William Kissam Vanderbilt II, great-grandson of the nineteenth-century railroad and shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, was a naturalist, adventurer and global explorer.
He indulged his passions for the sea, faraway cultures, marine life and the natural world by exploring the world on his ocean-going yachts.
Willie’s yachts were serious oceanographic research vessels equipped with trawls, laboratories and a team of scientists,
photographers and artists who gathered and analyzed samples,
and produced detailed reports for the American Museum of Natural History and his own museum.
The Alva was built in 1931 in Kiel, Germany.
It was 264 feet long and had state of the art electronics.
When WW2 broke out Willie gave the boat to the US Navy.
They fitted it as a Patrol Gun Boat and called it The Plymouth.
In 1943 a torpedo sunk it off the coast of North Carolina.