Fire Chars Historic Sailboat

A 1930-era yacht that once carried the Kennedys and Rockefellers when it sailed the waters off Boston was left scarred early Friday when fire swept through the historic vessel at its Newport Beach dock.

Fire destroyed the vessel’s cabin interior, the teak woodwork and the stained glass windows of the Bounty--a 54-foot ketch docked at Lido Marina Village, fire authorities said.

The boat, valued at $250,000, is owned by Roger Riddell, a Newport Beach resident and a co-producer of “Endless Summer II,” a sequel to the seminal surfing movie. Riddell said he has owned the boat since 1976. Cause of the blaze is not known, he said.

“It’s a gorgeous old wooden boat that’s got the sides with the grooves,” said Newport Beach fire Capt. Jim Turner. “It’s a beautiful, beautiful old twin-mast sailboat.”

Because much of the boat’s interior is handcrafted--from its teak planking to its custom cabinetry--fire officials said the extent of the damage will not be known until insurance inspectors tour the boat.

The fire was reported at 7:30 a.m. along the dock fronting Via Oporto. Firefighters said they had the blaze extinguished 20 minutes later.

The Bounty was built in 1934 in Lynn, Mass., and was first purchased by a Boston family, apparently a father’s gift to his 21-year-old son.

“It was a kid’s boat, pulled behind their 240-foot yacht,” Riddell said.

He said records show it was used to entertain Boston’s elite, including Rockefeller and Kennedy family members. During World War II, he said, the boat was painted gray and used by the U.S. Navy in the “ghost fleet” with other boats to help prowl the Atlantic coast.

The owner said that during the 1960s the vessel was used to deliver goods, mostly food, to Caribbean islands

According to a local boat broker, the craft was rebuilt in 1971 after it was all but destroyed in a hurricane off Martha’s Vineyard.

Riddell said when he bought the boat he was told it had fallen into the hands of drug runners in South America. The vessel eventually was sailed through the Panama Canal and brought north, finally to Newport Beach.

In recent years, Riddell said, the Bounty has been used in television commercial and magazine ads and was occasionally chartered for parties. He said he plans to repair the damage and replace the handcrafted interior.