MAYAN's History - Her Early Years

 MAYAN sailing in Belize, 1947

The John G. Alden yacht design firm of Boston Mass. drew the lines for design number 356-B just after the close of World War II in 1946, delivering them to Paul Allen and his father (of New York City) in early 1947. This was the second design number 356, the first having been built in 1928. Paul Allen, a US Navy veteran, had saved his war time pay and by pooling it with funds from his father headed to Belize Honduras to build MAYAN utilizing the amazing woods of that tropical country. In Belize, Mr. Allen found the Tewes Boatyard and they started construction.

MAYAN under construction 

Tewes was a well known yard in Belize, run by the Scottish Tewes family building finishing boats, power yachts and the occasional sailing boat. Years later Robert Tewes would recount to us how proud his father was to have built a design by the great John G. Alden. While the Alden Register shows Paul Allen as the "builder", it's clear that Mr. Allen utilized the extensive skills of the Tewes Boatyard.

MAYAN under construction

MAYAN was given her name by the Allen family in honor of those who built her and the country in which she was built, a name she carries to this day (following a brief period of being called "SEPIEO II"). Upon launching MAYAN was immediately sailed across the Gulf of Mexico and up the E. Coast of the US to Philadelphia. Howard MacIver, the grand nephew of Paul Allen, joined MAYAN's crew in Philadelphia and sailed aboard her to New York City.

Howard Maclver at age 13, 1948

Howard was good enough to talk with us about his passage as a thirteen year old young man, it was the trip of a lifetime. In New York MAYAN was put up for sale, returning a hansom profit to the Allen family when she quickly sold. Just after the second world war there were few yachts available, and even fewer with a design by Alden and the amazing woods of Central America.

Alden had designed a classic centerboard schooner for the Allens, with a galley forward along with crew quarters for a skipper and two deckhands. She carried a very large ice box to supply up to eight guests who were berth aft in two private staterooms and the main saloon. MAYAN's rig was the same transitional schooner rig Alden had designed for the first no. 365 in 1928 with a jib-headed mainsail, gaff headed foresail, fore staysail and jib. (See first picture in this post) Her shallow draft of five feet with the centerboard raised and her relatively short rig of 63 feet at the mainmast truck, made her perfect for the Inter Costal Waterway and the shallow islands of the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and the Florida Keys.

MAYAN arriving in NY City, 1949

When Alden re-drew the 356 design, to provide the Allens with the 356-B, he added a deck house in the vein of Patton's WHEN & IF. Fortunately, the Allens decided to build MAYAN with the original low trunk cabin and eschew the deck house which we find to be an awkward design feature despite it's obvious comfort in poor weather.

At this point, the history of MAYAN becomes quite obscure. We are continuing to follow up with Lloyds, the USCG Documentation Office and the records of the Alden company to try and determine who owned her and where

MAYAN alongside in NY City, 1949

she sailed. We'll post more as we learn it.  If anyone reading this site has any additional information to add to the narrative, please feel free to contact us.  The next fact we have is that in 1968, following his departure from the legendary rock band The Byrds, David Crosby spotted MAYAN laying alongside in Florida and fell in love. David was to own her and love her until her sale to us in early 2014.