Constellation one of the first large yachts built with a steel hull, and designed with a revolutionary feature where the centerboard did not rise above the cabin floor.

Morgan kept it anchored off his Newport, Rhode Island estate "Beacon Rock"[9] where it raced as part of the New York Yacht Club fleet.

[13] Eight years later, in 1899, Thayer sold the Constellation to Francis Skinner of the Eastern Yacht Club, in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

[14] The Constellation's final and longest time owner was Herbert M. Sears, who purchased it in 1914 after fellow yacht club member Francis Skinner's death.

[18] Due to the pending war in the Atlantic Ocean, the yacht was laid up for the summer season of 1941 at the George Lawley & Son shipyard, and would never return to service.

In September 1941, Herbert Sears decided to donate the much needed metal from the hull to the war effort.