The Peter-Cobis is more than a De Vlijt Bakdeksalonkruiser; it is a piece of history on the water.
The Peter-Cobis is more than a De Vlijt Bakdeksalonkruiser; it is a piece of history on the water.
The Yacht was custom built for General Friedrich Christiansen, commander-in-chief of the Nazi-German forces in the Netherlands. The boat is named after General Friedrich Christiansen’s two brothers Peter and Cobis, who reportedly lost their lives at sea.
The construction of the Peter-Cobis began in September 1941, the ship was delivered in August 1942 by the shipyard De Vlijt in Aalsmeer (now Royal De Vries Scheepsbouw Aalsmeer, which builds and maintains Feadship yachts and ships).
The ship was built as a twin-screw motorboat, intended as a yacht. The Peter-Cobis is one of the first Feadships built.
The ship is built of teak, mahogany and oak. The ship was previously built with a length of 15.80 metres, later owners had pieces added to it, making the ship 16.20 metres long for a while and n ow 17.65 metres long.
While being owned by General Friedrich Christiansen, many high ranking Nazis were guests on board the yacht with there wives or mistresses. Probably the most prominent was Hermann Göring, In 1939 Hitler declared Göring his successor and in 1940 gave him the special rank of Reichsmarschall des Grossdeutschen Reiches (“Marshal of the Empire”). Which made him the second most powerful man in Nazi Germany. Göring was a very good friend of Christiansen from there flying time together in WW1. (See Friedrich Christiansen) Other prominent guests on board included:
Arthur Seyss-Inquart
Friedrich Wimmer
Anton Adriaan Mussert
Johann Baptist Albin Rauter
SS-Reichskommissar for the German-occupied Netherlands
SS-Brigadeführer Wimmer was general deputy of Reich Commissioner Seyss-Inquart
SS-Obergruppenfuhrer and the highest SS and Police Leader in the occupied Netherlands
At the end of 1944, the yacht was sailed to Germany by a German skipper and after the liberation the yacht returned to the Netherlands.
After the Second World War, the ship became the property of the Philips company, after which it had four more owners, the last of whom was Rianne Cuppen. It was used as an inspection ship when selling holiday homes at the bungalow park It Wiid. Later, it mainly served as a recreational yacht for holidays with the family.
From the 1st of June 2025 It’s present owner is an Englishman, Mark Wightman
.