First owned by the Malibu Rindge-Adamson family, a classic yacht sinks, but plans to restore the ship are underway.
By Leora Rae/Special to The Malibu Times
Cruising the waters off the San Juan Islands outside Seattle, the ship called Malibu sank on July 3, 2002. A distress signal went out after the ship got lodged on rocks in Wasp Passage near Yellow Island. A boat traveling in the area picked up all onboard and brought them safely ashore. The following morning the 100-foot boat was lifted onto a barge and brought to Seattle for repairs.
When the vessel sank it was owned by a man named Jacobi. Until the unfortunate event of July’s mishap, this classic motor yacht had been used for pleasure cruises on which thousands of charter passengers have taken in the sights and waters off Seattle’s Pacific coastline.
The story of this classic yacht has romantic ties beginning in the town of Malibu.
Listed as co-owners in the “Lloyd’s Register of American Yacht’s” 1929 edition, May K. Rindge and daughter Rhoda Adamson purchased the wooden motor yacht that was designed in 1925 in Seattle by legendary West Coast sailor Leslie ‘Ted’ Geary. Little did Rindge know the creation of this sailing vessel would lead to a romance between her grandson, Merritt Adamson Jr., and the young daughter of the boats’ designer, Sharon Geary.
The yacht was christened “The Malibu” by Rindge, widow of Frederick Hastings Rindge, and daughter Rhoda. The women of the Rindge-Adamson family of Malibu were perhaps two of only a few women wealthy enough to afford a 100-foot yacht during the Depression era. The yacht remained in the Adamson family until 1937.
Best known for designing large, elegantly appointed wooden motor-yachts, Ted Geary built his first racing sloop at age 14. That first attempt was the Empress, which was successful in many races. Then, in 1905, he built Empress II, which was never defeated. Born in 1885, Geary spent his youth intrigued by the water, and conquering the craft of sailing. He spent countless hours building model boats.
In his teen years, his skill at engineering thrust him into boat racing circles, and thus prominence in the waters of Seattle’s Puget Sound. When Seattle businessmen recognized the young Geary’s ability to sail and design boats, they sponsored his education at MIT. When he graduated in 1910, he continued to successfully design boats.
Always dedicated to marine safety, he received a patent in 1911 for the design of a releasing lifeboat device. As he began designing larger boats, Geary became known throughout the entire Pacific Coast. First, the Herlori was built in 1911. It took up to 70 workers to handcraft the interior of a ship called the Samona. Made of Rosewood, the owner of the yacht provided the logs to be made into paneling for the walls. A rosewood piano was designed for the Samona, which presently graces the home of Geary’s daughter, Sharon (Geary-Adamsom) Gee.
Designed for Sharon’s mother-in-law, the Malibu was built by the N. J. Blanchard Boat Company in nine months, at a cost of $100,000. Throughout the 1920s Geary designed five yachts, two for Southern California owners; one for the Rindge family women and the other was sold to actor John Barrymore.
When the Depression hit the United States, Geary decided the affluence created by the movie industry and the burgeoning oil business could sustain his business and design ventures. He was even the one to introduce this type of sailing at Lake Arrowhead, Calif. It was very important to him that on-the-water fundamentals were taught. His writings in the Los Angeles Times and in Seattle hometown newspapers inspired model building classes to be developed at area high schools. The focus of classes about sailing given for youth was always water safety.
The Adamson family owned the ship called Malibu until 1937, when it was sold and sailed away from the blue waters of what would one day become known as the Malibu Colony. Sharon (Adamson) Gee, and her son, Grant Adamson, have kept in touch with the present day owners, American Classic Yachts, which has sailed it in the emerald waters of the Pacific Northwest.
The ship’s designer, Grant’s maternal grandfather, might be pleased to know the Malibu yacht he designed and envisioned sailing the waters off the coast of Malibu, is now being restored and will once again become a jewel in the waters of his hometown.