LOUIS PAPALUCA (ITALIAN, 1890-1934)
The S.Y. 'Fantôme II'
Signed 'L. Papaluca' (lower right) and inscribed 'Fantôme II R.Y.S.' (lower centre)
Watercolour and gouache
10½ x 15½in. (27 x 39.5cm.); together with a white damask tablecloth from the Fantôme II
(2)

Built by A. Dubigeon at Nantes in 1896 and originally christened Belem, the steel barque later known as Fantôme (II) began her career as a purely commercial trader owned by Denin Crouan et Fils working out of Nantes. First registered at 546 tons gross (407 net) and measuring 168 feet in length with a 29 foot beam, her working life came to an unexpected end when, shortly before the Great War, she was purchased by the Duke of Westminster for cruising. Presumably laid up for the duration of hostilities, in 1920 the Duke installed two 300 hp diesel engines by Bolinders of Stockholm and enjoyed the use of her until 1922 when he sold her to the Hon. Sir Arthur Guinness. Since her new owner already had a steam yacht called Fantôme, he renamed his new acquisition Fantôme (II) and sailed her until his death in 1949 when she was sold for use as an Italian sail training ship and re-christened Giorgio Cini. Subsequently sold back into French ownership, she resumed her original name of Belem, was restored to her original condition and is now a sail training ship.