Barquentine · Equatorial Guinea
Flying Cloud
A French barquentine, originally built for research in the South Seas.
Technical data
- Rig
- Barquentine
- Flag
- Equatorial Guinea
- Home port
- Malabo, Eq. Guinea
- Built
- 1927
- Shipyard
- A. Chantiers Dubigeon, Nantes, FRA
- Hull material
- Steel
- Length
- 63.4 m
- Beam
- 9.7 m
- Sail area
- 1,090 m²
- Sailing area
- Caribbean
Built at the Dubigeon yard in France as Oiseau des Îles, intended for hydrographic expeditions and scientific research in the South Seas. She could later serve as a cargo carrier in inter-island trade, perhaps in the West Indies or French Polynesia.
In 1955 she was sold to Mexico, converted into a motor vessel and worked along the coast as Tuxtla. New owners bought her in 1965 and rebuilt her as a luxurious sailing cruise ship.
She sailed the Caribbean from Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, owned by Dedicated Holdings, Ltd. and chartered within the Windjammer Barefoot Cruises fleet.
After the operator's financial collapse she was sold to a diving company to be sunk as an artificial reef, but was still to be seen in shallow water at an industrial yard in the British Virgin Islands in 2010.