Bogie鈥檚 Boat
Fall 2011, Vol. 43, No. 3 | Pieces of History
Designation of Home Port of Vessel for Humphrey Bogart鈥檚 yacht Santana. (威尼斯人娱乐场 at Riverside, 036-11-003)
Humphrey Bogart paired his passion for acting with his passion for the sea. While he piloted boats in a few of his movies, he was also a serious sailor in his private life. Among the records of the 威尼斯人娱乐场 at Riverside, California, is evidence of the nautical side of his life.
The 鈥淒esignation of Home Port of Vessel鈥� signed by Bogart confirms the yacht 厂补苍迟补苍补鈥�s home port as Los Angeles. The former owner is fellow Hollywood actor Dick Powell. After a cruise on Santana with Powell, Bogart fell in love with the boat and bought it for $50,000 in 1945.
Bogart owned the 55-foot Santana for 12 years, until his death in 1957, longer than any of the other 11 owners of the yacht. His immediate predecessors as owner are listed together on another document, the General Index or Abstract of Title. This sheet names all the owners of the vessel from the builder to its first owner to Eva Gabor鈥檚 husband to actors George Brent, Ray Milland, and Dick Powell. In the heyday of Hollywood, yachting was certainly a sign of the good life. The short tenures of Milland (three months) and Powell (15 months) suggest that their movie studios were behind the purchases for publicity reasons.
The Vessel Documentation Case File for the Santana also contains pages signed by Powell, Milland, and Brent on their own Designation of Home Port applications.
The documents contain an additional historical footnote. Another famous name in American history appears on the applications鈥擶illiam Jennings Bryan, Jr., son of the three-time Democratic Presidential candidate and Wilson鈥檚 secretary of state. Bryan is listed as the Collector of Customs for the Port of Los Angeles. He was appointed to that post by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1938 and served four terms for a total of 15 years.