UPDATE 2024 with Mike
Remains of John Wayne’s boat the Margherita at Portbou harbour did not survive the winter and the boat has been scrapped, sadly. It had been rotting there for ten years awaiting a saviour that never came.
JOHN WAYNE AND MARGUERITA
Did you know that the yellow boat ‘Marguerita’ that can be seen slowly falling to bits in Port Bou belonged to John Wayne?
The 19m boat was built in 1933 in Massachusetts for the coast guard.
In the 40s, it was bought by John Wayne and renamed Marguerita after his lover. Sold on again to an American fan of the Med coast, it ended up shipwrecked on the beach at Banyuls. Towed to Portbou, it has remained there ever since.
Although no doubt a fascinating and interesting piece of nostalgia for cinema fans, at a sum estimated by the owner of 450,000 €, this collector’s piece doesn’t seem to be selling!
We have a number of photographs of this beauty.
We were very sad to see that it had gone
It’s sad when any old boat gets scrapped, let alone a beautiful one like this. But maybe the price was a little too high? I’ll miss it though, it was part of Port Bou.