Mystery Yacht Has Beverly Buzzing

BEVERLY, MA -- The arrival of a 140-foot yacht in Beverly Harbor has social media buzzing over who owns it and why they chose to sail the luxury liner here. The best guess so far is the boat is owned by Peter Munk. But there's a problem with that guess: the Canadian billionaire died in March.

Here's what we know about the Golden Eagle, which arrived in Beverly sometime on Tuesday:

Munk did own the yacht, having purchased it in 2009 after chartering yachts for 30 years. He bought it when he was developing Porto Montenegro in the eastern Mediterranean. During the development, it was home and base of operations, but he opted to keep it when the project was complete. He named it after the Montenegrin flag.

"All my rich friends said, 'don’t ever buy a boat, just keep on chartering,' and I tended to agree. But I've changed my mind. I love my boat: It’s a very important part of my residential inventory," Munk said in a 2012 interview with SuperYacht News. "We spend months cruising in the summer, and my family and friends come out to join; it’s a really unique experience."

But the boat appears to have been sold last year, dispelling the rumor that Munk's children -- who he said loved the boat -- were visiting Beverly.

The yacht has room for 10 passengers and nine crew members. It has a top speed of 15 knots and holds up to 80,000 liters of fuel -- enough to travel 4,606 miles -- and 15,000 liters of potable water. The yacht was built in Italy in 1990. While Munk kept the yacht registered in Montenegro, she is currently registered in the Cayman Islands.

Subscribe to Beverly Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.

Photo by Renee Schiavone, Patch

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).