Xenon

Xenon (ex-Corona / Hawaii VI / Stormsvala)

A 1913 Johan Anker Yawl—Awaiting a Faithful Revival

Xenon is believed to be the 1913 Johan Anker design Corona, built at Anker & Jensen in Vollen, Norway (builder’s No. 132) for ship-owner William Wilhelmsen. Classified Bureau Veritas A1 and originally carrying sail number D6, she appears in the KNS yearbook (1913) as a 12.5-Sailmetre yawl—the “D” prefix denoting a rating larger than the 12mR “E.” Historical notes indicate she later sailed as a 12mR after the mizzen was removed. A sistership, Athene (delivered in 1914 to the Wilhelmsen family), has been lost to history; Corona survived under new names and owners and now rests in Italy requiring a complete reconstruction.

Construction & Present Condition

Original mahogany planking on alternating steel and oak frames; steel ballast. The vessel is dismantled/stripped and in urgent need of a total rebuild: new planking, deck, and spar(s), with the internal structure to be evaluated. The hull has retained its shape and is not deformed, offering a viable basis for a historically correct restoration.

Equipment: not to be considered (present items incomplete/obsolete).
Status: SMANTELLATA – DISMANTLED (not sailing; full restoration required).

Verified & Reported History (with provenance notes)

  • 1913–1938 — W. Wilhelmsen (Tønsberg, Norway)
    Name: Corona. Rig: yawl, converted 1920 to cutter; 1937 to Bermudan cutter.

  • 1938–1952 — Arthur J. Bossum (Oslo, Norway)
    New name: Hawaii VI.

  • 1948–1954 — Ema Bossum (per KNS archives; predates Lloyd’s entry)
    Listed as a Twelve in the KNS Registry.

  • 1954–1955 — E. Gjolberg
    Engine installed (1954).

  • 1955–1957 — Biorn Ruud-Pedersen

  • 1957–1959 — Jack Donley
    New name: Oslo. Reported sale to the USA in 1959; records then thin.
    Anecdote (unconfirmed): ownership by writer Arthur Miller with the yacht moored on the Seine, Paris.

  • <1961–1963 — Henrj H. Wolff
    New name: Stormsvala. Home ports: Cherbourg and Cannes (France).

  • 1964–1969 — J. M. Brunet & Jean Rudel

  • Since 1970 — off record; later located in Italy
    Owner Howard Dilday (resident in Rome). New name: Xenon. British flag noted.
    Current status: very poor condition in a shed in Anzio (Italy); requires full restoration.

(Primary narrative sources include the owner-supplied chronology and the reference “The 12 Metre Class Book” by Luigi Lang & Dyer Jones, ISBN 0713661798. Several interim ownership details and the Arthur Miller anecdote remain unverified.)

Why She Matters

If confirmed as Johan Anker’s Corona (1913), Xenon is a rare pre-war Scandinavian Twelve with direct links to one of Europe’s greatest metre-class designers. Her hull form and scantlings embody the transition from yawl-rated 12.5-Sailmetres to 12-Metre Rule cutters just before WWI, placing her squarely within the formative era of the class. Properly restored, she would be a museum-grade competitor eligible for Vintage 12mR regattas and a centerpiece for Nordic metre-class heritage.