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 Bristol is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, US as well as the historic county seat. The town is built on the traditional territories of the Pokanoket Wampanoag. It is a deep water seaport named after Bristol, England. The population of B ...

, to Clara Anna DeWolf (1853–1905) and

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 Herr ...

(1848–1938). In 1926, after naval service and work for

, he went into business for himself in

Marblehead, Massachusetts Marblehead is a coastal New England town in Essex County, Massachusetts, along the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore. Its population was 20,441 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The town lies on a small peninsula that extends ...

, 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 The National Sailing Hall of Fame is a nonprofit educational organization that promotes sailing and racing by recognizing individuals who have contributed to the sport, highlighting sailing's contribution to the American culture; and demonstrating i ...

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 The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...

in Whale Bay,

Baranof Island Baranof Island is an island in the northern Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle, in Alaska. The name Baranof was given in 1805 by Imperial Russian Navy captain Yuri Lisyansky, U. F. Lisianski to honor Alexander Andreyevich Baranov. It ...

, Alaska. *

Buzzards Bay 14 The Buzzards Bay 14 is an American sailboat that was designed by L. Francis Herreshoff and first built in 1940.Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition'', pages 88-89. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994. ...

* Herreshoff Prudence * Herreshoff Rozinante * Stuart Knockabout

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.

References

1890 births 1972 deaths American yacht designers Engineers from Rhode Island Herreshoff family {{US-engineer-stub

Biography

Notable designs

Publications

See also

References