According to family lore, Buddie always loved the sea. In sorting through his activities, he doesn’t appear to have fallen in love with the sea until his 40s. But once he fell, he fell hard.

In 1919 Asa Sr. and Lucy Elizabeth gave their five children their inheritances early. Lucy Elizabeth was ill and her prognosis didn’t look good. They wanted to see their children enjoy their windfall and make the most of their lives. Buddie went to work spending his inheritance right away. He started prepping his property, clearing away the farm structures and selling off his cattle, in 1920. Then he began construction on Briarcliff Mansion in earnest.

While the mansion was underway, he made his next big purchase: a yacht. By all accounts a palatial vessel, he named her the Helasa, a portmanteau of Helen and Asa.

“98-ft. twin-screw cruising motor yacht Ramora sold for Frank C. Munson, NYC, to Asa G. Candler, Jr. of Atlanta, GA for use in Southern waters. The yacht has been renamed Helasa.”

— Motor Boat Magazine, May 19, 1920

I’m not a boat person so please forgive me if my terminology is wrong. The specs are as follows:

Built: 1911
Engine: twin screw engine
Masts: 2
Gross tonnage: 81
Net tonnage: 33
Length (feet): 91
Width (feet)L 16
Depth (feet): 7.8
Location: built in Baltimore and docked in Savannah.

While photos of Buddie’s airplanes exist, his boats are harder to find. The Helasa appears to have been renamed Marynthea by a later owner. The search for a yacht named Marynthea built in 1911 turns up the following photo. While the photo is labeled as the Conquerer, the ship below was originally named Marynthea and renamed Conquerer later in its life. That said, this may be too large of a vessel (double the length, if reported accurately), according to its Wikipedia stats. While it may not be the same boat as the one Buddie owned, it serves as an example of a yacht from the time period, purely for style reference:

Private yacht owned by Harry Gordon Selfridge. Source: Wikipedia: List of ships built at John I. Thornycroft & Company, Woolston

“Asa Candler, Jr., owns the yacht “Helasa” which is 100 feet long, and is built with four staterooms, thereby accommodating quite a large party aboard. Likewise, every modern comfort and convenience has been placed on this yacht. The name was selected from the given names of Mr. and Mrs. Candler, being a combination of the names Helen and Asa.

Mrs. Candler’s stateroom is done in blue chintz, with draperies upholstered in this effective color. The other staterooms are in rose, yellow and lavender.

Mr. and Mr.s Candler and family made trips from Atlantic City and up the Hudson river during the past summer. In winter many trips are made to Miami, Palm Beach and other noted resorts along the Florida coast.

It has been their plan to cruise leisurely and enjoy the happy hours and pleasant trips afforded while aboard the “Helasa.” Among those who have been guests of Mr. and Mrs. Candler are Mr. Asa Candler, Sr., Miss Mildred Dobbs, Mrs. W. W. Austell, Mr.s and Mrs. William Candler, and other members of their family connection.”

— The Atlanta Constitution, October 10, 1920

As mentioned in Briarcliff Mansion history, Buddie and Howard revisited the tensions of their youth in 1921 when Buddie sued Coca Cola for dividend payouts. But in 1920 he and Howard appear to have on good terms. In July of that year he and his wife Flora joined Buddie and Helen on a trip up the coast to Atlantic City.

Asa, Jr., fell in love with life on the water. In fact, he loved the sea life so much that he decided to launch an ambitious project in late 1922 to launch a school on a ship, the Candler Floating School. Stay tuned for an upcoming entry on the irrational, overzealous plan that was the Candler Floating School. For the purpose of this entry, suffice to say that it did not go well and the plan was scrapped a year later.

The SS Logan, Purchased in 1922 with intent to rename to the SS Candler and be converted into a floating school.

In 1924 Buddie and Helen went on a tour of the Orient, in the parlance of the time, possibly to escape the uproar of the addition of a music hall to their home. during this trip they passed through the Philippines. It was there that he encountered a local magician named José Cruz, and made a solid enough personal connection to hire him, bring him to America with his brother and friend in 1925, and put him on the payroll as a butler and magician’s assistant. Later in his life he would say his interest in magic took hold during this trip, although he also claimed his love of magic was started by Harry Houdini, who personally taught him a card trick. Perhaps it was a combination of both. Either way, this kicked off his magic phase. Read more about his obsession with Magic throughout the second half of the 1920s. More about José Cruz will be added in a future update.

In 1927 Helen passed away and Buddie remarried in October. He and his new wife, Florence, Immediately left for their honeymoon, encountering high adventure on the waters along the way. They boarded a world-liner named President Adams and departed for passage through the Panama Canal. While in Caribbean waters their ship happened upon a sinking schooner and rescued ten people.

The ship stopped off in Los Angeles before continuing on to Hawaii, where Buddie and Florence intended to spend several weeks of honeymoon time relaxing in the sun. While in Hawaii they fended off newspapers, as their marriage had caused something of a stir back home. The short interval between marriages and the fact that Florence had been a stenographer on the Candler payroll made headlines during a time when Asa, Jr., was struggling with loss and major life changes. He was in a quiet period during which he uncharacteristically eschewed public attention.

“Asa G. Candler, Jr., Atlanta Coca Cola millionaire, arrived in Honolulu on his honeymoon this morning on the President Adams completely “off” newspaper reporters.

