In a competitive era of ever-larger mega yachts that can rival cruise ships in size, it’s not just about mass, it’s also about quality and creative ship design, which can border on downright genius. Maybe the smartest mega yacht of them all design-wise is the late Paul Allen’s Octopus, an iconic vessel in the yachting universe. 

Built by Lurrsen and delivered in 2003, at that time she was the world’s largest yacht, but she quickly lost that crown as part of an ongoing competition among the world’s yachting billionaires to have the biggest boat. Today she doesn’t even make the top ten list in terms of length (414 feet), but she certainly does in terms of displacement, which sits just shy of 10,000 tons—eclipsing the displacement of a Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser.

Her large floodable well-deck in her stern  holds a yellow submarine named Pagoo. Pagoo can embark ten people on up to eight-hour-long underwater adventures. The sub can dive as deep as 1,000 feet. ISE Ltd. built the submarine, which has huge glass portholes for its occupants to gawk out of, for Allen. An unmanned remotely operated vehicle that can dive far deeper—thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean—is also stored and deployed from here along with the ship’s primary tender, Man Of War.The ship’s hull opens up in multiple places to deploy beach clubs and water toys, along with Octopus’s myriad tenders—seven are embarked including Man Of War. Octopus also has missionized spaces that can be reconfigured for different exploration voyages. Its well-deck can also accommodate specialized gear depending on what the goal of the mission is and what partners are embarked aboard, or on nearby on support and scientific vessels, to accomplish it. And it has accomplished some very high-profile missions indeed.

Seattle’s Jonathan Quinn Barnett designed its interior, which carries over its exterior’s blending of classical nautical design cues with a modern flare. The vessel is equipped with a large pool that can be converted into a dancefloor via a retractable glass system and is replete with a top-of-the-line lighting system.

She also features an absolutely top-notch recording studio—another one of Allen’s great loves was music. Many hitmakers have recorded in the sea-borne studio, such as Mickjagger, Usher, Johnny Cash, Bono, and god knows who else, but rest assured the secret list is extremely impressive. Of her eight decks, one is entirely dedicated to the owner alone. It features a private entertaining lounge with a full bar, its own jacuzzi, and dining area, as well as its own dedicated elevator, one of two on the entire ship.

A library, bar, movie theater, gym, observation lounge, and a complete dive center—with its own hyperbaric chamber—are all available to guests. The rear landing pad doubles as a basketball court, which makes sense as Allen owned the Portland Trailblazers. The list of accouterments goes on and on. It even has a glass-bottom viewing area!

The ship runs off a diesel-electric arrangement with eight diesel generators powering two electric motors that provide six megawatts of juice to drive her screws. It’s supposed to be remarkably efficient, giving the ship the ability to cruise a whopping 12,500 miles at 12.5 knots on a single tank of gas and hit a top speed of 19 knots.

You need extremely deep pockets not just to buy Octopus, but to keep it running. The rule of thumb is that a yacht costs roughly ten percent of its total cost to operate annually. So in this case, at least according to the sale price, we are talking $32.5M every year. But that number is probably even higher considering all the unique toys embarked aboard her and the specialized crew needed to maintain and operate them.

It is a ship that is uniquely capable of grand discoveries and adventure, as well as throwing unrivaled parties on the French Riviera. In fact, Octopus is still arguably the best design that can actually wear both hats, with other exploration-capable yachts looking far less glamorous and luxurious.

While other yachts may be far larger, like Azzam for instance, or a bit more flashy and entertainment-focused, like Serene, Octopus still seems to have its tentacles wrapped tightly around the “best overall yacht in the world” mantle, and that my friends comes at a very high price to whoever will call her theirs next.

 Source

It’s traversed the frigid waters of the Antarctic and deep dark caves in the Indian Ocean, where the vessel was integral to studying the mysterious coelacanth fish—once thought to have gone extinct with the dinosaurs more than 65 million years ago, according to Allen’s official website.

One of the megayacht’s greatest successes was the 2015 discovery of the sunken Japanese battleship Musashi, one of the largest warships in naval history, which Octopus found off the coast of the Philippines after the wreck eluded search teams for 70 years, Burgess said in a news release.

Agents call it ” the pinnacle explorer yacht for those seeking a proven ‘go-anywhere, do-anything platform.’”    Source

Yacht Octopus

May 26, 2019
by Capt. Bob Cerullo

If you are wondering what kind of a yacht a person with all the money in the world might want to build, let me tell you about the Octopus. Remember the old quote from JP Morgan when someone asked the millionaire how much it would cost to have a yacht like his? He answered; “If you have to ask how much it costs, you can’t afford it.” In the case of the Octopus the late owner who had it built, had more than enough and surely did not need to ask how much. His name was Paul Allen and he, along with Bill Gates, founded Microsoft. He is reported to have been worth more than 20 billion dollars. He had homes in several countries, and he built a super-yacht called Octopus which is beyond lavish and on the level of the yachts built by oil barons of the Middle East. It is the world’s largest service yacht at 416 ft.
When I thought about my dream yacht, I never considered it to be one of a fleet of yachts. Allen, at the time of his death, had a fleet of yachts, he owned two other monster yachts in addition to Octopus.His other yachts were grand, even the tender for Octopus was grand but, the grandest of them all is Octopus. For a better idea of how lavish Octopus is, here are her basic specs including her tenders.

Statistics:
• Launched: 01  (8) Aug 2003, First Movement: 01 (1) Jan 2004
• Managed: Fraser Yachts, Fort Lauderdale
• Crew: 60 permanent crew • Submarine: 40 ft, 10 man Olympic – Submarine Technologies Seattle, WA.
• Main Tender: 63 ft “Man of War” Vikal International – Perth, Western Australia
• Tenders: 7 x of various sizes • Dimensions: • LOA: 126.187 m (414feet) Beam: 21m (68.90 ft) Draught: 5.85 m (19.20 ft) Breadth Mould: 21 m Depth: 12.5Net Tonnage: 2,979 mt Deadweight: 1570 mt
• Gross Registered Tonnage: 9,932 mt
• Fuel: 849,446 liters (224,400 gls) Water: 174,886 liters (46,200 gls) Range: 8,000 nm Max speed: 20 knots
• Engines: Eight x 2,400 hp Mercedes-Benz diesels + Two x 6 MW ABB electric motors

Design Details:
• Builder: Lurssen, Howaldtswerke – Deutsche Werft Kiel, Germany, Yard No: 370Built: 2003Construction: Steel
• Naval Architects: Espen Oeino, Antibes Interior Designers: Jonathan Quinn Barnett, Christian Grevstad Naval Architect: Lurssen Werft
• Flag: Cayman Islands (British), Georgetown
• Class: Lloyd’s Register.

