| Period | TeVega / Etak / Vega / USS Juniata | teQuest / Black Douglas / Aquarius |
| 1930's
Grand |
Walter Ladd writes a
48 page specifications
document for Etak and she is built in
Keil , Germany. In 1930, Yachting
magazine announced the new yacht with an artist's rendering. In
1931, a German Journal
documents Etak's design with Plans . Macy
Family remembers Etak in Letters |
The Black Douglas is built in Bath Iron Works with a luxurious layout for the Roebling family. In 1930, Yachting magazine announced the new yacht. In November 1930, a Cooper-Bessmer Engine advertisement featured a picture of her at sea. |
| 1940's
WW II |
The USS Juanita (IX-77) is commissioned for Pacific Coastal duty and escapes heavy war-time alterations. Ray Harder wrote a book about his year on board in the Navy. | The Black Douglas (IX-55) is heavily altered and used for Pacific Coastal Duty and California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations in the late 1940's. |
| 1950's
Pacific Use |
The Vega sails to the South Pacific and has a de-masting calamity near Tahiti in 1951. She changes hands again and becomes a South Pacific Touring Yacht and is named the TeVega by the islanders. Around 1956?, without engines, she sails to England to get the Mirrlees installed. | The Black Douglas is used for oceanic research. |
| 1960's
Research & Rust |
TeVega
cruises the Windward Islands in the early 1960s. Stanford University employs TeVega for some now famous Oceanographic ecological studies in the Pacific. |
The Black Douglas is transferred to the Bureau of Fisheries, then runs replacement aircraft parts throughout the Bahamas and south. Around 1967, her owners go bankrupt and leave her without maintenance at a private island as a floating power plant until 1972. |
| 1970's
Flint School See The School Ships page for more photos from this period. |
In 1969, the Stolls acquire her for the Flint School. In 1972, the top-masts are restored for the first time since the 1951 disaster. TeVega's hull looks great even in dry-dock as the cadets do the maintenance. Since we were on board during this period we have good documentation with: portraits, above and below deck photos and engine room. |
In 1972, the Stolls acquire the neglected Black Douglas. The second Flint School ship is named teQuest and is partially restored back to the original sailing yacht. Since we were on board during this period we have good documentation with: portraits, above and below deck photos, engine room diagrams (A, B & C), a ship's survey and even an MP3 recording of the Enterprise engine. |
| 1980's
More cadets & restoration |
In 1981, the Flint School closes and TeVega is sold to a Dutch owner and leased by the Landmark School. They sail her to Leningrad, Russia Article 2, 3 & 4. In 1989, Flint School Alumni lease her in NYC for a well attended evening reunion party. | Both
ships enter dry-dock with the Flint School for the last time in 1981
at Vlaardingen, Holland. 1982/3, teQuest is very privately bought and totally rebuilt as the luxury yacht Aquarius with the help of Jim Stoll. Newspaper Photo |
| 1990's
Restored Yachts |
TeVega is bought by an Italian and painstakingly restored to her original glory and even enters sailing races. The Parmalat stockholders pay for the restoration. | Aquarius sails the around the world as very private yacht. The Skidway Institute honors it's benefactors, the Roeblings, with a commemorative design featuring the Black Douglas (teQuest). A new model and photos are taken after the rebuild. |
| 2000's | In 2001, the owner
sends some recent photos. On March 7, 2003,
Ron Jensen takes photos
onboard and from
afar of TeVega. |
In 2001/2, Aquarius is for sale for $6-7M and is spotted in ports and calendars. |
