Cape Cod Shipbuilding is an American

boat builder This is a list of boat builders, for which there is a Wikipedia article. Motorboats (<50 feet)

Wareham, Massachusetts Wareham ( ) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 23,303. History Wareham was first settled in 1678 by Europeans as part of the towns of Plymouth and Rochester. It was ...

. The company specializes in the manufacture of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminolo ...

s. The company was founded by brothers Myron and Charles Gurney in 1899.

History

The company started as a wagon maker in central Wareham, constructing wagons for local businesses. With the invention of the rubber tire they began to branch out into other fields. Their plant was on the Wareham River, which provided access to

Buzzards Bay Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since ...

and so they occasionally built

skiff A skiff is any of a variety of essentially unrelated styles of small boats. Traditionally, these are coastal craft or river craft used for leisure, as a utility craft, and for fishing, and have a one-person or small crew. Sailing skiffs have deve ...

s for their own recreational use. A customer offered to buy one skiff that they had built, but rather than sell it, they built him a duplicate, starting them in the boat building business. A new company was launched in 1899 to build boats, which the brothers named the ''Cape Cod Power Dory Company''. It built wooden

s and skiffs. One of their most well-known early designs was the 1925

Cape Cod Knockabout A Cape Cod Knockabout, or Knockabout, is a one-design class of sail boat sailed primarily out of Upper Cape harbors in Massachusetts, United States. Cape Cod Knockabouts were designed by Charles S. Gurney and were popular in Massachusetts betwee ...

, designed by Charles Gurney. International 110 sailboat going to weather

As the company grew they built

lifeboat Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen ...

s and an 80-foot (24 meter) launch which displaced 60 tons (54 metric tons), named ''Saltaire''. It was the largest vessel launched to that time and the town residents came out to watch it christened and launched in the Wareham River. In 1919, the new Narrows Bridge was built over the river below the plant and that restricted access to Buzzards Bay. The company was moved to a new property below the bridge, called ''Idlewild'', which was on land owned by William Minot. The company name was changed at the time of the move to the ''Cape Cod Shipbuilding Corporation''. The new property allowed spreading the buildings constructed out to avoid the risk of fire. Buildings were constructed for wood storage, milling, boat assembly, painting, a showroom and an office with a view over the whole operation. The company built both pleasure boats and commercial boats during this period. When Charles Gurney died the ownership passed to G.S. Williams and the plant entered a decline in product quality and employment dropped to one employee. The operation was purchased by Les Goodwin in 1939. Goodwin and his wife, Audrey, moved into the office to live, to turn the company around. They enlisted well-known boat designers, including

Philip Rhodes Philip Leonard Rhodes (1895–1974) was an American naval architect known for his diverse yacht designs. Life Rhodes designed a wide variety of vessels from 7' dinghies to 123' motor-sailors, from hydrofoil racers to America's Cup winners - h ...

and Sparkman & Stephens to produce designs for production, including the Rhodes 18 and Cape Cod Mercury 15. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the company was leased to National Fireworks and was named the ''Wareham Shipyards'' to give it better access to strategic materials. It produced small

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

s, launches and smoke boats, all with drafts of under due to the depth of the river at the plant. The company built tugboats at a rate of six per month, employing over 100 people. Goodwin was an engineer and inventor and created a process to make hollow, wooden sailboat masts from four pieces of wood, using water pressure. Goodwin learned about

as a new boat construction material during the Second World War and started the company working with it directly after the war, in 1947, starting with models. The company became one of the first boat builders to offer commercial fiberglass boats for sail, converting the Rhodes 18 and Mercury 15 to the new material. The company was also to first to mount a lead keel on a fiberglass boat. 1971 O'Day DaySailer II on the beach

In 1947 Goodwin also purchased the exclusive rights to all the boat designs of

Nathanael Greene Herreshoff Nathanael Greene Herreshoff (March 18, 1848 – June 2, 1938) was an American naval architect, mechanical engineer, and yacht design innovator. He produced a succession of undefeated America's Cup defenders between 1893 and 1920. Biography Her ...