One would suppose that in the scheme of things if you are worth $20 billion dollars and growing, spending $250 million for your yacht is no big deal. This is especially true if you are not a J. Paul Getty type miserly kind of guy who keeps every nickel for himself. On the contrary, Allen was ranked the most generous living American by the Chronicle of Philanthropyafter he donated $72 million dollars to various charities. Paul and his sister founded the Paul G. Allen family foundation in 1988.
Allen really worked at being a good guy. In August of 2017, his research vessel Petrel discovered the USS Indianapolis some 5,500 meters below the surface sunk to the ocean for in the North Pacific Ocean. It had been torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the final days of World War II. The Indianapolis was in route home after delivering the atomic bombs that were eventually dropped on Japan. Then in-March of 2018, Allen’s research vessel Petrel found the sunken wreckage of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington which had lain at the bottom for 72 years. Back in March of 2015, Allen led a research team aboard the Octopus which found Mushai. She was one of the world’s largest and most advanced Japanese battleships sunk during WWII. Very much more than the plaything of a super-rich man, Octopus has provided detailed topographical data. She has assisted in rescuing disabled vessels as well.
In 2012, the Royal Navy had decided they wanted to retrieve the bell from the HMS Hood.Allen loaned Octopus to the Royal Navy in their attempt to retrieve the ship’s bell from the Admiral-class battleship Hood.  The Hood, which sank to a depth of 9,000 feet (2,700 m) in the Denmark Straitduring World War II.  HMS Hood was hit by a shell from the German battleship Bismarck, its magazines exploded, and the ship sank in minutes with a loss of over 1,400 lives.The bell was located but not recovered, due to adverse weather conditions. On 7 August 2015, it was announced that the bell from HMS Hood had been recovered by the ROV operating from Octopus.After conservation, the bell was put on display in 2016 at the National Museum of the Royal Navy Portsmouth, England. The Octopus is a member of the Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue (AMVER) program.
Octopus has very sophisticated manned resource equipment including a 10-person research submarine in its float-hanger and deep drone sub. There are two helicopters onboard, an MD900 and a Sikorsky S-76C. There are landing spaces at either end of the vessel. Her tender Man-O-War floats into its own private dock then is lifted out of the water and locked into the place. There is a full recording studio on the bridge deck Allen has loaned the studio to celebrities like Mick Jagger for use recording their music. The list of artists who recorded there includes Usher, Dave Stewart, U2, and Johnny Cash.Allen had collection guitars and was himself a guitar player.
As one might expect, there was no limit to the innovation in navigation and search systems. The rear deck sports a basketball court, a movie theater and pool with a glass bottom. There are 41 suites for the 26 guest who were lucky enough to be invited onboard. There are some 28 crew cabins.  All this for a cost of $384,000 a week to operate.
While Allen had a passion for his three yachts, he also had several homes, a collection of airplanes including a Russian Mig fighter jet. He owned a Boeing 757 that he sold to Donald Trump. Two of Allen’s helicopters were assigned to the Octopus, but he also owned several others.And, of course, no billionaire’s life would be complete without them owning an Island. Allen owned his private Island in Washington and named it after a Navy Hero. Allan Island, named for a Navy hero (not the billionaire), is an almost entirely undeveloped 292-acre island jutting out of the Pacific Ocean, north of Seattle. Allan Island is one of 172 islands comprising the San Juan’s archipelago. The land boasts one modest house – a caretaker’s cabin fitted with water, septic and generator.  There’s also a 2,400-foot grass airstrip and a boat dock, the only two means by which a person can access the island. There are rugged RV trails through the acreage and with beaches all along the coastline.Surprisingly, the island does not have electricity.  Estimated for laying cable to bring in electricity are about three million dollars. Then again maybe someone who is stepped in electronics just needs to escape from time to time from the magic of electricity.
Allen owned the Seattle Sea Hawks and also bought the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association.Paul Allen was a man who worked and played even harder.
Allen hosted a themed-party every year onboard the Octopus while docked at the Cannes film festival. Paul Allen certainly spread his wealth around and seems to have a great deal of fun doing. Unfortunately, Paul G Allan died onOctober 15, 2018. He was 65 years old. Co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates said of him, “From our early days together at Lakeside School, through our partnership in the creation of Microsoft, to some of our joint philanthropic projects over the years, Paul was a true partner and dear friend. Personal computing would not have existed without him.”

Mercer Island Estate

 

Immense love for the native land made Paul Allen spent billions and acquired a property in Seattle. He has an enormous beachfront residence in the outskirts of Seattle, which is spread over an area of ten acres. The mansion is built over the area measuring 10,000-square feet and shares the marvelous view sight of Lake Washington.

The mansion consists of 25 huge bedrooms, 28 bathrooms, a fully geared- up gym, and several other sumptuous facilities. The house is also known for the large catamaran, which is used by Paul as a waterfront concert hall and a floating helipad. Frequent renovations in the house have made it a little difficult to measure its exact value, however, many people estimate that the house’s price is approximately $20 million.

A – 4 buildings ~200 ft from water: 10,680 sq ft main building with gym and 2 indoor tennis courts; 5,220, 4,210, and 2,050 sq ft guest houses; and 12+ car garages for an antique and race car museum and guest parking.

B – Mother’s house, ~50 feet from water, 11,300 sq ft plus 7 car garage.

C – Catamaran, Dragonfly, to drag-and-fly helicopters.

D – Main house including attached indoor pool and lakefront building to the north and wood garden/lakefront house to the south, 9,890 sq ft.

E– Concert hall theater and guest facilities, 11,560 sq ft.

F – 1,750 sq ft house with 100 ft waterfront acquired in 2006 for $5.2 million.

Check Out Paul Allen’s Mercer Island Mansions, Private Island

By Sean Keeley@SeanKeeleyIsMeJan 31, 2013, 12:00pm PST

Paul Allen’s 414-Foot Yacht Octopus Lists for Over $300 Million

By Beckie Strum  
Sept. 6, 2019 10:46 am ET

Octopus, the epic megayacht of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen—which includes its own submarine, remote-controlled deep-sea explorer, and on-deck gym—has hit the market for more than $300 million, boat broker Burgess announced this week.

At 414 feet, Octopus stretches longer than a football field and is at once a lavish floating resort with a spa and cinema, and a serious research vessel that provided Allen, who died last October at the age of 65, access to some of the Earth’s most remote places.

The billionaire philanthropist used the yacht to locate numerous sunken warships, downed aircraft, and even lent it to the British Royal Navy to pull a historic bell from the depths of the Denmark Strait in 2012.

It’s traversed the frigid waters of the Antarctic and deep dark caves in the Indian Ocean, where the vessel was integral to studying the mysterious coelacanth fish—once thought to have gone extinct with the dinosaurs more than 65 million years ago, according to Allen’s official website.

One of the megayacht’s greatest successes was the 2015 discovery of the sunken Japanese battleship Musashi, one of the largest warships in naval history, which Octopus found off the coast of the Philippines after the wreck eluded search teams for 70 years, Burgess said in a news release.

“Octopus offers an abundance of features and amenities specially tailored for those looking to explore the globe’s most remote and inaccessible destinations,” said the global brokerage, which is officially listing Octopus for €295 million (US$325.56 million). The yachting company, which has offices from Monaco to Phuket, Thailand, markets all of its boats in euros.

