Ringling Yachts Zumbrota and Symphonia

From the memories of Alice Lancaster, wife of Charles Ringling Lancaster, grandson of Charles Ringling.

Charles Ringling purchased a yacht from the New York Marine Co. circa 1915. The vessel, not quite 100 feet, was named Zumbrota after Zumbro Falls where the large Ringling family had lived when Charles Ringling was a boy.

The young engineer who helped bring the yacht down to Sarasota from New York was Clifton Parks. He was ordered by the builders to stay as long as necessary, as was the Captain, to assist Mr. Ringling in hiring a local crew and getting the yacht ready for family use.

1914 built by Matthews Boat Company of Port Clinton, Ohio in Matthews Shipyard in New Jersey, purchased from New York Marine Co.

August 11, 1917 USS Zumbrota SP-93 Section Patrol part of the 7th Naval District from Key West, operates in Florida waters on local patrols

The Symphonia was an 120 foot steel-hulled yacht build especially for Charles Ringling by the Consolidated Shipyard of City Island, New York circa 1922. It was designed for sailing around the Florida keys but was too big to tie up at Ringling's dock so was berthed at the Sarasota city pier at the foot of Main Street.

Symphonia docked at the pier in downtown Sarasota, about 1926. Click for larger image.

From the Coast Guard Abstract of Title for the vessel the owners and year they took possession. This originally appeared on a website of Ted Brown. Information:

Charles Ringling -1922

David Rumsey / Elizabeth Rumsey - 1930

Edward W. Coppage - 1934

W. T. Smithdeal ( William Travis Smithdeal, Sr.) - 1936

Amedeo Obici - 1939

United States of America - 1945

David T. Mitchell - 1946

Boat Sales, Inc. 1946

Howard W. Ward - 1953

Bay Fisheries, Inc. - 1965

John Eugene Huber - 1967

Georgia Transporters, Inc. - 1982

Brown Marine Service, Inc. - 1997

Paulette Corum - 1999

Brown Enterprises ( Brown Marine) - 2000

Jason Dean, CEO of a small development company, Gulf Breeze, Florida is in 2007 trying to restore.

Update from Ken Garner, Navarre Press October 11, 2007, emails that "During a recent storm, it broke loose from its moorings and washed ashore; the aft end flooded and is submerged in the shallow water."

October 18, 2007 Ken Garner reported on the Front Page of the Navarre Press about response to the spill naming Southern Starr Developers LTD as owner.

Captain onboard the Ringling Yacht early 1920's Probably Captain Daniel Darwin (D. D.) Hawkins

Experienced D. Darwin Hawkins was hired to be Captain of the Symphonia. He also stayed on and worked for Mrs. Ringling after her husband's death in 1926. The Symphonia was sold and smaller cruiser type boats were used by Mrs. Ringling for fishing.

After the Symphonia was sold by Mrs. Ringling, it was used as a yacht until a fire destroyed all but the steel hull. During World War II the hull was used for hauling grain. Eventually the hull was bought by industrialist Gene Huber of Cincinnati who spent much time and money in making it an elegant houseboat which he sailed to Florida via the Mississippi and the Gulf docking permanently in the Crystal River area. He named his boat Alura.

It is believed Edith Conway was born in the countryside near Zumbro Falls, Minnesota. The Ringling yacht was named the Zumbrota, which is a town near there. From a partial photocopy of the Certified Copy of Death of Edith Conway Ringling, the place of birth is listed as Zumbra Falls, Minnesota.

Zumbrota is in Minnesota in the Zumbro River Valley 55 miles south of Minneapolis and 23 miles north of Rochester. It was on a 252mile long trail that was the most traveled road during Western expansion. Founded in 1856 and the railroad arrived in 1870.

A link to "Captain Daniel Darwin Hawkins: The Ringling Yacht Captain" by Charles E. Hawkins

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Ringling Yacht pencil note on back of picture says John Ringling's boat - Zalophus

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