Super Maramu

Description

Amel Yachts Super Maramu

Chantiers Amel is a French shipyard founded by Henri Amel in 1965. Based in La Rochelle, Amel is known for its production of ocean-going sailboats.

The Super Maramu is a two-masted sailboat with a mainmast that is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast).  A mizzen mast that is stepped forward of the rudder post. The ketch differs from the yawl in that its mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. Whereas,  the yawl’s mizzen mast is stepped aft of the rudder post.

Ketch rigs were commonly used on bigger yachts and working watercraft in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but ketches are also utilized as smaller working watercraft as short as 15 feet or as small cruising boats, such as Bill Hanna’s Tahiti ketches or L. Francis Herreshoff’s Rozinante and H-28. The word ketch is derived from the word catch. The main mast on a ketch is typically stepped forward from the position found on a sailboat.

On May 8, 1902, Armel narrowly avoided the Mount Pelée eruption in Saint-Pierre, Martinique. Captain Julien Chauvelon arrived in Saint Pierre before of the eruption to find roadsteads crowded of vessels. With no place to anchor, the ship Chauvelon angrily chose to anchor a few kilometers distant off a beach, which would provide protection if the volcano exploded.

Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster purchased her in 1914 and transformed her into his private sumptuous leisure boat, equipped with two auxiliary Bolinder Diesel engines of 300 HP each. In 1922, she was purchased by Sir Ernest Guinness of the Guinness family, who renamed her the Fantôme II and changed the rig from a square rigger to a round rigger.