Such features include an eight-person submarine called Pagoo, a remote-operated vehicle capable of diving nearly 2 miles deep, helipads, and a garage capable of storing an SUV and two helicopters.

The yacht can accommodate up to 26 guests across 13 cabins in addition to a crew of 60, according to the agents, who called it “the pinnacle explorer yacht for those seeking a proven ‘go-anywhere, do-anything platform.’”

In his memoir, Allen wrote that he was stunned when Germany-based builder Lürssen delivered Octopus in 2003.

“It was a third longer than a football field, more than 20 yards wide, seven stories high,” Allen wrote in his 2011 book “Idea Man.” “When I first stood on the bridge, I felt as though I was on a spaceship.”

Beyond exploration, the ship brought together all of Allen’s passions in what he called “one moveable feast.”

A few years after the boat’s delivery, the tech titan parked it in the French Riviera to host a star-studded party during the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. Mick Jagger and U2 have performed on board, where he commissioned a soundproofed recording studio—a feat considering the vibrations of the engine, he wrote in his memoir.

From Penta:Hong Kong Unrest Has High Net Worth Seeking Safer Havens Globally

There are multiple lounges, a library, bar, pool, and spa. There’s even a basketball court on the below deck and a glass-bottomed observation lounge.

Of all the amenities and technical gadgets, Allen wrote that his favorite spot was an intimate deck at the very top of Octopus.

From there, “I’ve looked out over Venice rooftops,” Allen said, “and the factories and naval yards along the Huangpu River in Shanghai.”

This article originally appeared on Mansion Global.
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Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, is dead at 65

Paul G. Allen, Microsoft’s Co-Founder, Is Dead at 65
By Steve Lohr  
Oct. 15, 2018

The disease recurred recently after having been in remission for years. He left Microsoft in the early 1980s, after the cancer first appeared, and, using his enormous wealth, went on to make a powerful impact on Seattle life through his philanthropy and his ownership of the N.F.L. team there, ensuring that it would remain in the city.

Mr. Allen was a force at Microsoft during its first seven years, along with its co-founder, Bill Gates, as the personal computer was moving from a hobbyist curiosity to a mainstream technology, used by both businesses and consumers.

When the company was founded, in 1975, the machines were known as microcomputers, to distinguish the desktop computers from the hulking machines of the day. Mr. Allen came up with the name Micro-Soft, an apt one for a company that made software for small computers. The term personal computer would become commonplace later.

The company’s first product was a much-compressed version of the Basic programming language, designed to suit those underpowered machines. Yet the company’s big move came when it promised the computer giant IBM that it would deliver the operating system software for IBM’s entry into the personal computer business. Mr. Gates and Mr. Allen committed to supplying that software in 1980.

At the time, it was a promise without a product. But Mr. Allen was instrumental in putting together a deal to buy an early operating system from a programmer in Seattle. He and Mr. Gates tweaked and massaged the code, and it became the operating system that guided the IBM personal computer, introduced in 1981.

That product, called Microsoft Disk Operating System, or MS-DOS, was a watershed for the company. Later would come Microsoft’s immensely popular Windows operating system, designed to be used with a computer mouse and onscreen icons — point-and-click computing rather than typed commands. The company would also produce the Office productivity programs for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations.

“In his own quiet and persistent way, he created magical products, experiences and institutions, and in doing so, he changed the world,” Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s current chief executive, said of Mr. Allen in a statement.

Mr. Allen’s partnership with Mr. Gates began when they were teenagers attending the private Lakeside School in Seattle. It was there that they got their start in computing, working from a school Teletype terminal that was linked to a far-away mainframe computer under a so-called time-sharing computer system, in which operators paid for the computing time they used. Funds for the system were originally supplied by proceeds from a school bake sale.

Mr. Allen scored a perfect 1,600 on his SAT test, and went on to Washington State University. But after two years he dropped out to work as a programmer for Honeywell in Boston. Mr. Gates was nearby, attending Harvard University.

When an early microcomputer was introduced, appearing on the cover of Popular Electronics magazine, Mr. Allen persuaded Mr. Gates to drop out of Harvard and move to Albuquerque, where a start-up called MITS had built a machine that has been credited as the first personal computer. The machine lacked software, and Mr. Allen and Mr. Gates, showing up at the MITS offices, promised that they could supply it.

[Read more about the first personal computer.]

Their first offering was Microsoft Basic. Both Mr. Gates and Mr. Allen were skilled code creators, but Mr. Gates was more the hard-charging, volatile businessman, while Mr. Allen played the peacemaker and negotiator in those early days.

Within a few years, Microsoft moved from New Mexico to suburban Seattle. Though Mr. Allen stepped away from daily duties at Microsoft in the early 1980s, partly because of a deteriorating relationship with Mr. Gates, he remained on the Microsoft board until 2000.

[Read a review of “Idea Man.”]

“They were bemoaning my recent lack of production and discussing how they might dilute my Microsoft equity by issuing options to themselves and other shareholders,” Mr. Allen wrote.

But Mr. Allen held his ground and his shares.

Mr. Gates said in a statement on Monday: “From our early days together at Lakeside School, through our partnership in the creation of Microsoft, to some of our joint philanthropic projects over the years, Paul was a true partner and dear friend. Personal computing would not have existed without him.”

As Microsoft became the dominant personal computer software company, Mr. Allen, as well as Mr. Gates, who was the face of the company, became immensely wealthy. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he had a net worth of $26.1 billion.

He was also an investor and a generous philanthropist.

Mr. Allen donated more than $2 billion toward nonprofit groups dedicated to the advancement of science, technology, education, the environment and the arts. Among the scientific research organizations he funded were the Allen Institute for Brain Science in 2003 and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in 2014.

And while some of his philanthropy was global, like a passion for ending elephant poaching, much of his post-Microsoft work centered on Seattle, where he became a transformative force behind many of the city’s leading cultural institutions.

[Read more about Mr. Allen’s transformation of Seattle.]

He restored the old Cinerama movie theater to modern standards seemingly ideal for watching science-fiction films, and he hired Frank Gehry to design the Museum of Pop Culture,which Mr. Allen founded in 2000 under the original name of the Experience Music Project.The wild, undulating buildingdisplayed items revealing Mr. Allen’s cultural obsessions, including guitars owned by Jimi Hendrix and Captain Kirk’s command chair from the 1960s television series “Star Trek.”

In the 1990s, Mr. Allen bought a swath of land in the South Lake Union neighborhood to help build a Seattle version of Central Park, but the public ultimately voted down the plans. He took those real estate holdings and, through his company, Vulcan, developed South Lake Union into the home of Amazon. Google and other tech companies have been opening offices in that now revitalized neighborhood.

“He has a definitive role of what we understand as today’s Seattle, which is about technology, about real estate and about a distinctive local culture with international visibility,” said Margaret O’Mara, a history professor at the University of Washington.

Mr. Allen also used his wealth to acquire the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association in 1988and the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League in 1996. (or666just turn the 9’s upside down)

Of all his investments, the ownership of professional sports teams was among the most incongruous. Sports owners, like it or not, are often in the spotlight, and Mr. Allen, by and large, had preferred to steer clear of media attention.

