"Versatility at Its Best" was how Richard W. Henderson described Merry Maiden in his book: Philip Rhodes and His Yacht Designs.

Merry Maiden was designed in 1946 by Philip Rhodes and built in New Bedford, Massachusetts by the Palmer Scott Boat Yard.

Irving Pratt, an avid sailor and Commodore of the New York Yacht Club, kept the Merry Maiden on Long Island in Cold Spring Harbor. Her first eleven years were spent cruising and racing along the East Coast from New York to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, as well as five Bermuda races. In the 1948 Bermuda race, she won Class B and was third overall.

Mr. Maguire, the second owner, purchased Merry Maiden in 1958 and sailed her throughout the Great Lakes, keeping her moored at the Detroit Yacht Club.

In 1969, Ranulf, a mechanical engineer at M.I.T., purchased the Merry Maiden and sailed her around the world with his family on a cruise lasting five years and eight months.

In 1976, Ranulf's youngest son, Seaton Gras, borrowed the Merry Maiden for a seven-year cruise from Salem, MA to Seattle, WA by way of Australia, thereby crossing the Pacific two more times.

It's estimated that the Merry Maiden has sailed over 300,000 miles in her remarkable history!