About: Cleopatra's Barge

Cleopatra's Barge was the first oceangoing yacht built in the United States. It was built in 1816 at Salem, MA by shipbuilder Retire Becket for owner George Crowninshield Jr. Crowninshield died in 1817 after a single pleasure voyage to the Mediterranean; his brother Richard bought it, used it for two coastal trading voyages, and then sold it to Boston China traders Bryant & Sturgis and Capt. John Suter in early 1820. Suter sailed it to Hawai'i and sold it to Hawaiian monarch Kamehameha II (aka Liloliho) for slightly more than a million pounds of sandalwood. Liholiho used it as his private yacht, renaming it Haʻaheo o Hawaiʻi ("Pride of Hawaii") in 1822 after a rebuild. Under an all-Hawaiian crew, Ha'aheo wrecked in Hanalei Bay, Kaua'i, Hawai'i in April 1824.