Gemini

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Gemini (sometimes misspelled and transcribed as Gemine) was the name of William Steinway’s twin-screw, fifty-foot-long cruising launch, a boat costing $7,000 and made by Daimler Motor Co., a firm in which William had considerable investment (2)(4)

In the first specific reference to Gemini in his diary—an entry which suggests William is about to purchase the boat from or through "H.C. Bake from Hartford" —William misspells the name as Gemine. (Diary, 1894-08-12) A diary entry for the next day, August 13, 1894, suggests William is purchasing Gemini through his son-in-law Louis von Bernuth, who supervised William’s non-piano businesses, and with the approval (or presence) of Weimann, the superintendent of Steinway’s Daimler Motor Company factory in Astoria. (Diary, 1894-08-13) 

Although William’s diary does not relate why the boat was named Gemini, it is appropriate. The boat has twin engines; Gemini is derived from the Latin word for twins. (3) William’s diary reveals most of Gemini’s use occurring on weekends, not during the week.

Diary entries describe, among other events, a "sail" on Gemini to such places as Execution Rocks(1), a reef northwest of Sands Point, New York, North Beach, William’s recreation area on Long Island, and Monmouth Beach. 

A diary entry for October 10, 1894, relates a "report that the boat ‘Gemini’ had been wrecked" during a "hurricane" the previous night. (1894-10-10) Indeed, New York suffered a "fierce storm of wind and rain" on October 10, 1894.(5) The report of Gemini being wrecked, however, may have been false—or William may have purchased a replacement boat named Gemini (for which William’s Diary has no record)—because less than a year later, in August and September of 1895, William reports Gemini at Monmouth Beach (Diary, 1895-08-16) and twice at Great Neck (Diary, 1895-09-12 and Diary, 1895-09-22) What’s more, William continues to refer to Gemini throughout 1896 in his diary.

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Sources:

1. "Execution Rocks Lighthouse, New York," available at Lighthousefriends.com

http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=749  accessed June 15, 2009

2. Fostle, D. W. The Steinway Saga: An American Dynasty. New York: Scribner, 1995, pp. 321, 323, 415, 694.

3. "Gemini," Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 11th edition. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster Inc., 2005.

4. Lieberman, Richard K. Steinway & Sons. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995, p. 116.

5. "Swept By A High Wind," The New York Tribune, October 11, 1894. p.1.