William Fife Jr. (15 June 1857 – 11 August 1944), also known as William Fife III, was the third generation of a family of Scottish

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

designers and builders. In his time, William Fife designed around 600 yachts, including two contenders for the America's Cup. The Royal Yachting Association was formed in 1875 to standardise rules, and Fife and his rival G.L. Watson, were instrumental in these rule changes. Around one third of Fife's yachts still exist. His last designs were built in 1938.

Biography

Fife was born in

Fairlie, North Ayrshire Fairlie is a village in North Ayrshire, Scotland. Location and status Fairlie sits on the eastern shore of the Firth of Clyde and looks across to the Isle of Arran and the Cumbraes. It is currently little more than a commuter village, with few ...

on the

Firth of Clyde The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles (it is 164 metres deep at its deepest). The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic ...

. His father William Fife Sr. (1821–1902) and grandfather William Fyfe (1785–1865) had also been designers and boat builders in Fairlie. The family business operated from a shipyard on the beach in the village. Fife began building yachts in 1890 and soon surpassed the achievements of his father and grandfather and became known as one of the premier yacht designers of the day. As the third generation of a venerable Scottish boat building family, William Fife inherited a rich legacy but was quick to establish his own reputation as one of the top designers in the yachting world. Often dominating his chief competitors, Fife was a master of his trade who received commissions from European royalty and from clients as far away as Australia. Following on the heels of the success of his design ''Dragon'' (1888), Fife adopted a stylized

Chinese dragon The Chinese dragon, also known as ''loong'', ''long'' or ''lung'', is a legendary creature in Chinese mythology, Chinese folklore, and Chinese culture at large. Chinese dragons have many animal-like forms such as turtles and fish, but are most ...

as his trademark. Thereafter, those yachts that took shape on the shingle at Fairlie were known throughout the yachting world by this distinctive scrollwork. Fife designed two America's Cup yachts for grocery and tea magnate

Sir Thomas Lipton Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton, 1st Baronet (10 May 18482 October 1931) was a Scotsman of Ulster-Scots parentage who was a self-made man, as company founder of Lipton Tea, merchant, philanthropist and yachtsman who lost 5 straight America's Cup ...

who challenged for the cup a total of five times. The Fife-designed challenger '' Shamrock I'' (1899) lost to '' Columbia'' (

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 ...

, 1899) and ''Shamrock III'' (1903) lost to '' Reliance''. After the establishment of the first International Rule in 1906, Fife became a prolific designer of metre boats, designing and building several successful 15-Metre and 19-Metre yachts in the years leading up to the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Between 1907 and 1913, William Fife Jr. designed eight of the twenty 15mR yachts ever built, but his first 15mR named ''Shimna'' was not built at his famous Fairlie boatyard, but by

Alexander Robertson & Sons Alexander Robertson & Sons was a boatyard in Sandbank, Argyll, Sandbank, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, from 1876 to 1980. The yard was located on the shore of the Holy Loch, not far from the Royal Clyde Yacht Club (RCYC) at Hunters Quay, in the bui ...

, because all Fife's principal yacht builders were needed to work on Myles Kennedy's new 23mR, ''White Heather II''. Fife died on 11 August 1944 at the age of 87 in

. He never married or had children. He was buried in

Largs Largs ( gd, An Leargaidh Ghallda) is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" (''An Leargaidh'') in Scottish Gaelic. A popular seaside resort with a pier, the town mark ...

. The yard was continued for some years after his death by his nephew, but never achieved the renown known under Fife's ownership.

Quotes

French yachtsman

Éric Tabarly Éric Marcel Guy Tabarly was a French Navy officer and yachtsman, born 24 July 1931 in Nantes and died 13 June 1998 of drowning in the Irish Sea. He developed a passion for offshore racing very early on and won several ocean races such as the Osta ...

