Vob span

So Fong Design 143

Of the very small number of schooners (I count ten) designed by Sparkman & Stephens, So Fong is a standout. I found the following history in our files.

The Beginning
So Fong is a topsail schooner built by Ah King Slipway Company of Hong Kong for Alfred Thornton Baker, a New York stockbroker who had commissioned the boat for the purpose of sailing around the world with his son. In the early 40s Baker sailed the boat to the U.S. via the East Indies, Suez, Mediterranean and the Caribbean. Following this voyage he sold the boat.

The name So Fong was given to the boat at the time of her launch as Chinese superstition would not allow a yacht to be put into the water until a name was given. In that the owner had not yet decided on a name for the boat she was launched as So Fong, the nickname for the owner of Ah King’s daughter. The name has remained throughout the fascinating history of this beautiful and exotic Schooner.

The Construction
Ah King Slipway Company built quite a few S&S designs. In fact, So Fong is a slightly bigger version of the famous Mystic Seaport Schooner Brilliant. The builder used ironwood for the keelson and floors, her hull is of the finest Asian teak, her upper sawn frames are teak and yakki (a springy Asian wood), and her deck beams are camphor and teak. The masts and rig were built in the United States and shipped to Hong Kong as were the blocks, which are lignum vitae with bronze or iron straps.

The War Years
During the Second World War, So Fong operated as a U.S. Coast Guard vessel, with a seven man crew. After the war So Fong spent time in the Caribbean and Main under the ownership of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Becton who raced the boat (very competitively) for many years on the East Coast of the United States.

Eventually, So Fong returned to Asia when she was bought by Bill Mathers who sadly used the boat as a salvage and diving vessel in the Far East until 1986 when the boat was siezed by Vietnamese militia off the coast of Vietnam. The boat was confiscated, the crew and captain were detained and questioned. Apparently the high tech navigation and diving equipment provoked suspicion that So Fong was being used as a spy vessel. After four months the crew were released and given a fine. Mathers was allowed to move back on board and was told that all charges against him would be dropped if he agreed to become a double agent. Nine months later he was freed after considerable intervention of the then United Nations Secretary General, Javier Perez de Cuellar. Unfortunately, So Fong was not so lucky and remained a trophy of the Vietnamese (in poor condition) until 1990.

Rescue Mission
In 1990, Robert Verschoyle, an Irish yachtsman was in Hai Phong, Vietnam, investigating a potential boatyard site for himself and his partner to start a new business, when he discovered So Fong. After much red tape he managed to negotiate her purchase from the Vietnamese government and sailed the boat to Saigon where So Fong was lovingly refit under his careful watch.

Increasingly irritated by the bureaucracy to allow the boat to leave Vietnamese waters, Robert and his Vietnamese wife managed to escape in the boat and sailed her to the Mediterranean.


A New Beginning
So Fong was acquired by a Canadian who fell in love with the boat after chartering her for a brief period in the spring of 2000. As a sailing and classic yacht enthusiasts he decided to return So Fong to her original glory and have embarked on an intensive refit which was completed in 2001. Today she is in pristine condition.

Here are the plans.