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| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Morocco | |
| Name | El Boughaz I |
| Owner | King Mohammed VI of Morocco |
| Launched | 9 June 1930 |
| Identification |
|
| Status | In active service |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Schooner |
| Displacement | 371 tons |
| Length | 133 ft (41 m) |
| Beam | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Draft | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
| Installed power | Twin 290 hp (220 kW) Volvo Pentas |
| Speed | 9.5 knots (17.6 km/h; 10.9 mph) |
Black Douglas (later teQuest, Aquarius, Aquarius W; now El Boughaz I) is a three-masted staysail auxiliary schooner built for Robert C. Roebling (great-grandson of John A. Roebling and grand-nephew of Washington Roebling) at the Bath Iron Works of Bath, Maine, and launched on 9 June 1930. Designed by renowned New York City naval architects H.J. Gielow & Co., she is one of the largest steel-hulled schooners ever built.
The ship undertook a variety of functions during her first three and a half decades: private yacht for the Roebling family, patrol vessel in United States Navy service during World War II (as a "patrol yacht – coastal"; PYc-45), and research vessel for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service plying the Pacific from Alaska to Baja California.[1]
She was bought at auction by Louis Black of Santa Monica, California, to be used as a treasure hunter in the Caribbean. Black sailed the ship through the Panama Canal and then spent eight years treasure hunting in the Turks and Caicos. He eventually sold the ship to Capt. George Stoll, who turned her into a second Flint School school ship. The school closed in 1981 and she was sold, and in 1982–1983 was reconditioned at the Abeking & Rasmussen shipyard in Lemwerder, Germany, serving as a template for the first generation of super yachts. She is currently owned by King Mohammed VI of Morocco.
She was launched with a 325-hp Cooper-Bessemer marine diesel engine, later replaced by a 600-hp (@600 RPM) model from San Francisco's Enterprise Engine & Foundry Company. She now is equipped with twin 290-hp Volvo Pentas. She has flown the flags of the United States, Panama, the Cayman Islands, the United Kingdom, and Morocco (current).