Auto baron, Horace Dodge was looking for a vessel that would represent his stature in the maritime community and in late 1917, he purchased the steam yacht Caroline from Edward Ford of Toledo, Ohio (Stella Schlotman's uncle). The Caroline was built in 1914 at New York, and was 187-feet long with a width of 24 feet. In 1918 she was listed as enrolled out of Detroit.

In 1919 the yacht was renamed the Delphine in honor of Horace’s daughter. The year 1920 began on a tragic note with the passing away of John F. Dodge on January 14. The highlight of the year, however, was the marriage of Horace’s daughter Delphine to Jim Cromwell on June 17, 1920. After the elaborate wedding and reception at the Dodge Estate, the newlyweds boarded the 187-foot Delphine and cruised the Great Lakes.

On the same day as Delphine’s wedding, the keel and frames for a new yacht were laid at the Great Lakes Engineering Works at River Rouge, Michigan. With the completion of the new DELPHINE in 1921 the Delphine/Caroline was sold in May 1922 to Mrs. Joseph B. Schlotman of Grosse Pointe Shores. She renamed the yacht the Stellaris, and it was active until the mid-1930’s. At that time a wooden structure was built around the upper deck, and it sat in the Belle River at Marine City, Michigan. The yacht was eventually sold in 1941 to the New York Waterway Yacht Cruise Company for tours of New York Harbor and was given the name SYLPH II.