Yet in 1988, at 35 (3+5 =8, so 888), he bought the Trail Blazers and promised to keep the franchise in the city, one of the smallest in the league. He often flew to games from Seattle and sat courtside with his mother. Soon after he bought the team, the Trail Blazers had one of their best runs in franchise history, making it to the N.B.A. finals twice in three years, losing both times.

In a statement, Adam Silver, the N.B.A. commissioner, called Mr. Allen “the ultimate trail blazer — in business, philanthropy and in sports.” Mr. Silver said Mr. Allen, one of the longest-tenured owners in the league, was particularly interested in the league’s growth internationally (globally) and its embrace of new technologies.

In the mid-1990s, the owner of Mr. Allen’s hometown Seahawks, Ken Behring, was considering moving the team to Los Angeles because he was unable to get public funding for a new stadium in Seattle. Mr. Allen was urged to step in to keep the team in Seattle. In 1996, he bought an exclusive option to purchase the team from Mr. Behring by July 1997, an option he ultimately exercised, buying the team for $194 million.

Mr. Allen set about building the team a new home downtown. The team moved into CenturyLink Field in 2002, and Mr. Allen spent hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade the stadium. Though he spoke infrequently to the media, he could often be seen at games, sometimes raising the “12” flag — representing the fans — before kickoff, a team ritual.

[Read more about Mr. Allen’s ownership of the Seattle Seahawks]

During his tenure the Seahawks made their only threeSuper Bowl appearances, winning the title once, in 2014.

“I personally valued Paul’s advice on subjects ranging from collective bargaining to bringing technologyto our game,” Roger Goodell, the N.F.L. Commissioner, said in a statement.

One of Allen’s companies also owned a stake in the Seattle Sounders, one of the most successful franchises in Major League Soccer. The Sounders won the league title in 2016.

It is unclear what will happen to Mr. Allen’s teams; the details of his estate are not public. The Seahawks alone are worth an estimated $2.58 billion. Few N.F.L. and N.B.A. clubs change hands, so any sale is likely to attract substantial bids.

Paul Gardner Allen was born in Seattle on Jan. 21, 1953, to Kenneth and Edna (Faye) Allen. His father was a librarian; his mother a schoolteacher. He is survived by his sister, Jody Allen.

Three years ago, when commemoratingMicrosoft’s 40th anniversary, Mr. Allen posted on Twitter a bit of the code for the company’s first software product. At the top, it said, “Copyright 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.”

“It’s weird to look at bits of code you wrote 40 years ago and think, ‘That led to where Microsoft is today,’ ” Mr. Allen said at the time. He sounded genuinely amazed.

Correction:Oct. 15, 2018

An earlier version of this obituary misstated the cities in which Mr. Allen owned professional sports teams. He owned an N.F.L. team in Seattle and an N.B.A. team in Portland, Ore.; the teams were not both in Seattle.

Correction:Oct. 15, 2018

An earlier version of this obituary misspelled Mr. Allen’s middle name. It is Gardner, not Gardener.

Ken Belson and Karen Weise contributed reporting from Seattle.

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Collector Paul Allen’s Yacht Accidentally Destroys a Coral Reef

Microsoft co-founder and noted art collector Paul Allen had a bit of an accident on his super-yacht, Tatoosh, destroying much of the coral reef off the coast of Grand Cayman on January 15, reports Page Six.

“Initial figures place the damaged area at 1,200 square meters… with 80 percent of the coral within that area destroyed,” said a Cayman Department of Environment representative in a statement.

In 2015, Allen, who is worth an estimated $18 billion, launched the Seattle Art Fair, which proved a hit among the tech sector. His new Seattle nonprofit arts institution Pivot Art + Culture, however, may be closing almost as quickly as it opened.

Allen and his crew could face criminal prosecution and up to a $600,000 fine for violation of national conservation laws,which offer protection to the Caymans’ coral reefs.

Paul Allen
✔@PaulGAllen

Octopus’ ROV bringing the bell aboard. See more video & photos from the Hood expedition here

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1:06 PM – Aug 8, 2015

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Link: https://www.rvpetrel.com/

Tatoosh, at 300 feet long, is the the world’s 49th largest yacht according to Boat International. Though the mega-yacht could be seized in order to cover any fines, insurance coverage will likely prevent that from happening.

It has not been confirmed whether or not Allen was on board the ship during the incident. His company, Vulcan Inc., told Geek Wire that the billionaire is cooperation with local authorities and that “Tatoosh was moored in a position explicitly directed by the local Port Authority. When its crew was alerted by a diver that her anchor chain may have impacted coral, the crew promptly relocated to ensure the reef was protected.”

Ironically, Allen has been a major supporter of ocean conservation efforts. He also owns an even larger yacht, the Octopus, which is over 400 feet long.

    ABOUT PETREL

The R/V Petrel is an underwater research and exploration vessel used specifically to locate historically significant shipwrecks and explore underwater ecosystems. Equipped with the latest state-of-the-art subsea technology including two onboard robots– an AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) and a ROV (remotely operated vehicle) – we are able to search more than three miles below the sea.

RV Petrel and its mission, is a public outreach that started over a decade ago with Paul’s vision of research, archaeology and discovery, promoting and advocating education, history, and as a tribute to those who serve and came before us. With his guidance and unwavering support, our missions continue to safeguard ocean stewardship in pursuit of these common goals.

Paul Allen helps find lost wreckage of USS Indianapolis in Philippine Sea with latest sonar technology

BY TAYLOR SOPER on August 19, 2017 at 12:26 pm

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Paul Allen’s Research Vessel “Petrel” Finds Another WWII Ship: “Lady Lex”

WhatExit?

Mar 6, 2018

Well-Known Inmate #’s 2584 & 20161

Wreckage from the USS Lexington was discovered by the expedition crew of Research Vessel (R/V) Petrel on March 4. The Lexington was found 3,000 meters (about two miles) below the surface, resting on the floor of the Coral Sea more than 500 miles off the eastern coast of Australia.

“To pay tribute to the USS Lexington and the brave men that served on her is an honor,” said Paul Allen. “As Americans, all of us owe a debt of gratitude to everyone who served and who continue to serve our country for their courage, persistence and sacrifice.”

As one of the first U.S. aircraft carriers ever built, the Lexington became known as “Lady Lex” and went down with 35 aircraft on board.

“Lexington was on our priority list because she was one of the capital ships that was lost during WWII,” said Robert Kraft, director of subsea operations for Allen. “Based on geography, time of year and other factors, I work with Paul Allen to determine what missions to pursue. We’ve been planning to locate the Lexington for about six months and it came together nicely.”

The USS Lexington was originally commissioned as a battlecruiser but was launched as an aircraft carrier in 1925. She took part in the Battle of the Coral Sea (May 4-8, 1942) along with the USS Yorktown against three Japanese carriers. This was the first carrier versus carrier battle in history and was the first time Japanese forces suffered a permanent setback in its advances on New Guinea and Australia. However, the U.S. lost the Lexington and 216 of its distinguished crew.

