USS Zaca (IX-73)

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Zaca
History
United States
NameZaca
BuilderNunes Brothers
Launched1930
Acquired12 June 1942
In service19 June 1942
Out of service6 October 1944
Stricken13 November 1944
Identification
FateSold
General characteristics
Displacement122 tons
Length118 ft (36 m)
Beam23 ft 9 in (7.24 m)
Draft14 ft (4.3 m)
Speed9 knots
Complement10

USS Zaca (IX-73) is a wooden-hulled, schooner-rigged yacht with an auxiliary engine.

History

She was commissioned by the self proclaimed explorer,

Galapagos, Crocker collected and documented plant and animal life with a small crew of scientists and artists, including noted photographer and Japanese artist, Toshio Asaeda.[1][2]

World War II

Due to the need for local patrol and rescue craft in the busy waters in the

Western Sea Frontier
, Zaca was classified a miscellaneous auxiliary and designated IX-73. She was the second ship of that name to serve in the US Navy, and operated as a plane-guard ship, standing ready to rescue the crews of any planes downed nearby.

Eventually relieved by the

Treasure Island, California on 6 October 1944; and her name was struck from the Navy list
on 13 November 1944.

Errol Flynn

Turned over to the War Shipping Administration on 21 May 1945, Zaca was acquired in 1946 by Errol Flynn, an actor famed for his "swashbuckling" roles in numerous movies. Zaca is featured prominently in the 1947 Orson Welles film The Lady from Shanghai. A documentary short film Cruise Of The Zaca which features Flynn and his father Theodore Thomson Flynn, an eminent marine biologist, collecting marine samples in the semi-tropics, was made in 1952 and has been shown on the Turner Classic Movies TV channel. Flynn owned the yacht until his death in 1959.

Today

As of 2008, Zaca is privately owned by Roberto Memmo and berthed in

Port de Fontvieille
, Monaco. In 2009, the Sailing Channel (now the Nautical Channel) dedicated a program to the entire history of the Zaca from original construction to the present entitled "In the Wake of the Zaca".

References

  1. ^ "1932 Templeton Crocker Expedition of the California Academy of Sciences to Mexico and the Galapagos". California Academy of Sciences.
  2. ^ "Excerpt from The Templeton Crocker Expedition to Western Polynesian and Melanesian Islands". Palmyra Atoll Digital Archive.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links