Madiz under way. Photograph supplied to the archive; date, location and photographer are not yet established.

Yacht profile

MADIZ, 1902

124 years of continuity. How much of Triton survives?

Name: MADIZ
Built: 1902
Builder: Ailsa Shipbuilding Co., Troon
Designer: G.L. Watson
Original name: TRITON

Madiz began life in 1902 as Triton, a G.L. Watson-designed steam yacht built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Co. at Troon. Since then she has served private owners, the Admiralty in two world wars, carried members of the British Royal Family, changed name repeatedly and undergone major structural reconstruction. Her history is unusually continuous. Her material originality is far more complex.

Record

Yacht at a glance

Current name: MADIZSources: CMRT, C&N; Documented
Original name: TRITONSources: CMRT; Documented
Previous names: RHOUMA / RHOUMA II, OSPREY, HINIESTA, PRESIDENT ROBERTS, HINIESTA, MADIZSequence as recorded in Clyde-built ship research material; individual transfer dates vary between sources.Sources: CMRT; Documented
Builder: Ailsa Shipbuilding Co., Troon, ScotlandSources: CMRT, C&N; Documented
Yard no.: 105Sources: CMRT; Documented
Designer: G.L. Watson / George Lennox WatsonSources: CMRT, C&N; Documented
Built: 1902Sources: CMRT; Documented
Launch date: Reported as 27 February 1902Sources: CMRT; Reported by specialist source
Original official number: 115677Sources: CMRT; Documented
IMO: 8978356Sources: SYT, C&N; Documented
Current reported LOA: 55.4 m / 181 ft 9 inSources: C&N, N&J; Reported by specialist source
Registered length after 1923 rebuild: approx. 156.7 ftSources: CMRT; Documented
Current reported LWL: 47.8 mModern market data only; not a historic registered figure.Sources: C&N; Reported by specialist source
Beam: 6.86 m current reportedSources: C&N, SYT; Reported by specialist source
Draught: 3.99 m in current market dataOlder material reports approximately 3.35 m moulded draft. Probably a measurement-definition difference; both readings are preserved.Sources: C&N, madiz.com; Conflict / unresolved
Current reported GT: 359 GTSources: SYT, C&N; Reported by specialist source
Alternative tonnage reading: 332 GT / 147 NTSources: CMRT; Conflict / unresolved
Hull: SteelSources: CMRT, C&N; Documented
Superstructure: WoodSources: C&N, N&J; Reported by specialist source
Current type: Motor yachtSources: C&N, SYT; Documented
Current flag: Malta in market dataSources: SYT; Reported by specialist source
Current reported accommodation: 14 guests in 7 cabinsHistoric official Madiz material reportedly stated 12 guests. Current capacity is not projected backwards.Sources: C&N, N&J; Reported by specialist source
Current reported crew: 10Sources: C&N; Reported by specialist source
Current class: Lloyd's Register in current market dataSources: C&N; Reported by specialist source

Provenance note: dimensions, tonnage and capacity figures come from different eras and different measurement conventions, and from a hull lengthened at least twice. They are held apart here rather than silently merged into one specification.

Provenance confidence

Documented
Reported by specialist source
Secondary source
Conflict / unresolved
Requires verification

Photographic record

Madiz in her present configuration

Images of the vessel as she appears after the c. 2003–2007 restoration. They record the current configuration only, and are not evidence for the extent of surviving 1902 material.

Exterior — 9 photographs

Interior — 8 photographs

Photographs supplied to the archive. Dates, locations and photographer credits are not yet established; rights confirmation is required before publication. Further images are expected and will be added to this record.

General arrangement

The present arrangement, deck by deck

An undated general-arrangement drawing of the vessel as she is configured today. It is read here as a description of the current layout only, not as evidence for the 1902 arrangement.

