L. (Lewis) Francis Herreshoff (November 11, 1890 – December 1972), was a boat designer, naval architect, editor, and author of books and magazine articles.
Early in his career he worked for the Herreshoff Manufacturing and for naval architect
Starling Burgess
William Starling Burgess (December 25, 1878 – March 19, 1947) was an American yacht designer, aviation pioneer, and naval architect. He was awarded the highest prize in aviation, the Collier Trophy in 1915, just two years after Orville Wright ...
.
Biography
Herreshoff was born on November 11, 1890, in
Bristol, Rhode Island, to Clara Anna DeWolf (1853–1905) and
Nathanael Greene Herreshoff (1848–1938). In 1926, after naval service and work for
Starling Burgess
William Starling Burgess (December 25, 1878 – March 19, 1947) was an American yacht designer, aviation pioneer, and naval architect. He was awarded the highest prize in aviation, the Collier Trophy in 1915, just two years after Orville Wright ...
, he went into business for himself in
Marblehead, Massachusetts, as a designer of racing and pleasure yachts, canoes, kayaks and other small craft. Herreshoff died December 1972.
Herreshoff was inducted into the
National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2014.
Notable designs
Herreshoff's designs included:
* A series of graceful clipper-bowed ketches: ''
Ticonderoga'' 72 ft, ''Tioga/Bounty'' 57 ft, ''Mobjack'' 45 Ft and ''Nereia'' 36
* A shoal-draft leeboarder: ''Meadowlark''
* Arguably the original "passagemaker"; the inspiration for Beebe's book, and an indirect inspiration for Perry's "container boat": ''Marco Polo''.
* His answer to Hanna's ideas about the ideal homebuild: ''H-28''
* The ''Merlin'', sunk on July 7, 1999 by a
humpback whale in Whale Bay,
Baranof Island, Alaska.
*
Buzzards Bay 14
*
Herreshoff Prudence
The Herreshoff Prudence, also called the Herreshoff Prudence 23, is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed by L. Francis Herreshoff as a cruiser and first built in 1937. It was L. Francis Herreshoff's design number 71 and named fo ...
*
Herreshoff Rozinante
The Herreshoff Rozinante is an American full-keel, double-ended sailboat that was designed by L. Francis Herreshoff as a daysailer and cruiser and first built in 1952.
Production
Plans for the design were first published in ''The Rudder'' mag ...
*
Stuart Knockabout
The Stuart Knockabout is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed as a daysailer, by L. Francis Herreshoff and first built in 1932. The boat is L.F. Herreshoff design number 53.Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of N ...
Publications
His books include ''The Common Sense of Yacht Design'', ''The Compleat Cruiser'', ''Capt. Nat Herreshoff: The Wizard of Bristol'', ''The Writings of L. Francis Herreshoff'', ''Sensible Cruising Designs'' and ''An L. Francis Herreshoff Reader''. He published numerous magazine articles, notably the 'How To Build' series in the magazine ''The Rudder''. Herreshoff's success as an author is especially impressive in one sense; his dyslexia had led his father to shunt him into agricultural school.
See also
*
Herreshoff Castle
Herreshoff Castle, formerly known as Castle Brattahlid, is an unusual residence located at 2 Crocker Park, Marblehead, Massachusetts. As of 2006, the owners have offered the carriage house as a bed-and-breakfast. The great room has not been par ...
*
Herreshoff family
*
Herreshoff anchor
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄγ ...
References
1890 births
1972 deaths
American yacht designers
Engineers from Rhode Island
Herreshoff family
{{US-engineer-stub