[YachtForums]

Spotted this classic work of Burger craftsmenship in Jensen Beach, Florida. "Chanticleer" was formerly owned by Ralph Evinrude (outboard motor fame). Currently, it his owned by his widow... Ms. Francis Langford, who resides nearby the marina.

According to sources, the boat is used by Francis on a regular basis to go (of all things) fishing! It doesn't seem to be any worse for the wear. It is impeccably maintained.

I was excited to see this yacht. Thought you might enjoy it too...

[YachtForums]

Forward quarter....

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Midship...

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Aft Quarter...

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Stern shot...

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Entrance to the Bridge...

[YachtForums]

Side shot at the dock...

[spartonboat1]

The pictures are clearly of the Chanticleer. If she is a Burger, which I know was the brand/mfgr of the most recent Chanticleer, then she bears a striking resemblance to the original Chanticleer, as owned by Ralph Evinrude and Francis Langford from the time of her launch, I believe.

I have seen posts indicating the current Chanticleer is either 98, 110, or 118 feet. Be that as it may, I know for a fact that the original boat was 118' feet because I was a deck hand on one of her four (4) sisterships, produced by Defoe Ship Yards of Bay City Michigan. Pictures are posted on the Defow web site, which is not very active, as the senior most Defoe just passed on in 2005.

Defoe built many ships for the US Navy and the Cruisemaster line was to fill in slack capacity at the yard, after WWII.

So, the original Chanticleer was a 118' 1947 or so Defoe "Cruisemaster" with four General Motors 6-71N Diesels, mounted 2 in-line on a side. I served on the sistership Natoya and both boats were active in the Great Lakes. The Chanticleer spent the summers in the "North Channel", while the Natoya was usually in N. Lake Huron, Lk Superior, or Lk. Michigan and once on a while in the N. Channel. She was berthed in Cheboygan, MI or achored off the Mertaugh Boat Works in Hessel, MI. The Natoya owner was Harold DuCharme of Grosse Pte. MI, now deceased. The Natoya was sold and sailed to Florida in the mid-late 1960's and has a very brief cameo shot in a James Bond movie. The reason for anchoring off Mertaugh's in Hessel was that the Captain, James Mertaugh, was a brother to the owner of Mertaugh's. Jim passed on in AZ in the 1990's.

The original Chantilcleer was sold in the late 1990's to an east coast boat yard and is up on the hard somewhere on the E. Coast. There are pictures posted on a web site and she is for sale. But the pictures will show much corrosion around her stabilizers forward. She was seen headed out East by the owner of the Wicked Witch, Les Swanson of Traverse City, MI.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Langford passed away in the July 2005. The Burger Chanticleer was most recently seen about that time in the Grosse Pte. Yacht Club.

Trivia for the record.

[YachtForums]

Interesting! Thanks for sharing. By the way, welcome aboard!

When I first spotted Chanticleer, I thought for sure it was a Burger, but the oval windows below the pilothouse thru me off a bit. I ventured a call to David Ross at Burger and he confirmed it.

Quite an illustrious history with this boat, Ralph Evinrude and Francis Langford!

[Captain Bob]

It was good to read the letter from a former "Natoya" crewman. There were 5 Cruisemasters built by Defoe but I can only remember the names of 3. They were "Savitar", "Natoya" and "Chanticleer". I knew Captain Jim Mertaugh for years as I worked at the Detroit Boat Basin where she was the last to be hauled in the fall and the first to be launched in the spring.

With the help of the Mill foreman I designed a sort of yard tug out of a "work punt" with a well for an outboard which we used to push "Natoya" from her layup dock to the Marineways. That allowed Capt Jim and the crew to lay everything up early and not be concerned about running her engines.

"Natoya" is now part of the artificial reef off Dade County, FL. I was aboard her in her final days. She'd been re-painted white (from her former Navy gray) and had fallen on hard times. I had asked for her engine quadrant but it was not to be.

They were fine old boats. Would enjoy hearing from any members of the old crews. <rwies@verizon.net>

[YachtForums]

Recieved this note from Quincy Leslie...

