Nowadays the Moonbeam IV is one of the few classic auric Cutters that still keep on sailing. It was designed by the renowned William Fife III and built at the Fife & Sons shipyards in Scotland. It was an assignment of a lawyer called Charles Phumptre Jhonson to achieve a yacht designed for large voyages with the maximum comfort and to participate in competition regattas. Its constructions started in 1914, but the First World War made impossible to launch the yacht until 1929.

The Moonbeam IV was the last and the biggest of the “Moonbeams” ever built. It was considered on of the most beautiful yachts of the world, not just for its outside but also for the luxurious details: the lignum vitae wood of the coating, the Persian blankets, the old lamps and its leather upholstery. Furthermore it was one of the most competitive “Cutters” during the XX century. The Moonbeam IV won the prestigious British King’s Trophy in 1920 and 1923, disputed in Cowes.

Its owner sold it in 1926 to Henry Sutton. This new owner raced with the Moonbeam IV for ten years, and after the Second World War moved to race in the Mediterranean. In 1950 the prince Rainero of Monaco bought the yacht and renamed it “Deo Juvante” (Grimaldi’s family motto). He even spent his honeymoon with Grace Kelly on the Moonbeam IV. Finally in 1960 sold it to Hannibal Scott who made charters in the Mediterranean, but the yacht deteriorated after a few years.

In 1995, their actual owners found it in Greece and decided to restore it. The Moonbeam IV was moved to Burma in April 1999. Finally in July 2002 the yacht came back to the sea on a voyage to Auckland (New Zeeland) for the American Cup Races. In winter of the 2005 was brought to Tunisia for its reconditioning. Since 1006 the Moonbeam IV sails in the Mediterranean.

Nowadays the Moonbeams IV base is located at the French Riviera. It’s one of the last golden age survivors of the navigation. It’s still the Cutter with the biggest rig (auric/Marconi) in the world.