The William Thornton Floating Restaurant and Bar

The William Thornton, also referred to as “The Willy T” anchored in the Bight of Norman Island in the BVI, is a well loved floating restaurant and bar. In 1989, Mick and Annie Gardner launched the restaurant, mooring their original William Thornton in the Bight of Norman Island. As uninhabited then as it is today, it soon became a popular overnight anchorage for the yachting community. Many charterers and yacht crew recall dining aboard the Willy T, sitting at the large common table, with their feet dangling in the holds below.

The wooden Baltic trader was eventually replaced with the current William Thornton, a steel 100-foot schooner with more room in the galley and restaurant and the large bar area. The new William T. also features a large aft bridge deck where daring souls jump from the safety rails into the water below the stern.

The restaurant was named after William Thorton, who was born on Jost Van Dyke in 1759, and died in 1823 in Washington DC. While trained in Scotland as a physician, Thorton initially had a plantation in Tortola. Thorton found his way to Washington DC and there, as an avid amateur architect, his drawings were chosen from the competition as approved by President George Washington for the design of the US Capital Building in 1793. Besides the $500 prize for the winning design, Thorton also won a lot of land in the newly developing capitol of the United States.
“The Willy T” is reachable only by yacht or dinghy, with rather than a swim up bar, a sail up bar, so those in company on board will also be those that enjoy life on the water.

Visit their web page, you will enjoy it!: William Thornton Website