreak Of the war the Ger.
mania and the Meteor were at Cowes
for the regatta there. On the night or
August 8, 1914. Prince Henry OF Prus-
sia. a brother Of the former Kaiser and
then an admiral in the late German
Imperial Navy, entered the harbor on
destroyer. The destroyer took the
Meteor in tow and orders were given
the Germania's skipper to put TO sea
at once. Being short Of water he care
lessly dropped In at Southampton the
next morning to have the tanks nlied
War had been declared In the meantime
and the Germania was seized by the
British Government and her omcers ana
crew were held prisoners.
The Germania was condemned by a
British prize court and Sold to Chris
topher Hannevig, a Norwegian, who
brought her to New York in 1917. Mr..
woodbury. recently purchased her from
| his estate and renamed her. She has
| lust been thoroughly overbauled and re-
ftted at Greenport. l.. J.. and was
brought to her dock here last Wednes-
day her hull glistening with black
paint which gives way to emerald green
below the water line.
Hull In Crome Nickel.
! The Half Moon Is much larger than
the average schooner yacht seen In these
waters. She displaces 204 tons, Amer
ican measurement, and 366 according to
! British standards. Her hull is of cronle
nickel steel 15s feet over all and 107
| feet on the water line. The Half-Moou
draws eighteen feet Of water and has
a beam of twenty-eight feet. Her main
boom is ninety-three feet long and she
has a triplicate set of sails. two of which
have never been bent to her masts, al
though she has already twice crossed
the Atlantic. Her linen sheets and
heavy wooden blankets still bear the
crest Of the Hohenzollerns and on the
dressing table in Mr.. Woodbury's state
kroom are toilet articles once the per-
sonal property Of the present head OF