. A few were developed for production and the rest sent to the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

for cataloguing and preservation. The company built 35 wooden

Herreshoff Bull's Eye The Herreshoff Bull's Eye or Bullseye, is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff and first built in 1914.Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition'', pages ...

s to keep the racing fleets using this type supplied with boats. Goodwin developed new methods of working with fiberglass and new techniques for making one-piece hulls with bonded decks. Many of the new techniques were secret and building was confined to a new, low-ceiling plant that provided a better climate for resin curing, as well as limited access. Goodwin purchased a company making

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

masts and booms, Zephyr Spars, from Alcoa and all production was moved to Wareham. Zephyr Spars remains a division of the company and builds spars for other manufacturers, as well. In 1979, Goodwin's son, Gordon L. Goodwin, became president, in time for the

early 1980s recession The early 1980s recession was a severe economic recession that affected much of the world between approximately the start of 1980 and 1983. It is widely considered to have been the most severe recession since World War II. A key event leading to ...

and the downturn in the sailboat market that followed. He guided the operation into doing boat repairs and storage to keep the company afloat financially. The advent of

Hurricane Bob Hurricane Bob was one of the costliest hurricanes in New England history. The second named storm and first hurricane of the 1991 Atlantic hurricane season, Bob developed from an area of low pressure near The Bahamas on August 16. The depressi ...

in 1991 actually turned into a boom of boat repair work, as well as new boat orders. In 1993 Gordon L. Goodwin's daughter, Wendy Goodwin, joined the business. In 1995 the company was appointed by the class association as the official builder for the

Uffa Fox Uffa Fox, CBE (15 January 1898 – 26 October 1972) was an English boat designer and sailing enthusiast, responsible for a number of innovations in boat design. Not afraid of courting controversy or causing offense, he is remembered for his ec ...

-designed

Day Sailer A daysailer, day sailer, or dayboat is a small sailboat with or without sleeping accommodations but which is larger than a dinghy. Dayboats can be monohull or multihull, and are typically trailer-able. Many dayboats have a small cabin or "cud ...

. In 2022 the company was producing ten designs: the Cape Cod Mercury 15,

, Herreshoff 12½,

, Rhodes 18, Herreshoff Goldeneye, Marlin Heritage 23, Raven 25,

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and the

Shields A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of ...

Boats

Summary of boats built by Cape Cod Shipbuilding: * Herreshoff 12½ - 1914 *

- 1914 *

- 1925 * Atlantic (sailboat) - 1929 *

International 110 The International 110 is an American sailboat that was designed by C. Raymond Hunt as a one-design racer and first built in 1939.Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition'', pages 122-123. Houghton ...

- 1938 * Cape Cod Mercury 15 - 1940 * Rhodes 18 - 1948 * Raven (sailboat) - 1949 * Beverly Dinghy - 1953 *

Cape Cod Gemini The Cape Cod Gemini is an American sailing dinghy that was designed by A. Sidney DeWolf Herreshoff as a day sailer and first built in 1955. Production The design was initially built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company and later by Cape Co ...

- 1955 * Marlin 23 - 1958 * Herreshoff Goldeneye - 1959 * Mercer 44 - 1959 * Blue Chip 30 - 1961 * Cape Cod 30 - 1961 *

Beverly (catamaran) ''Beverly'' was a catamaran sailboat designed by MacLear & Harris, built by Cape Cod Shipbuilding and owned by Van Alan Clark Jr., who won several racing competitions with her in the 1960s. Her fiberglass hulls were connected by three aluminum tu ...

- 1962 *

Shields (keelboat) The Shields, also called the Shields 30 and the Shields One-Design, is an American Trailer sailer, trailerable sailboat that was designed by Olin Stephens of Sparkman & Stephens as a one design Sailing (sport), racer and first built in 1962.She ...

- 1962 * Cape Cod Cat - 1971 * Hermann Cat - 1971 *

Herreshoff H-26 The Herreshoff H-26 is an American sailboat that was designed by Gordon Goodwin, Sidney Herreshoff and Halsey Chase Herreshoff as a cruiser.Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition'', pages 180-181. ...

- 1995

References

External links

* {{Cape Cod Shipbuilding Cape Cod Shipbuilding

History

Boats

See also

References

External links