His bride was gracious enough but the only statement Asa G. would give to the press was that “Atlanta is fine.”

”Mr. Candler, what do you think—“

”Nothing doing. No newspapers for me.”

”How long do you expect to be in Honolulu?”

”Haven’t the least idea. When is the next ship leaving? The President Taft goes this afternoon, doesn’t it?”

With that he dismissed the newspaper man and began telling the passengers good-bye, one and all.

”Sure, we’ll come to see you off tonight.”

...According to Charles G. Hadicke, purser of the President Adams, the Candlers will be in Honolulu for “several weeks.”

Mrs. Candler was formerly in Candler’s office force.”

— The Honolulu Star Bulletin, November 11, 1927

At the time there would have only been two resorts open in Hawaii. The first was the Moana Surfrider, opened in 1901. The second was the luxurious Royal Hawaiian Hotel, which had just opened its doors in February, 1927. Both hotels are still standing, although the Moana Surfrider is now a Westin property.

In early 1928 Buddie sold the Helasa and purchased a new yacht named the Amphitrite. This larger boat spent much of its life in Gulf waters, sailing through the Caribbean and visiting Cuba. The Candler family had ties to Cuba due to Bishop Warren Candler’s ministry work there, which resulted in the establishment of Candler College. Cuba was also a relatively close location where one could procure alcohol and imbibe freely during prohibition. In March of 1928 Buddie docked in Tampa, FL, after cruising around the Bahamas and Cuba for three weeks. He planned to go home for a week and a half and then depart on another voyage. He was living large, but it was the roaring 20s, after all.

On their second March trip they sailed to Haiti, where they were approached by a military boat for unexplained reasons. The boat carried a Commander in the U.S. Navy and a Lieutenant in the U.S. Marines. Halfway to the yacht the military boat caught fire and required assistance. The Amphitrite tossed it a line and towed it to another ship which was able to extinguish the fire. Following this incident, the Amphitrite set sail for Miami. Aside from noting that the smaller boat was en route to the yacht when it caught fire, no reason for the encounter was offered in the press.

A second article published just a day later provided what may be the missing context. When the Amphitrite put into port in Miami, the U.S. Coast Guard boarded and performed a search. They discovered 88 bottles of “assorted liquors.” On board was a group of friends of Buddie’s twin 16-year-old daughters, Martha and Helen, and the girls’ fathers. The statement given to the press by the passengers was that they were all “small souvenir bottles” which the girls had attempted to bring back. Yes, they suggested that 16-year-old schoolgirls smuggled 88 bottles back with them.

However, this claim did not hold up when Customs agents took their inventory. Among the seizures they logged a gallon jug of rum, four quarts and two pints of scotch, two quarts and ten pints of rye, twelve quarts of champagne, seven quarts of gin, two quarts of vermouth, three quarts of high grade rum, three quarts of low grade rum, three quarts and three pints of wine, one quart creme de menthe, sixteen bottles of beer and nineteen bottles of fine liqueurs. The total does not bring us all the way to 88, so some were not reported. If I’ve tallied correctly, they were smuggling more than 10 gallons of booze.

That’s a lot of “small souvenir bottles.”

In a future update I will share some thoughts about this event and the preceding and subsequent events in Buddie’s life. In short, this event directly precedes one of the “great sell offs” discussed in the Real Estate section. This is a pivot point around which the buying vs selling cycle turns.

The Amphitrite took a rest for a little while, as Buddie and Florence returned to travel. In late January they boarded the Samaria to set sail for the Mediterranean, Egypt and Palestine. While the details of the trip are not detailed, family lore says they were in Egypt when Asa, Sr., passed away on March 12.

In September of 1930 Buddie, Florence, and his daughters Martha and Helen set sail aboard the famed luxury liner the Malolo en route to Honolulu once again.

By 1936 Buddie had purchased a seaside summer home in Panama City, FL, reportedly on Bunkers Cove Road. The exact location has not yet been identified, but it’s likely that the structure has been replaced with newer construction. In June of 1936 he sponsored the first annual Asa G. Candler, Jr., Regatta at the St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club, with the stipulation that the race route pass directly in front of his property so he could watch from the comfort of his patio. He provided a silver punch bowl trophy for the winner, and at the award ceremony he described the event in typical superlative fashion as “the most colorful regatta” he had ever seen. The Candler Regatta is still held as an annual event and the cup is still in circulation.

A month later a fire broke out on board the Amphitrite, causing at least $10k damage at initial estimate. More in a future update about the recurrence of fire and the timing of the incidents in Buddie’s life.

In the summer of 1939 he acquired a $40k 55-foot Chris Craft cruiser named the Clermont, likely named after Atlanta’s Clermont Hotel, which he had acquired. To accommodate his new vessel he purchased land just north of Savannah for $200k and broke ground on the Thunderbolt Yacht Basin with a construction budget of $75k. At the basin’s dedication in 1939 he challenged the local residents to turn it into a beautiful area, then docked the Clermont and a smaller boat named the Esperanza.

In 1946 during his last great sell-off, he sold the Thunderbolt Yacht Basin. Accompanying the notice of its sale was a side note that the government had commandeered the Clermont during WWII and had not released it back to him. But he didn’t need it anymore. He’d long since moved on to his new interest, a lifelong hobby that became an obsession, big game hunting (coming soon).