While he was not a voyager in the sense of crossing the oceans in small boats, tech billionaire Paul Allen was involved in boats and ships in a big way. Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, the owner of sports franchises and the man who commissioned several famous megayachts, died on Oct. 15 at age 65 from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. His fortune at his death, which reportedly still included 100 million shares of Microsoft stock, was estimated at $21 billion.
Allen's yachts included Octopus, a 414-foot motor vessel; Tatoosh, a motor yacht 303 feet in length; and a third motor yacht, the 199-foot Meduse. Allen also owned the 250-foot research vessel Petrel (see below, image by Jake 7499). It was via Petrel that Allen's team discovered numerous historic wrecks at great depth, including three WWII wrecks: the Royal Navy battle cruise HMS Hood, the USN heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis and the USN aircraft carrier USS Lexington.
