Vincent Astor's yacht, the Nourmahal, was among the largest private boats on the seas. Partly financed by the more than $300,000 profits realized from his investment in the 1926 film version of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, the 263-foot ship was over-the-top in both luxury and technology for its time. It was built by the Krupp Iron Works, which would later turn out U-boats, in Kiel, Germany,
Astor occasionally used the Nourmahal (Persian for “light of the palace”—or, more playfully, “harem') to host monthly meetings of “The Room,” a small, tightly knit group of powerful, well-connected men —no women—who met in secret to share intelligence garnered from New York's social whirl, travel, and business dealings. With 11 state rooms and a crew of more than 40, the “Nourmy,” as Astor's guests called it, also sometimes hosted his friend, patron and, beginning in 1933, President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Not all the cruises were social, however. In 1938 Astor and Kermit Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt's son, undertook a reconnaissance mission under cover of scientific expedition to surveil Japan's military activity on the Marshall Islands. Outfitted with a radio on loan from the U.S. Navy, they were to report on things like docks, fuel depots, and airstrips.
Astor seemed nearly giddy on the eve of his spy mission.
“I don't want to make you jealous, but aren't you a bit envious of my…