The Lexington had been hit by multiple torpedoes and bombs on May 8 but it was a secondary explosion causing uncontrolled fires that finally warranted the call to abandon ship. The USS Phelps delivered the final torpedoes that sank the crippled Lady Lex, the first aircraft carrier casualty in history. With other U.S. ships standing by, 2,770 crewmen and officers were rescued, including the captain and his dog Wags, the ships ever-present mascot.

During the Battle of the Coral Sea the Japanese navy sank USS Lexington (CV-2), USS Sims (DD-409), and USS Neosho (AO-23), and damaged the USS Yorktown. The Japanese lost one light carrier (Shōhō) and suffered significant damage to a fleet carrier (Shōkaku).

“As the son of a survivor of the USS Lexington, I offer my congratulations to Paul Allen and the expedition crew of Research Vessel (R/V) Petrel for locating the “Lady Lex,” sunk nearly 76 years ago at the Battle of Coral Sea,” said Navy Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., head of the U.S. Pacific Command. “We honor the valor and sacrifice of the “Lady Lex’s” Sailors — all those Americans who fought in World War II — by continuing to secure the freedoms they won for all of us.”

The Battle of the Coral Sea was notable not only for stopping a Japanese advance but because it was the first naval engagement in history where opposing ships never came within sight of each other. This battle ushered in a new form of naval warfare via carrier-based airplanes. One month later, the U.S. Navy surprised Japanese forces at the Battle of Midway, and turned the tide of the war in the Pacific for good.

Based on some initial success with his M/Y Octopus, Allen acquired and retrofitted the 250-foot R/V Petrel with state-of-the-art subsea equipment capable of diving to 6,000 meters (or three and a half miles). Since its deployment in early 2017, the ship was active in several missions in the Philippine Sea before its transition to the Coral Sea off the Australian Coast.

Allen-led expeditions have also resulted in the discovery of the USS Indianapolis (August 2017), USS Ward (November 2017), USS Astoria (February 2015), Japanese battleship Musashi (March 2015) and the Italian WWII destroyer Artigliere (March 2017). His team was also responsible for presentation to the British Navy in honor of its heroic service. Allen’s expedition team was permanently transferred to the newly acquired and retrofitted R/V Petrel in 2016 with a specific mission around research, exploration and survey of historic warships and other important artifacts.
Read more at https://www.paulallen.com/uss-lexington-wreck-located-rv-petrel/#hHL1kyHop4jkk7X1.99

HMS Hood ‘For Years Unseen’ – How HMS Hood’s Bell came home

Maritime Foundation

May 27, 2017

A 20 year journey, ending in the Royal dedication of the bell of the great warship, recovered from her wreck in the Denmark Strait.

Conservation of the HMS Hood’s Bell, recovered by Paul G. Allen

The Bell from HMS Hood, recovery funded by Paul G. Allen

The bell bears an inscription in memory of Rear-Admiral Sir Horace Hood, who died in the Battle of Jutland in World War One. It forms part of an exhibition commemorating Jutland, the biggest naval battle in the 1914-1918 war. The museum said the bell was a memorial to both battles, which happened 25 years apart.

Remembering HMS Hood: Bell of battlecruiser sunk 75 years ago in Royal Navy’s biggest ever disaster retrieved from the seabed by Microsoft founder Paul Allen is formally unveiled by Princess Royal

• The bell from HMS Hood has been unveiled by the Princess Royal 75 years after the ship was sunk by the Bismarck
• Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen had funded expedition to retrieve bell from seabed between Iceland and Greenland
• Ceremony watched by descendants of some of 1,415 sailors who died when battleship hit by German vessel in 1941
• Only three of Hood’s crew survived and it was wish of one of them to recover ship’s bell as memorial to shipmates

By Sam Tonkin For Mailonline

Published: 12:43 EDT, 24 May 2016 | Updated: 17:12 EDT, 24 May 2016

See the whole article, including photos by clicking  HERE

CONSERVED HMS HOOD BELL RINGS OUT ON 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF LARGEST EVER ROYAL NAVY LOSS

Home › Conserved HMS Hood bell rings out on 75th anniversary of largest ever Royal Navy loss

• HMS Hood bell unveiled on 75th anniversary of sinking

• HRH The Princess Royal strikes eight bells at midday

• Official opening of Battle of Jutland exhibition gives first sight of conserved bell from “The Mighty Hood”

Nine months (a jestation period)after its retrieval from the murky depths of the Denmark Straits, the bell from HMS Hood was unveiled today by HRH The Princess Royal during a commemorative service to mark the 75th anniversary of the sinking of the ship.Hood was the largest Royal Navy vessel to have been sunk, causing the biggest loss of life suffered by any single British warship.

Princess Anne struck eight bells at middayat a ceremony at The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard as descendants of some of the 1,415 sailors who lost their lives when the ship was hit by Bismarck on 24 May, 1941 looked on.Only threeof Hood’s crew survived and it was the expressed wish of one of them, Ted Briggs,to recover the ship’s bell as a memorial to his shipmates.

English Baby Names Meaning:

The name Ted is an English Baby Names baby name. In English Baby Names the meaning of the name Ted is: Wealthy guardian. From the Old English name Eadweard, meaning rich or happy, and guardian. Also a diminutive of Edgar: Fortunate and powerful.

The English surname Briggsderives from the Old Norse word “bryggja.” It is the Northern English form of the word bridge.

Following the unveiling, the bell was carried by a Royal Navy guard to Boathouse 5 for the official opening by Princess Anne of the exhibition 36 Hours:Jutland 1916, The Battle That Won The Warwhich marks the centenary of the Battle of Jutland. Lady Hood launched Hood in 1918in memory of her late husband Rear Admiral Sir Horace Hood KCB DSO MVO who was killed in his ship, HMS Invincible, at the Battle of Jutland, fought one hundred years ago on 31 May. An inscription on the side of the bell reads: “In accordance with the wishes of Lady Hood it was presented in memory of her husband to HMS “Hood” battlecruiser which ship she launched on 22nd (8)August 1918”

The bell’s retrievalfrom one and a half miles (7920 ft or 7+9+2 =18) below the surfacewas led by a team assembled by US philanthropist and entrepreneur, Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen and included Blue Water Recoveries. The expedition was launched from Allen’s his yacht M/Y Octopus, equipped with a state-of-the-art Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) that was adapted to safely retrieve the bell.

At the time of the recovery, the President of The Hood Association, Rear Admiral Philip Wilcocks, whose uncle died on board said:

“There is no headstone among the flowers for those who perish at sea. For the 1,415 officers and men who lost their lives in HMS Hood on 24 May 1941, the recovery of her bell and its subsequent place of honour in The National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth will mean that future generations will be able to gaze upon her belland remember with gratitude and thanks the heroism, courage and personal sacrifice of Hood’s ship’s company who died in the service of their country.”