General arrangement plan of Madiz showing three deck levels with colour-coded guest, service and crew areas — General arrangement plan, present configuration, bow to the right in all three views. Top — upper/bridge deck: open deck aft, two tenders in davits amidships, and a deckhouse divided into guest accommodation (blue) forward, with crew and service spaces (yellow and green) in the bow. Middle — main deck: the principal guest areas (red), reading aft to forward as an after saloon or lounge, a central service block with galley and pantry (green), and a dining saloon with a round table; open deck at the bow. Bottom — lower deck: guest staterooms (blue) aft, the engine room and machinery spaces (green) amidships, and crew accommodation (yellow) forward in the bow. The legend distinguishes guest accommodations (blue), guest areas (red), crew accommodations (yellow) and service areas (green). The plan is undated and uncredited; it appears in current marketing material and reflects the post-restoration layout only. It is not evidence for the 1902 arrangement, and the current accommodation figures derived from it (14 guests in 7 cabins, crew of 10) are treated as reported market data, not historic fact.

Plan supplied to the archive and apparently drawn from current marketing material. It is undated and uncredited; origin, draughtsman and reproduction rights require confirmation before publication.

1902

Origins at Troon

TRITON was built by Ailsa Shipbuilding Co. at Troon as yard number 105, to a design by G.L. Watson, for the Paisley thread heir James Coats Jr. Her launch is reported as 27 February 1902.

She was conceived as a steam support and companion yacht to Coats’s large sailing yacht GLENIFFER — a working relationship between two vessels rather than a stand-alone commission, and a useful frame for reading her original arrangement.

G.L. Watson & Co. reportedly retains significant original drawing material. Comparison of the present hull against the original plans is the single most valuable primary-source opportunity in this file, and would materially advance the originality question below.

Sources: CMRT, C&N

Documented

Builder, yard number and design authorship are recorded consistently across Clyde-built ship research material and current specialist sources.

Identity

Ownership and name history

TRITONFrom 1902
Original name at launch, commissioned for James Coats Jr. as a steam companion yacht to GLENIFFER.
Sources: CMRT
Documented
RHOUMA / RHOUMA IIc. 1912–1913 onward
Sir George Bullough / Bullough estate period. Coats died in 1912; some sources place the actual transfer in 1913. Both readings are retained.
Sources: CMRT
Conflict / unresolved
OSPREY1920s–1930s
Associated with the later 1920s and 1930s ownership sequence, including Thomas Sackville Manning (1928) and Wilfred D. Wills (1934) where the chronology supports it.
Sources: CMRT
Reported by specialist source
HINIESTAFrom c. 1939
Used by Sir Frederick G. P. Preston from around 1939 according to Caledonian Maritime Research Trust material. The name carried through Admiralty service and the 1945 Royal visit.
Sources: CMRT
Documented
PRESIDENT ROBERTS1953
Registered to Steam Yacht President Roberts Inc., Monrovia. Use as a Liberian state yacht is reported or believed, not documented.
Sources: CMRT
Reported by specialist source
HINIESTABy 1954
Name restored in the 1954 period, with Camper & Nicholsons recorded as registered owner in research material.
Sources: CMRT
Documented
MADIZBy c. 1972
Name established around 1972 in the Costas / Constantine Keletsekis era. Acquisition is variously placed at 1968, c. 1970 and 1972 across public sources.
Sources: CMRT, madiz.com
Conflict / unresolved

Methodology note: entries record registered proprietors as they appear in research material. Registration is not proof of beneficial ownership, and a name is not proof of who used the vessel.

1914–1919

Admiralty service in the First World War

As RHOUMA she was in Admiralty service from 1 October 1914 to 2 April 1919 as an Auxiliary Patrol Vessel. Requisition and service are not the same as naval ownership, and this profile does not describe her as a Royal Navy vessel.

Association with Scapa Flow appears in secondary retellings. It is recorded here as reported until Admiralty documentation is consulted.

DocumentedService dates from Clyde-built ship / Caledonian Maritime Research Trust records; Scapa Flow association is reported only.

Sources: CMRT

1923

The Scott’s rebuild

At Scott’s Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Greenock, the yacht was materially reconfigured — the first of at least two campaigns that moved her away from the 1902 Watson geometry.

Lengthened by about 9 ft 2 in / 2.8 m
Additional upper deck cabins
Converted from coal firing to oil firing
Registered length increased to around 156.7 ft

Documented

Sources: CMRT

“By 1923 she was already not the yacht that left Troon.”

