As the date on this original bell indicates, the Pious Puffin II was built in Amsterdam in 1947. The bell was one of the items in an auction in Oxford, England in 2009, handed down in the Cunningham-Reid family.
The Puffin was designed as a Lemsteraak yacht, except instead of two leeboards, she had a thick and short iron keel, drawing only seven feet. Leeboards would most likely have been too cumbersome for a boat this size. She was equipped with three large diesel engines, two for propulsion and a third to run a 35kw three-phase generator for a three-ton air conditioner. There were separate crew and passenger entrances, a telephone intercom system in every room, hot and cold fresh and salt water in every bath, a sink in every stateroom, and the hot water pipes ran continuously in the closets and towel racks to keep down humidity and provide instant hot water. She slept 11, plus a crew of 3. Stained glass windows were in the Saloon and Owner’s stateroom, and she included a built-in piano, and wood carvings throughout.
De Vries Lentsch began in 1878 as a builder and designer of wooden rowing boats, specializing in life boats, particularly after the disaster of the Titanic. Following WWII, they began constructing high class sailing and motor yachts, including the Pious Puffin. In 1960 the design department split off to form De Vries Lentsch Yacht Designers and Naval Architects, continuing the traditions today in Amsterdam.
In 2009 Jon and MC Curtis ended a Vienna to Amsterdam bicycle tour and in their final miles rode past the former site of the shipyard at 40-62 Grasweg, on the left side in this photo.