************************************************** *

Captain Bob/Carl:

Great to hear from someone who had contact with the ole' Natoya. As you know, she was owned for all her like, except for the very last years by Harold DuCharme of Grosse Pte. He actually owned Windmill Pointe, or similar name of some major section of GP. He was very well to do, and his younger relatives called him "Unkie".

You mentioned that she was painted white in her last few years. On a point of pure trivia, I am absolutely convince that she had a very brief cameo shot in a 1960's James Bond move, Thunderball, which featured a large yacht that could break into two sections, one of which was a high speed hydrofoil boat. At any rate, for some reason, maybe they needed a stock shot, a boat identical to the Natoya, painted white, is shown floating offshore in the background while James Bond and the villian are have a discussion on a shoreside home lawn. Since the other shots both long and close up are not the Natoya, it makes it all the more interesting; you get the movie and check it out yourself.

Her sister the Chanticleer also fell on hard times, after her owner Mrs. Ralph Evinrude, i.e. the movie star singer Alice Faye, sold her and replaced her with a Burger. I should have downloaded the images, but she showed up on a web site for a marina out east up on the hard. She had considerable corrosion around the stabilizer fins, which was interesting, as the Natoya had no such fins. I think they bought her cheap thinking to fix her up, but I suspect she was due for scrap.

Also, recently there was a mention of the Chanticleer in a recent Lakeland Boating. I need to drop them a line.

Thanks for the response. Write some more into, as I would be interested to hear. Capt. Jim died in AZ several years ago, I was told, and the family sold the Mertauge Boat works in Hessel, where Jim also lived, 5-7 years ago.

Thanks again,

Quincy Leslie

[spartonboat1]

In my prior post I inadvertantly referenced "Alice Faye" as Ralph Evinrude's wife and final owner of the Chanticleer. While Alice Faye was a fine actress and singer from the same period as Francis Langford, in fact I should have said that Francis Langford was the final owner of the Chanticleer and had been married to Ralph Evinrude.

So this should correct my prior error and sorry for any inconvenience.

[Burger]

The 108' Burger "CHANTICLEER" is located in Stuart, FL and is for sale asking $1,950,000. Julien Elfenbein at Burger Yacht Sales is the Central Agent. He can fill you in on the particulars.

Alycia at Burger Yacht Sales

[Thomas Pace]

To be specific ...

CHANTICLEER was commisioned by my Great Uncle, John C. Pace. My Father, Thomas M. Pace, Sr took delivery of CHANTICLEER at the DeFoe yard, and ran her through the Great Lakes, out the St Lawrence Seaway, where they encountered exceptionally rough weather causing 38-degree rolls ... at 118' LOA and roughly 18' beam with a round bottom, the much later added stabilizers were no doubt a Godsend.

She was sold to a foreign national many years later, and ultimately became the proud and happy ship for Ralph Evinrude. amd thus the connection to Mrs. Stuart.

If anyone knows of the yard or the website where CHANTICLEER can be found, I would appreciate learning it -

Shortly after the end of WW II, my Great Uncle John wanted a fine yacht, and contacted old man Huckins ... after some discussions about the size and specifics of the boat (a 58'-64' plan), my Great Uncle added he preferred a blue hull. As the story goes, Mr. Huckins responded that ALL Huckins boats were grey. John replied that if he was paying for the boat to be built, he could choose whatever hull color he so desired ... Huckins replied that if he was going to build it, the boat would be grey. John calmly relplied, ' Mr. Huckins, it appears we cannot do business' ... shortly after, Mr. DeFoe agreed to build John the 118' CHANTICLEER, with a dark blue hull.

[YachtForums]

Thomas,

As posted by Alycia from Burger Yacht Sales (above your post), Chanticleer is located in Stuart (Jensen Beach actually). The estate of Francis Langford is also for sale in this area. Here is a link to Chanticleer's listing on YachtWorld...

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...id=5984&url =

Thank you for sharing the history on the build and welcome to YachtForums!