Identity continuity and material originality are separate measures. Madiz scores unusually well on the first and remains an open question on the second; the profile keeps the two apart rather than resolving one into the other.

1919–1939

Between the wars

The interwar chronology is comparatively well recorded, but the records give registered proprietors. Where a company, trustee or family member held the registration, the beneficial owner may have been someone else, and this profile does not infer one from the other.

1919 — Vincent S. E. Grech
1923 — Charles O. Liddell
1928 — Thomas Sackville Manning
1934 — Wilfred D. Wills
1939 — Sir Frederick G. P. Preston

DocumentedDates below are registered-proprietor entries in research material, not evidence of beneficial ownership.

Sources: CMRT

1939–1946

Second World War service

As HINIESTA she again came under Admiralty control. Service is reported as an anti-submarine yacht and later as a calibration vessel connected with radio direction finding / HFDF work from around 1942 to 1946.

A July 1940 bombing and near-loss is repeated in specialist material. It is retained here as reported; contemporary wartime records would be needed to establish date, location and damage.

Reported by specialist source

Sources: CMRT, madiz.com

July 1945

The Royal visit on the Foyle

In July 1945 HINIESTA carried King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Elizabeth on the River Foyle during a Victory Tour visit to Northern Ireland.

The Royal party passed surrendered German U-boats associated with the Londonderry / Lisahally surrender — a rare instance of a private yacht placed at the centre of a formal state occasion at the end of the war.

Sources: madiz.com, Yachting

Reported by specialist source

Contemporary newsreel film and government records are listed as primary-source follow-up; the event is not yet primary-verified in this file.

1951–1954

President Roberts and the return of Hiniesta

Research material records Benjamin Meaker as proprietor in 1951; in 1953 Steam Yacht President Roberts Inc. of Monrovia is recorded and the yacht renamed PRESIDENT ROBERTS. By 1954 Camper & Nicholsons appears as registered owner in research material and the HINIESTA name is restored.

The claim that she served as a Liberian state yacht is reported rather than documented. A Monrovian corporate registration and a presidential name do not establish state ownership or state use; Liberian registry records would be needed.

Documented

Sources: CMRT

1960

The reported 1960 charter

Multiple yachting histories report a 1960 charter by Frank Sinatra, and associate members of the Rat Pack and other guests with the voyage.

Guest lists of this kind circulate widely and grow with retelling. Historical Yachts records the charter as reported and does not list individual guests as documented fact without a charter log or contemporary press report.

Secondary source

Sources: Yachting, madiz.com

1968

The Christie’s sale attempt

The yacht was reportedly offered at Christie’s in 1968 and did not sell at auction, subsequently lying at Piraeus. The original catalogue and sale results would fix both the date and the terms.

Reported by specialist source

Sources: madiz.com, Yachting

1968–1972

The Keletsekis era and the name Madiz

Public records for this period are not clean. Caledonian Maritime Research Trust material places Constantine / Costas Keletsekis in the ownership chronology from 1968, then a K M Corporation in 1971, then Keletsekis again in 1972. Other summaries place acquisition around 1970 or 1972.

The name MADIZ becomes established around 1972. The acquisition date is deliberately left unresolved rather than collapsed into a single tidy year.

Conflict / unresolved

Sources: CMRT, madiz.com

1969

A second lengthening

Caledonian Maritime Research Trust material reports a further lengthening in 1969 — a structural event separate from the 1923 Scott’s rebuild.

The added length and the yard responsible are not established in the current source set. This entry requires further documentation before any figure is published.

Requires verification

Sources: CMRT

c. 2003–2007

The modern structural restoration

Current and recent brokerage material, together with historic Madiz material, describes a restoration and rebuild campaign of a scale that would count as reconstruction on most vessels of this age.

Approximately 50 tonnes of steel plating replaced
Replacement or renewal of bulkheads and tanks
Substantial renewal of frames below the waterline, forward and aft
Some areas reportedly rebuilt completely
Major renewal of pipework
Major electrical renewal
Overhaul of main engines
Rudder mechanism rebuild
Significant interior restoration and renewal
Teak deck replacement on foredeck, aft deck and upper deck
Overhaul and conversion of the historic anchor windlass
Later galley work reported around 2010

Reported by specialist source

Sources: C&N, N&J, madiz.com

Material history

What survives from 1902?

