The Sequoia, which once served as the presidential yacht, is docked in a Washington harbor, in 2002.

President Franklin Roosevelt on board the Sequoia in 1935.

The Sequoia rests on a moving cradle on a barge moored at City Pier in New London, Conn., on Wednesday.

President Ford chats with House Speaker Carl Albert, D-Okla., right, and Rep. John Anderson R-Ill., at the end of a Potomac cruise aboard the Sequoia in Washington.

The Sequoia, a National Historic Landmark, was constructed in 1925 of long-leaf yellow pine, mahogany and teak, and called the floating White House during its service to U.S. presidents from Hoover to Ford.

President Richard Nixon, center left, is engaged in a conversation with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, center right, while sailing down the Potomac River aboard the Sequoia in 1973.

The 104-foot yacht is headed to Belfast, Maine, for a full restoration.

The crew of the government yacht Sequoia presents arms as President Franklin Roosevelt, leaning on the arm of his son James Roosevelt, goes on board at New Haven, Conn., in 1934.

The USS Sequoia is seen in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 1932.

The former presidential yacht Sequoia was built in 1925 and served eight presidents before Jimmy Carter put it up for auction in 1977.