Professor Dominic Tweddle, Director General of The National Museum of the Royal Navy received the bell formally from Navy Secretary, Rear Admiral Simon Williams and said:

“HMS Hood’s bell provides an extraordinary and moving link(bridge)between the sacrifice of the Royal Navy in 1916 at Jutland and those made by a new generation of sailors in the Second World War.The bell was presented to the Royal Navy’s newest battlecruiser when she was launched in 1918, by the widow of Rear Admiral Sir Horace Hood, great-great grandson of Sir Samuel Hood after whom the ship was named. Sir Horace died at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916,one of 1,026 (1+2+6=9) officers and men who died in seconds when HMS Invincible blew up and sank, and the bell is inscribed to that effect. HMS Hood was, of course, subsequently destroyed in very similar circumstances by the German battleship Bismarck at the Battle of the Denmark Strait on 24 May 1941, with the loss of 1,415 (1+4+1+5=11) men. The bell is a memorial to two battles, separated by 25 years but joined by centuries of tradition and sacrifice.”

The project to assess and conserve the bell was managed at Portsmouth Naval Base by BAE Systems’ Non Destructive Examination Centre in collaboration with the Naval Air Squadron, as part of the company’s community investment fund. The conservation was by Mary Rose Archaeological Services, which was particularly keen to help The Hood Association, and funded by David Mearns of Blue Water Recoveries.  The immediate priority was to place it in a tank of fresh water (baptism)to remove any salts absorbed over its 74 (11) years in the North Atlantic.

The bell was in good order, despite its long submersion, and there followed a series of metallurgical tests and analysis to consider its condition. After a discussion to determine the level of finish for the bell, it was concluded that there would be a minimum of surface cleaning, leaving the staining and the calcified work casts as evidence of the time spent in the sea. 

The distinction of the Hood bell is the two engravings, one around the base and the other on the side of the bell and these would be made legible because of the story they tell.  

The inscription around the base of the bell reads: “This bell was preserved from HMS Hood battleship 1891-1914 by the late Rear Admiral, The Honourable Sir Horace Hood KCB, DSO, MVO killed at Jutland on 31st May 1916.”

David Mearns, Director of Blue Water Recoveries said: “I am extremely pleased that we have been able to fulfil one of the last wishes of Ted Briggs to recover the ship’s bell as a memorial and we are delighted that it is now on display as a reminder of the service and sacrifice of her men.”

36 Hours: Jutland 1916, The Battle That Won The Waris open for threeyears.  Details on visiting are available on www.jutland.org.uk

If by chance, you do not understand the significance of BELLS in the world of the Spirit/Supernatural/Paranormal, please review my article:

BAAL – BEL – BELL – HELLS BELLS

Paul G. Allen spends a lot of money supporting AI and Brain research as well as immunization.  A lot of the same stuff that Bill Gates is using to take control of the world.  He also supports software development for the medical industry to be used for medical tyranny. 

We are human. We are the next frontier.

The Allen Institute is fiercely committed to solving some of the biggest mysteries of bioscience, researching the unknown of human biology, in the brain, the human cell and the immune system. At the same time, we are pushing the frontiers of bioscience to continue to explore the edges of scientific discovery. (Transhumanism, Digital ID, Vaccines, Changing DNA, Mind Control)

Our scientists within each division collaborate in a team science approach, tackling big science projects. And everything learned within our walls is shared publicly across the world in what we call open science.

All this work is done to fulfill our founder Paul G. Allen’s vision for accelerating global progress towards improving health and lengthening life. (Don’t get excited, it isn’t YOUR LIFE they want to lengthen, unless you take the chip and become their slaves.)

Project Alexandria – a new research initiative on common sense artificial intelligence

Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group/Exploring Frontiers of BioScience

Secret life of a bitter billionaire: For years, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen hid his decadent lifestyle so why is he now telling all… and turning on Bill Gates?

By Tom Leonard
Updated: 13:29 EDT, 25 April 2011

• Super yachts, a collection of war planes, Impressionist masterpieces and star-studded parties a feature of lavish spending
• Autobiography accuses Gates of trying to swindle him out of fortune while he was sick with cancer

Microsoft recently celebrated its 36th birthday.

The occasion was not marked with bright smiles and felicitations, but with ugly scowls and recriminations between the two men who could have been blowing out the candles together.

News of a seismic clash between the empire’s founders will have come as a shock to many.

Not so much the rift, but the fact there were two of them — and that the company that revolutionised the world of computing was set up by anyone other than Bill Gates.

Paul Allen enjoyed the company of fellow Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates at a Portland Trail Blazers basketball game in this undated photograph. But their relationship allegedly soured

And that seems to be precisely Paul Allen’s point in writing an autobiography — published this week — that has finally pulled him out from his former partner’s shadow and exposed the abiding tensions between them.

The media fracas began when an extract from Idea Man: A Memoir By The Co-founder Of Microsoft appeared in the current issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

In it, Allen painted a less than flattering portrait of Bill Gates, with whom he co-founded Microsoft in 1975, as a slave-driving micro-manager who publicly belittled co-workers.

‘To anybody who disagreed with him he would reel out his favourite insult: “That’s the stupidest f****** thing I’ve ever heard!”,’ Allen recalls in the memoir.

Gates would jeer at colleagues if they wanted to take time off, Allen adds. He also claims that his former friend and colleague attempted to swindle him out of his fair share of the business, most notably in 1982, when Allen was suffering from cancer.

Low profile high roller: Allen does not have the profile of his old partner Gates but he is known to the stars, such as Paris Hilton for his lavish parties

This week, Allen admitted in an interview that Gates’ demanding and confrontational style ‘gradually destroyed our friendship and our ability to work together’.

The relationship never recovered, and Allen left Microsoft in 1983. Gates went on to create a fortune estimated at £35 billion and devote his life to philanthropy; Allen, whose accusations of foul play this month earned him the sobriquet ‘the bitter billionaire’ in the U.S. press, appeared to vanish completely and has spent the past 20 years as a Gatsby-esque recluse.

So obsessively private is he that even guests to his famously lavish parties have to sign non-disclosure agreements.  (Is that because he is a recluse, or because of the things they may see while at his party?)

Indeed, the man — so reclusive he was once described as the ‘Loch Ness Monster of the internet age’ — garners far fewer headlines than one of his obscenely-proportioned yachts.

Unless you are a rock star who relishes playing at billionaires’ birthday parties, a Hollywood actress in need of a free French mansion, or a supermodel looking for the ultimate yacht on which to sunbathe, you are unlikely to have even heard of Allen, the ‘other man’ in the Microsoft story.

If you are any of the above, though, you may well have encountered the shy, slightly dumpy, serious-looking man who stood out like a sore thumb at any number of the wild, star-studded parties that turned out to be his.

‘My face is not well-known,’ he admits.

‘So if somebody runs into me at a party, typically they have no idea if I’m just one of the guitar players in the band or if I’m the host.’

He may be well behind his old sparring partner in the Forbes rich list — Gates is 2nd in the world while Allen has sunk to 57th on a trifling £8billion — but Allen punches well above his weight in opulence, spending incredible sums to enjoy one of the most lavish lifestyles of this age.

