Burger Boat Company 23m for sale (1956) in Boats.co.uk HQ, Essex Marina, United Kingdom

1956 Burger Boat Company - Hull 908A - We have a very unique opportunity to own and restore an historic luxury yacht that was used and chartered by Frank Sinatra. Built and launched with the name TIMMY RASCH in 1956 this is steel framed hull with twin engines, shaft drives, lots of space on on board with 4 cabins, lower galley, dining room, saloon, rear cockpit deck, tender launch crane and many more features that were only installed on a luxury yacht of this type and era.

History:

This type of yacht was built by the Burger Boat Com­pany in the 1950’s in Manitowoc,Wisconsin USA.The designer of the yacht was the com­pany Spark­man & Stephens, and only four of this type of yacht were built, the last for the singer Kenny Rogers.

This particular yacht (Burger Boat - Hull 908A) was built in 1956 for Vic­tor McCormick an Attor­ney from Green Bay in Wis­con­sin, who inher­ited a for­tune from a mater­nal uncle based on the sale of a com­pany that ulti­mately became Proc­tor & Gam­ble. Vic­tor was unmar­ried, and the yacht was orig­i­nally called by him TIMMY RASCH after his god­son. The yacht was moored at the Green Bay Yacht­ing Club Marina in Green Bay and used on Lake Michi­gan. Vic­tor was a major phil­an­thropist, donat­ing US$2,500,000 to the Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin, as well as US$1,000,000 to St. Nor­bert Col­lege in Wis­con­sin (who sub­se­quently named Vic­tor McCormick Hall in his hon­our). Vic­tor was also on the Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee of the Green Bay Pack­ers foot­ball organization.

In 1959, he sold the yacht to Beale Poste (and his wife Flo­rence) an Ohio indus­tri­al­ist from Granville. Beale owned a num­ber of com­pa­nies, includ­ing the Colum­bus Bolt Works. Beale used the yacht on Lake Michi­gan until 1967 when it was moved to North Palm Beach Marina in Palm Beach County Florida, and it’s name changed to HEIDI III. Beale was also a major phil­an­thropist, donat­ing nearly US$100,000 to Prince­ton Uni­ver­sity to build the Beale E Poste Health Fit­ness Cen­tre. Beale Poste also pur­chased in 1956 the famous Casa Marina Hotel in Key West Florida used by many of the rich and famous, includ­ing Humphrey Bog­art. It was via Bog­art that Beale and Flo­rence Poste met Frank Sina­tra (Bog­art and Sina­tra were both lead­ing mem­bers of the famous Rat Pack), and ulti­mately the Poste’s offered use of the yacht to Frank when­ever he wished. It is under­stood that Frank used the yacht very pri­vately on a num­ber of occa­sions between 1968 and 1974 in West Palm Beach Florida.

Beale Poste died in 1972 and his wife Flo­rence in 1974, and the yacht was willed to James Alexan­der Dodge, the 30 year old son of the socialite Nina Neal Dodge who’s grand­fa­ther John Neal founded the Maxwell House cof­fee com­pany. James Alexan­der Dodge was the Cap­tain of the yacht for Flo­rence Poste, and after only 6 months, the yacht was sold by the young man for US$40,000 to James Wal­lace Tutt Jr.

James Wal­lace Tutt Jr. was a wealthy busi­ness­man from Mobile in Alabama who owned the Hen­der­son Baker Lum­ber Com­pany, and ran a tow­ing busi­ness on the Tennessee-​Tombigbee Water­way. Wal­lace changed the name of the yacht to KING TUT, and since he was involved in the com­mer­cial boat sec­tor, use of the yacht changed from a plea­sure ves­sel to more of a com­mer­cial nature.

In 1977 Wal­lace sold the yacht to the Florida Ocean Sci­ences Insti­tute, Inc (who changed the name of the yacht to CARE­FREE II), and there­after the yacht was used for a period of nearly 15 years as a research ves­sel into marine envi­ron­ments by a suc­ces­sion of enti­ties, includ­ing Revadee Marine Cor­po­ra­tion (who changed the name of the yacht to REVADEE), Marine Research Ser­vices, Inc and Sea Mate Marine, Inc.

In the late 1980’s, the yacht was moved to Kona Kai Marina in San Diego Cal­i­for­nia, and it’s name changed to ANOTHER TOY II. The yacht was restored back to a plea­sure ves­sel, and char­tered to film stars such as Kirk Dou­glas, and roy­alty such as Saudi princes, amongst others.

In 1992, the yacht was acquired by Sign of the Times Lim­ited for US$450,000 and shipped on top of a con­tainer ship to Hong Kong, where it was used as house boat by an expa­tri­ate lawyer at the marina of The Clear­wa­ter Bay Golf & Coun­try Club. In 1999, the yacht was shipped again on top of a con­tainer ship to Southamp­ton in the United Kingdom, and moored at Ocean Quay Marina. The yacht was exten­sively restored between 2000 and 2003, and its name changed to NOS­TAL­GIA X.

The black & white photograph is a library image supplied by Burger Boat Company of the yacht just after launch in 1956.

NOTE: The yacht is being sold in its current condition, the engines have not been tested. Any prospective buyer would need to conduct their own investigation work to establish any remedial works required to the entire vessel both mechanically and aesthetically.

Now that the yacht is based in Essex Marina, Wallasea Island it is time for another loving owner to restore the boat to its former glory so the yacht can once again be used and enjoyed by anyone who steps aboard as it once was for so many people, including the rich and famous all over the world.

To arrange a viewing please contact Boats.co.uk +44 (0)1702 258885 or email: sales@boats.co.uk