SYLPH Advertising Sign, Brooklyn, NY – 1935 The "SYLPH" was built in 1898 by John Roach & Co. at Chester, PA as the official Presidential Yacht for U.S. Presidents McKinley (1898-1901), Roosevelt (1901-1909), Taft (1909-1913) and Wilson (1913-1921). In 1921, the Navy re-designated her as Patrol Yacht "PY-5" and she sailed on the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. She was decommissioned by the U.S. Navy in 1930 and purchased by Frank Clair and his partner Captain John Nugent and converted for party boat fishing. She continued to sail as a party fishing boat from Sheepshead Bay until 1939 when she joined a ferry service and took passengers from Sea Gate, Brooklyn to the Battery in Manhattan.