Specky, wiry Gates may look more the part, but 58-year-old Allen acts the part to perfection of the computer nerd suddenly given more money than anyone could possibly spend.

In Microsoft’s early days, Allen provided the technical vision while Gates was the business brains. (So Gates was not even the brains in technology… he is only a very aggressive businessman, motivated by money and measurable progress/success.)

Even so, Allen has long had to put up with the unflattering moniker of ‘the accidental zillionaire’, a reference to the fact that virtually all his money came from the rocketing share value of Microsoft after he left.

He owns spectacular homes in France including a villa at Cap Ferrat, in London’s Holland Park, and in New York.

The founders: A 1978 photo of the 11 people who started Microsoft with Bill Gates on the left of the front row and Paul Allen on the right

His main residence, outside his home town of Seattle, features an art gallery stuffed with Impressionist masterpieces, a basketball court lined with Renoirs and Monets, and an underground car park where he keeps a huge collection of sports cars.

He has his own hangar at Seattle’s airport where he keeps his various jets, including two Boeing 757s and a Challenger 601 and another — in deference to a childhood spent making model airplanes — where he keeps 15 flyable planes from World War II.

They include a Curtiss Tomahawk, a Messerschmitt 109, a Grumman Hellcat and a Spitfire.

But neither the houses nor the planes hold a candle to the yachts. Allen has three of them, each vast and crewed to the hilt.

His flagship, the 414 ft Octopus, has eight levels, a crew of 60 including former U.S. Navy Seals, two helicopters, seven boats, a remote-controlled vehicle that crawls across the ocean floor, a recording studio and a ten-man submarine where the Beastie Boys recorded their last album.

The Octopus alone, the world’s biggest when he bought it, costs £12 million a year to keep up and £483,000 for a full tank of fuel.

Lavish: Paul Allen’s yacht Octopus, pictured here in Beaulieu, has eight levels, a crew of 60, two helicopters, seven boats and a recording studio where the Beastie Boys recorded their last album

For Allen, it’s a small price to pay to get the likes of Mick Jagger, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz and Paris Hilton on board.

Insiders say Allen has few close friends, although he is devoted to his widowed mother, Faye, 85, and sister, Jody, 53.

Many of the celebrities who throng his parties are simply friends of friends, they say. He has relied on the media mogul David Geffen and the actress Carrie Fisher to introduce him to Hollywood and Dave Stewart, the former member of the band The Eurythmics, to do the same in the music world.

His propensity for party-giving may be Gatsby-esque, but looks-wise Allen is no Robert Redford. He remains terminally uncool, snipe those who wolf down his champagne and caviar canapés.

Acquaintances are pleasantly surprised to find Allen is not the usual aggressive ‘alpha male’ billionaire. Still, sadly people don’t seem to go to Allen bashes for the host’s bonhomie and sparkling conversation.

Allen is apparently so socially gauche that if a conversation takes a direction he doesn’t like he just walks away.

Girlfriends: Socially awkward Allen once dated tennis star Monica Seles

One guest told Allen’s biographer, Laura Rich: ‘He’s not particularly gracious or particularly witty or particularly funny . . . he’s not good at being desperately interested in what other people are saying.’

Allen has never married, but he has certainly had girlfriends. Although he was once romantically linked with Jerry Hall, who joined him on his yacht in the south of France shortly after her break-up from Mick Jagger in 1999, the dalliance — if there was one — was short-lived.

He also once dated tennis star Monica Seles.

The maudlin songs he wrote with titles such as Rhythm Of Hearts and Kingdom Of The Lonely for his rock band, Grown Men, are believed to have been his way of coping with the break-up many years ago.

Non-famous girlfriends report being treated rather less sensitively, several saying he unceremoniously dumped them without explanation and further contact.

In 1998, Allen ended up in court after Abbie Phillips, who he had employed to run his film and TV production company, Storyopolis, accused him of sexually assaulting her.

He denied the charge and the case was settled out of court, but not before her lawyer had accused him of mistreating four other women — ‘developing crushes, lavishing gifts and vacations on, and then firing, married female employees’.

Women say he has nice, kind eyes and is ‘sweet’, even if he has the pallid complexion of someone who spends too much time on his computer.

Some report being terrified by his much fiercer sister, Jody, who appears to function as his gatekeeper. And well she might, given the size of his fortune.

Romance may be complicated, but Allen is on surer ground entertaining en masse.

His parties are the stuff of whispered conversations even among the top tier of Hollywood. ‘No one entertains like that any more,’ says one Hollywood producer.

‘He is like a Medici prince, a grand seigneur, someone who entertains in the old style.’

In 1998, Allen celebrated his 45th birthday with a week-long luxury cruise to Alaska that cost him £5.5 million. Guests — ‘friends’ might be going too far — included Jerry Hall, Francis Ford Coppola and Candice Bergen.

Hobby: Allen loves playing the guitar and is pictured here on stage with the American band Presidents of the United States of America

Two years later, he trumped that with an £8 million extravaganza in which he flew 200 guests, among them Sir Paul McCartney and Tom Hanks, to Helsinki and then on to St Petersburg at the cost of £860 per head per night.

Robin Williams can hardly be alone in admitting, after being flown to Allen’s masked ball in Venice, that he didn’t know the man at all. ‘I guess it’s a “Hi, I’m a billionaire, let’s have a party” kind of thing,’ he said.

Once, he lent Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie his French villa while she was pregnant.

If there’s only one obvious quid pro quo to Allen’s famous generosity, it seems to be a musical one.

At least one of his musician guests always ends up performing at his parties and Allen usually joins them on stage, the Jimi Hendrix devotee thrashing away on his guitar while guests politely cheer and think of the goodie bags.

The post-cruise ones included cashmere socks, rucksack, travel rug and binoculars. Jagger repaid Allen’s hospitality by letting him perform a guitar solo at his own 56th birthday party.

Party boat: Allen has two other yachst aside from the Tatoosh – including the Octopus (pictured)

Allen spent £148 million just building a Frank Gehry-designed rock museum in Seattle.

Playing guitar is one of his two great passions. The other is sport. He might like shooting a few basketball hoops, but he’s also keen on owning entire sports teams.

His collection includes the U.S. football team the Seattle Seahawks, the Seattle Sounders soccer team and basketball’s Portland Trailblazers.

Allen attends almost every Trailblazers home game, memorising every statistic and barraging the manager with text messages during the game. In 2007, he reportedly offered £50 million for Southampton FC, but the deal — probably to the manager’s everlasting relief — never happened.

Other interests more closely fit the geek stereotype. A Star Trek fan, he owns Captain Kirk’s chair from the original TV series which now sits proudly in the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame he created in Seattle.

He wants to be a spaceman, too, and even has his own rocket, the SpaceShipOne, which won him a prize for putting the first privately-funded craft into space.

Star power: Allen with Star Wars creator George Lucas, one of the many film personalities he likes to keep company with through his contacts

Can it be any surprise to learn that Allen is a major contributor to the SETI, or Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, project?

