A New Exhibit at Hillwood Tells the Story of Sea Cloud
The world's largest and most lavish private sailing yacht at the time, Sea Cloud was commissioned into WWII service.
In 1942, as World War II heated up, the U.S. Coast Guard made use of a private yacht that had been retrofitted as a weather ship to assist with forecasting, research, and rescue. The vessel ultimately contributed even more by paving the way to full military desegregation by virtue of its trailblazing success as the first racially integrated warship since the Civil War.
That vessel, Sea Cloud, is the focus of “Setting Sail: The Story of Sea Cloud,” a new exhibit at Hillwood, the meticulously preserved home and estate of Sea Cloud’s original owner Marjorie Merriweather Post.
“The exhibition really traces the history of Sea Cloud from its earliest design conception in 1926 through the present day,” says curator Thomas Wu. Designed as the world’s largest and most lavish private yacht, Sea Cloud was part of “the golden age of ocean travel during the 1920s and ’30s.”
The exhibition uses a wide range of media to tell Sea Cloud’s story: official documents, filmed footage from the ship’s many pre- and post-war voyages, examples of the decorative art pieces and other artifacts on board, and an array of drawings and photographs, including “exquisite hand-drawn elevations” by Sea Cloud’s interior design team. At the center of the exhibit is a large wooden model of Sea Cloud donated by its original captain.
Photographs on display include those drawn from an album by Joseph Jenkins, one of two notable African-American officers serving during the war, whose photos “document the crew members…engaged in their various activities on board [and] really captures different aspects of life at sea.”
The wartime crew also included renowned African-American painter Jacob Lawrence, and two of his works factor into the show, including a portrait of Captain Carlton Skinner on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Wu calls the WWII section “the climax of the exhibition. And it is really that chapter that is Sea Cloud’s greatest historical significance.”
On display through June 15, 2025, in the Dacha at Hillwood Estate, 4155 Linnean Ave. NW. Suggested donation is $18. Call 202-686-5807 or visit www.HillwoodMuseum.org.
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