A research framework, not an answer. No percentage of original material is claimed, because no public source supports one. At least two lengthening campaigns and a major modern steel renewal stand between the present vessel and the 1902 Watson design.

Hull plating

Known altered

Approximately 50 tonnes of steel plating reported replaced in the c. 2003–2007 campaign, on top of two lengthenings.

Sources: C&N, N&J

Frames

Reported renewed

Substantial renewal below the waterline reported in forward and aft areas; full scope unresolved in public sources.

Sources: C&N, madiz.com

Bulkheads

Reported renewed

Renewal of bulkheads and tanks reported in the modern restoration.

Sources: C&N, madiz.com

Deck structure

Known altered

Altered or renewed across multiple campaigns, including the 1923 addition of upper deck cabins.

Sources: CMRT, C&N

Deck planking

Reported renewed

Teak decks reported replaced on foredeck, aft deck and upper deck in the major refit.

Sources: C&N, N&J

Superstructure

Requires survey or yard documentation

Historic wooden superstructure with substantial intervention reported. The extent of surviving original fabric is not established.

Sources: C&N

Interior panelling

Requires survey or yard documentation

Original or historic mahogany panelling is claimed in multiple current sources. Component-level verification is required before it is described as original.

Sources: C&N, N&J, madiz.com

Cabinetry / joinery

Unknown from public sources

Some historic joinery may survive. No public source supports a general claim either way.

Anchor windlass

Known altered

An original or historic windlass is claimed, converted from steam to electric. Maker and original date require verification.

Sources: C&N, madiz.com

Engines

Known altered

Not original. Steam propulsion was replaced during the vessel’s motor-yacht life; current main engines were overhauled in the modern restoration.

Sources: C&N, CMRT

Shafting / propulsion

Known altered

Altered over the vessel’s life; current details are modern.

Sources: C&N

Accommodation layout

Known altered

Repeatedly altered, from the 1923 upper deck cabins to the current reported 7-cabin arrangement.

Sources: CMRT, C&N

Original Watson design geometry

Known altered

Altered by at least two lengthening campaigns (1923 and a reported 1969 event). Comparison against original G.L. Watson drawings remains outstanding.

Sources: CMRT

Refit record

Reported refit and rebuild campaigns

Reported campaigns drawn from research material and current or recent sales material. These are reported statements rather than independently verified yard records; dates may reflect a summary rather than an invoice.

1923Scott’s Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Greenock: lengthening of about 9 ft 2 in, additional upper deck cabins, conversion from coal to oil firing.Sources: CMRT
1969Second lengthening reported. Added length and yard not established in the current source set.Sources: CMRT
c. 2003–2007Major structural restoration: steel plating, frames, bulkheads and tanks, pipework, electrics, engine overhaul, rudder mechanism, interior and teak decks.Sources: C&N, N&J, madiz.com
c. 2010Later galley work reported.Sources: C&N, madiz.com

