In 1931 the 359.3 foot four-masted barque Sea Cloud was built in Kiel, Germany as the biggest and most luxurious sailing yacht ever. She was the wedding gift of the American millionaire E.F Hutton to his wife Marjorie Merriweather Post. Originally called Hussar 11 she took the couple on many sea voyages from 1932 until 1935. Their guests on these voyages included royalty, film stars and other celebrities. When they divorced, Marjorie went her own way with the yacht which she renamed Sea Cloud. The ship's hull, which had been black, was painted white at that time.

Marjorie re-married in 1935. Her new husband was the American diplomat Joseph Davies. When he was appointed US Ambassador to Moscow they took Sea Cloud with them to Leningrad then moved to Antwerp when Davies was posted Ambassador to Belgium.

In 1942 the Sea Cloud was requisitioned by the US Navy, painted naval gray and unrigged for use off the US East Coast as a weather ship and anti-submarine boat. She was returned to Marjorie Davies in 1944 and was fully restored in 1947. She was sold to the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo in 1952 and renamed Angelita after his daughter. Later sold to John Blue of Florida she was registered in Panama under the name Patria and the ownership of Corporation Sea Cruise Inc. She was overhauled and restored to sailing condition at Naples in 1967-1968 then sold in 1969 to another American concern, Antara Inc., and renamed Antara. She was refitted for charter work but was laid up and forgotten in Panama in 1974.

She was sold in 1978, in poor shape, to some German businessmen and ship-owners whose syndicate renamed her Sea Cloud. She was then taken, under German flag, to Hamburg for a major overhaul. This included adding an after deckhouse with 14 passenger cabins and an upper deckhouse over the midship deckhouse with another 8 cabins. The original 13 cabins had survived with their original fittings, including marble bath tubs and solid gold taps.

Restored to her original grandeur she was reflagged under Cayman then Maltese registry then began passenger cruising in 1978. She usually cruises in the West Indies in winter and in the Mediterranean in the summer although she can be seen in the Pacific and various Black Sea harbors on occasion.