Extraordinary story of why Hitler’s yacht rests just off the coast of Miami
- The Ostwind was originally commissioned as a racing yacht in 1938
- The ship changed hands several times and was eventually scuttled in Miami
- READ MORE: Hitler’s last 24 hours
A yacht once owned by Adolf Hitler is now just five miles off the coast of Miami Beach.
Hitler originally commissioned the 80ft Ostwind as an Olympic racing boat in 1938, following Germany’s poor performance at the 1936 Olympics.
However, the Ostwind never competed and was instead used by Nazi officials, including Hitler.
Florida historian Mike Miller, who has researched the boat, said the Nazi leader even planned to sail the Ostwind to Britain if Germany won the war.
There is no definitive account of how much time Hitler spent on the boat, but there is a photograph of him with mistress Eva Braun on board the ship.
Historians think he may have only visited the boat he commissioned for Olympic glory a handful of times.
A yacht called the Ostwind that was once owned by Adolf Hitler lies just five miles off the coast of Miami Beach. The now 25 meter long yacht lies at the bottom of the ocean.
What is known, however, is that after the end of World War II in 1945, the US took control of the Ostwind as a war prize and used it for training vessels at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
The Navy sold the Ostwind in the 1950s and it was sold between different owners over the next twenty years.
In the mid-1970s, a collector of Nazi memorabilia purchased the ship and took it to a shipwreck in Jacksonville with the intention of restoring it to its former glory.
But he couldn’t pay for the mooring and the boat was seized in 1981 by the yard’s owner, JJ Nelson.
When news spread that the ship belonged to Hitler, it was repeatedly destroyed.
Mr Nelson subsequently rejected an offer from the Chicago-based American Nazi Party to buy the boat and use it as a place to worship Hitler.
Instead, he gave the ship to a Jewish group in 1988.
The Israeli Consulate in Miami then approached Miami Beach City Commissioner Abe Resnick, who proposed sinking the boat and turning it into an artificial reef.
On June 4, 1989, the Ostwind was in such poor condition that the boat was rolled off a barge and sunk in the ocean to commemorate the 50th anniversary of what has become known as the “Journey of the Damned,” according to state registrations.
Hitler (pictured) originally commissioned the Ostwind as a racing yacht in 1938, but it never competed and was instead used by Nazi officials.
During this trip, a group of German Jewish refugees aboard the boat, lined as the SS St. Louis, were sent by the Nazis to Havana, Cuba in 1939.
Both Cuba and the United States refused permission and were forced to return to Europe, where more than half of the passengers died during the Holocaust.
On June 29, 1989, more than two weeks after it first sank, the yacht was refloated and scuttled in a deeper part of the ocean because it posed a danger to marine life on the coral reef and to passing ships .
The only way to view the Ostwind is to dive to the bottom of the ocean with scuba gear.
The Ostwind was in such poor condition that the boat was rolled off a barge and sunk in the ocean to commemorate the 50th anniversary of what has become known as the “Voyage of the Damned” on June 4, 1989, according to state records. .