Unresolved

Conflicts in the public record

Conflicting statements in public sources
Field	Reading A	Reading B	Note
Ownership since 2010/2012	Dan Stratan owner from July 2012 (market database)	Current owners acquired Madiz in 2010 (brokerage / historical text)	Unresolved. A registry entry or bill of sale is required; the two may also record different roles.Sources: SYT, C&N
Engine output	2 x 250 hp / 186 kW (current market data)	2 x 550 hp MTU Mercedes Maybach (older official Madiz material)	Possibly different engine eras or different rating definitions rather than an error. Not merged.Sources: SYT, madiz.com
Guest capacity	14 guests in 7 cabins (current sale material)	12 guests (older official Madiz material)	Not assumed to be a typographical error. Layout change or a different certification basis are both plausible.Sources: C&N, madiz.com
Gross tonnage	359 GT (current databases)	332 GT / 147 NT (Caledonian Maritime Research Trust material)	Tonnage rules and measurement dates differ; both readings preserved without conversion.Sources: SYT, CMRT
Draught	3.99 m current / maximum draft	approx. 3.35 m moulded draft in older material	Most likely a measurement-definition difference rather than a change to the vessel. Neither figure is forced onto the other.Sources: C&N, madiz.com
RHOUMA transfer date	1912 (Coats’s death)	1913 (transfer recorded)	Difference may reflect estate or inheritance period versus the date of actual transfer.Sources: CMRT
Keletsekis acquisition date	1968 in Clyde-built ship chronology	c. 1970 or 1972 in other public summaries	Unresolved; a registry document would fix the date.Sources: CMRT, madiz.com
PRESIDENT ROBERTS / HINIESTA chronology	1953 Monrovian corporate registration under PRESIDENT ROBERTS	1954 HINIESTA restored under Camper & Nicholsons registration	Registry dates are kept source-linked. State ownership is not inferred from the vessel’s name.Sources: CMRT

Historical Yachts preserves source conflicts until evidence resolves them. A cleaner specification sheet is not more valuable than an accurate record.

Chronology

Timeline

1902Launched as TRITON by Ailsa Shipbuilding Co., Troon, yard 105, to a G.L. Watson design for James Coats Jr.Sources: CMRTDocumented
1912Death of James Coats Jr.; estate transition begins.Sources: CMRTDocumented
1913Transfer to the Bullough period recorded in some sources; the 1912/1913 difference is unresolved.Sources: CMRTConflict / unresolved
1914–1919Admiralty service as an Auxiliary Patrol Vessel, 1 October 1914 to 2 April 1919, as RHOUMA.Sources: CMRTDocumented
1919Postwar ownership transition; Vincent S. E. Grech recorded as proprietor.Sources: CMRTDocumented
1923Scott’s Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Greenock: lengthening, upper deck cabins, oil conversion; Charles O. Liddell recorded as proprietor.Sources: CMRTDocumented
1928Ownership transition; Thomas Sackville Manning recorded.Sources: CMRTDocumented
1934Ownership transition; Wilfred D. Wills recorded.Sources: CMRTDocumented
1939HINIESTA period under Sir Frederick G. P. Preston.Sources: CMRTDocumented
1939–1946Admiralty wartime service; anti-submarine yacht and later calibration vessel connected with HFDF work from around 1942.Sources: CMRT, madiz.comReported by specialist source
July 1945Carried King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Elizabeth on the River Foyle during the Victory Tour visit to Northern Ireland.Sources: madiz.com, YachtingReported by specialist source
1951Benjamin Meaker recorded as proprietor.Sources: CMRTDocumented
1953Steam Yacht President Roberts Inc., Monrovia; renamed PRESIDENT ROBERTS. State-yacht use reported, not documented.Sources: CMRTReported by specialist source
1954HINIESTA name restored; Camper & Nicholsons recorded as registered owner in research material.Sources: CMRTDocumented
1960Charter by Frank Sinatra reported in multiple yachting histories.Sources: Yachting, madiz.comSecondary source
1968Reportedly offered at Christie’s and unsold; later lying at Piraeus. Keletsekis-era ownership ambiguity begins.Sources: CMRT, madiz.comConflict / unresolved
1969Second lengthening reported; scope and yard require documentation.Sources: CMRTRequires verification
1971K M Corporation appears in the ownership chronology.Sources: CMRTDocumented
1972MADIZ name established; Keletsekis recorded again in the chronology. Acquisition date remains unresolved.Sources: CMRT, madiz.comConflict / unresolved
c. 2003–2007Major structural restoration and rebuild campaign reported.Sources: C&N, N&J, madiz.comReported by specialist source
c. 2010Galley and later refit work reported. Some material dates current-owner acquisition to this year.Sources: C&N, madiz.comReported by specialist source
2012Market database records ownership from July 2012, conflicting with the 2010 acquisition reading.Sources: SYTConflict / unresolved
2024Market observation only: listed at EUR 9.75 million. Retained as a dated observation, not a yacht fact.Sources: SYTReported by specialist source
2025Price adjustment to EUR 8.75 million observed in market material.Sources: SYT, C&NReported by specialist source
30 August 2026Public-source review: still offered at EUR 8.75 million in current brokerage material.Sources: C&N, SYTReported by specialist source

Current status

Madiz on the market

At the time of the public-source review on 30 August 2026, Camper & Nicholsons and other current market sources offered MADIZ for sale at EUR 8.75 million.