As for Microsoft, he now concedes his old firm is way behind the curve, saying the company has suffered a ‘decade of missed opportunities’ while Apple, Google and Facebook stormed ahead in their respective fields.

But he focuses his venom on Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the co-founders of Google, saying their actions are questionable at best and ‘evil’ at worst.

Meanwhile, his own post-Microsoft business career has been anything but stellar.

While the singleminded Gates devoted himself to advancing Microsoft, Allen, who met Gates while they were both pupils at a Seattle private school, branched out, showering money on dozens of ventures.

Always overshadowed by Gates in how much money he could earn, Allen has now been trumped in how much he is willing to give away, too

He has sunk many millions into more than 50 companies, but his track record has been generally pretty poor, dragging him down the rich list (he was once at number three) and reinforcing the ‘accidental zillionaire’ reputation he is said to loathe.

He was a major investor in DreamWorks, the Steven Spielberg Hollywood studio, though yet again he was trumped by Gates, who got far more attention a week later when he announced Microsoft was putting £61 million into the studio.

But at least it got Allen, an inveterate movie buff, smart invitations to Hollywood parties.

Allen may have taken a very different path to his Microsoft partner, but he will always be measured against him. Always overshadowed by Gates in how much money he could earn, Allen has now been trumped in how much he is willing to give away, too.

While Gates and his wife Melinda have now given to charity about 35 per cent of their fortune — some £17 billion — Allen has given away only three-quarters of a billion of his.   (Ok, let’s be clear… the Gates aren’t giving anything… They are a foundation and their personal money is protected.   The money they do throw around is really being used to create income for his other ventures or the ventures of his cohorts, who in turn send corresponding returns his way.)

More than a decade ago, he once complained to his friend the author Douglas Adams that he felt frustrated with his wealth.

‘I’ve spent money on jets, boats. I don’t know what to do next,’ he said.

Adams replied that he wanted to bring together a group of ‘brilliant thinkers’ to dream up some great philanthropic endeavour. Would Allen throw in a billion dollars, he asked.

Adams died and it never happened.

As Allen remains adrift on his luxury yachts and his spendthrift playboy existence, some must wonder if it ever will.

Paul Allen on Gates, Microsoft

CBS News 
Apr 17, 2011

Lesley Stahl speaks to Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen in his first interview about his upcoming book in which he criticizes his Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates.

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Bill Gates reportedly orders $644M hydrogen-powered superyacht with gym, helipad, infinity pool

By Lee Brown  
February 10, 2020 | 7:50am

Bill Gates’ new $644 million superyacht

To watch the video.  CLICK HERE

Bill Gates’ new $644 million superyacht

Bill Gates reportedly has his eye on the world’s first hydrogen-powered superyacht — a $644 million, environmentally friendly oasis on the sea with its own infinitypool, helipad, spa and gym.

The billionaire Microsoft co-founder was initially rumored to have already commissioned the 370-foot luxury Aqua yacht in a report Sunday in the UK paper The Telegraph.

However, the Dutch design firm Sinot insisted Monday that Aqua had yet to be sold to Gates, stressing it did not yet have a “business relationship” with the second-richest person in the world. (which we must assume, they do.  What exactly is that “business relationship”? Part of the Octopus that is the NWO.)

“We invite any visionary client to show their interest,” insisted the company — clearly aiming at eco-warrior billionaires just like him, with designer Sander Sinot saying the inspiration was “the lifestyle of a discerning, forward-looking owner.”

The vessel is powered by two 28-ton vacuum-sealed tanks cooled to minus-423 degrees Fahrenheit and filled with liquid hydrogen — with the only emission being water, according to the report. It will reach a top speed of 17 knots (19.5 mph)and be able to cross the Atlantic, the report says.

While far from the world’s largest yacht, plans show extreme luxury for the 14guests and 31 crew members who can be accommodated.

It includes its own fully equipped gym, yoga studio, beauty room, massage parlor and a stunning outdoor infinity pool.

Along with luxurious bedrooms, there are numerous outdoor lounges, a giant spiral staircase and an amazing observation room at the front.

Gates’ main motivation in wanting to commission the yacht would be to signal his backing for new, clean technology to cut carbon emissions, the Telegraph said.

He regularly takes superyacht vacations — but usually rents yachts rather than owning his own.

Whoever buys it will not be able to enjoy it for a few more years, however, with the report saying Aqua will not be ready until 2024.

The Gates Foundation and Gates Ventures declined to comment to the Telegraph for its report.

“Aqua is a concept under development and has not been sold to Mr Gates,” Sinoit insisted.

Inside 112m Hydrogen-Electric Superyacht Concept Aqua

10 February 2020• Written by Miranda Blazeby

Sinot Yacht Architecture and Design‘s 112 metre hydrogen-electric yacht concept Aqua was designed for “a discerning, forward-looking owner”.

Extensively developed over a period of five months, Aqua was created in collaboration with Lateral Naval Architects, which developed the yacht’s hydrogen technology and naval architecture.

The yacht was extensively developed over a period of five months

Fusing ground breaking technology with cutting edge design, Aqua features a hydrogen-electric system. The hydrogen propulsion package is based on the use of liquified hydrogen, which is stored at -253C degrees in two 28 ton vacuum isolated tanks.

The hydrogen is converted into electrical energy by proton exchange membrane fuel cells, with the generated energy powering the propulsion, auxiliary systems and hotel services. Water is the only by product of the system, which also sees large batteries buffer the generated electricity. The result is a top speed of 17 knots, cruising speed of 10-12 knots and range of 3750 nautical miles.

Aqua is powered by electric energy created by a hydrogen-electric system

Speaking about the concept, designer Sander Sinot said: “For development of Aqua we took inspiration from the lifestyle of a discerning, forward-looking owner, the fluid versatility of water and cutting-edge technology to combine this in a 112 metre superyacht with truly innovative features.”

“Our challenge was to implement fully operational liquid hydrogen and fuel cells in a true superyacht that is not only groundbreaking in technology, but also in design and aesthetics.”

The yacht’s bow observatory

The interior meanwhile has been designed around providing as much privacy and space as possible. Accommodation is for a total of 14 people and 31 crew. The full 15.4 metre beam owner’s “pavilion” occupies the front half of the upper deck.

Key features of the owner’s pavilion include an open plan layout divided by wooden screens, floor to ceiling windows on the port and starboard sides, a large central skylight and crafted wooden structure. The apartment also include a large bathroom, dressing room and spa.

The hexagonal hydrogen tanks

Other interior features include the Aqua room, which is located at the bow at the far end of the owner’s pavilion for far reaching ocean views and a “top-of-the-world” feeling.

Aqua also features an indoor health and wellness centre with a hydro massage room, yoga space and workout floor.

The huge full beam owner’s pavilion

A circular staircase sits at the core of the yacht, linking all five decks. Described as “a true spectacle”, the staircase bypasses the two hexagonal liquified hydrogen tanks, which sit behind a screen of strengthened glass.

The exterior meanwhile has been inspired by “ocean swells”, and features a curved top deck, integrated bow observatory, glass band windows and a raised front profile.