An asking price is a dated observation, not a permanent property of the vessel. Days-on-market figures are recorded only with the date they were observed, and current ownership identity is carried in this profile only with an explicit confidence tag — see the conflict over the 2010 and 2012 readings.

Public sources observed: 30 August 2026.

Reported by specialist sourceSources: C&N, SYT, N&J

Significance

Why Madiz matters

Identity continuity

A 1902 yacht whose documentary chain — yard number, official number, registered proprietors and successive names — remains unusually traceable across more than a century.

State and wartime history

Admiralty service in both world wars, plus the July 1945 Royal visit on the Foyle, give her a public record that few private yachts of the period retain.

Authenticity complexity

She survives historically through continuity of identity despite two lengthenings and a major modern steel renewal — the clearest case in this archive for treating identity and originality as separate measures.

References

Source register

Registry / heritage registerCMRT · Primary
Clyde Built Ships database — TRITON / MADIZ, Ailsa yard no. 105https://www.clydeships.co.uk/Compiled from registry, yard and Admiralty records. Ownership entries record registered proprietors.
Specialist brokerage historyC&N · Market
Camper & Nicholsons — MADIZ sales pagehttps://camperandnicholsons.com/buy-a-yacht/yachts-for-sale/madiz-ailsa-shipbuilding-troon-1902Current sales material. Historical and refit statements are treated as reported until verified against yard, registry or survey records.
Specialist brokerage historyN&J · Market
Northrop & Johnson — MADIZ listing and historyhttps://www.northropandjohnson.com/yachts-for-sale/madiz-181-ailsa-shipbuilding-co
Secondary local maritime historymadiz.com · Unclassified
MADIZ — historic specifications and vessel history pageshttps://www.madiz.com/specifications.htmVessel-associated official-style site. Publication authority and freshness require evaluation; figures here often reflect an earlier period than current market data.
Market databaseSYT · Market
SuperYacht Times — MADIZ overviewhttps://www.superyachttimes.com/yachts/madiz/overview
Contemporary pressYachting · Secondary
Yachting — History Afloathttps://www.yachtingmagazine.com/history-afloat/

Primary-source follow-up required

Lloyd’s Register entries from 1902 onward
Original Ailsa Shipbuilding yard records, yard no. 105
G.L. Watson original plans and correspondence
Probate, estate and registry records around the Coats and Bullough transfer
Admiralty service records, 1914–1919
Scott’s Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. 1923 rebuild records
Admiralty and wartime service files, 1939–1946
Contemporary July 1945 Royal visit film and government records
President Roberts / Liberian registry records
Original 1960 charter records and contemporary press for the Sinatra voyage
Original Christie’s 1968 catalogue and sale results
Registry documents for the Keletsekis / K M Corporation sequence
Records for the reported 1969 lengthening
2003–2007 yard invoices, Lloyd’s survey records and steel-renewal schedule
Current Lloyd’s class records
Current registry and ownership documentation, if commercially obtainable

Research status

Preliminary public-source provenance review

This profile is a working historical record, not a completed provenance certification. Yard archives, Admiralty files, original Watson drawings and restoration records may materially refine both the chronology and the originality assessment.

Public-source review date: 30 August 2026. This is the date the public record was reviewed, not the date of a vessel survey.

Commission a Full Provenance File

All research services

Rona
1895 Stow & Sons yacht; reconstruction and sail-training history.
Full provenance profile
Nahlin
1930 steam yacht; Royal charter history.
Profile in preparation
Marala
1931 motor yacht; wartime service and later restoration.
Profile in preparation
Haida
1929 motor yacht; long ownership chain and renaming.
Profile in preparation
Talitha
1929 motor yacht; major reconstruction.
Profile in preparation