, two-time winner of the OSTAR and owner of the Fife design ''

Pen Duick ''Pen Duick'' is the name best known for a series of ocean racing yachts sailed by French yachtsman Eric Tabarly. Meaning coal tit in Breton it was the name Tabarly's father gave to the 1898 Fife gaff cutter he purchased, and that his son learned ...

'' wrote: While Fife established a leading reputation on the

yacht racing Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course marked by buoys or ...

circuit, his work also included a number of fine cruising vessels. Dr. William Collier wrote of Fife's 1920s work:

Vessels

The Fife yard also had a reputation for the extremely high quality of the craftsmanship of the yachts built at the yard. Today, it is thought that there are somewhat less than 100 Fife designs still in existence. Of these, there are around fifty still sailing, most notably: *cruiser handicap rater ''Nan'' (1897) *36-rater ''

'' (formerly ''Yum'', 1898) *21-rater ''Mignon'' (1898), sisterships ''Pierette'' and ''Yvette'' (1899) *cruiser handicap raters ''Moonbeam III'' (1903) and ''Moonbeam IV'' (1920) * 15mRs
Mariska
' (1908),
Hispania
' (1909), ''Tuiga'' (1909) and ''The Lady Anne'' (1912) *

12mR The 12 Metre class is a rating class for racing sailboats that are designed to the International rule. It enables fair competition between boats that rate in the class whilst retaining the freedom to experiment with the details of their designs. ...

''Cintra'' (the oldest 12mR in existence, launched 1909) *

8mR The International Eight Metre class are class of racing yachts. Eight Metre boats (often called "Eights" or 8mR) are a '' construction class'', meaning that the boats are not identical but are all designed to meet specific measurement formula, i ...

''Lucky Girl'' (launched 1909) and Ierne (launched 1914) *19mR
Mariquita
' (1911) *

Ketch A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch fr ...

es ''Sumurun'' (1914), ''Adventuress'' (1924) and ''Belle Aventure'' (1929) on the Eastern Seaboard *handicap rater ''Hallowe'en'' (1926) *23mR ''Cambria'' (1928) *gaff-rigged schooner ''Altair'' (1931) *10.4m canoe stern auxiliary sloop ''Sumarel ''(1973) *ketch '' Eilean'' (1936), which famously featured in the music video for the 1982 Duran Duran song ''

Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

''. Fife once said that the secret of a great yacht was that it should be both "fast and bonnie".

Honours

He was appointed an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

1919 New Year Honours The 1919 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Jan ...

. In 2004, he was inducted into the

America's Cup Hall of Fame The America's Cup Hall of Fame, located at the Herreshoff Marine Museum of Bristol, Rhode Island, USA, honors individuals for outstanding achievement in the America's Cup sailing competition. Candidates eligible for consideration include skippers ...

Selected historic yachts

*''Torch'' (15-ton cutter, William Fife Sr. design, 1864) *''Kilmeney'' (30-ton cutter, William Fife Sr. design, 1864) *''Fiona'' (80-ton cutter dubbed the ''Fawn of Fairlie'', William Fife Sr. design, 1865) *''Neptune'' (50-ton cutter, later a yawl, William Fife Sr. design, 1875) *''Erycina'' (96-ton cutter, later a yawl, William Fife Sr. design, 1882) *'' Ulidia'' (10-tonner, William Fife Jr. design, 1883) *''Thalia'' (40-rater, William Fife Jr. design, 1891) *''

Calluna ''Calluna vulgaris'', common heather, ling, or simply heather, is the sole species in the genus ''Calluna'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing evergreen shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found ...

'' (first-class rater, William Fife Jr. design, 1893)

Yachts for Irish owners

*15 ton cutter ''Corsair'' (1860) – designed by William Fife Sr. *3 ton lugger ''Achilla'' (1889) *2 ton lugger ''Gew Gaw'' (1891) – built by James E. Doyle Kingston *3 ton 1-rater lugger ''Nansheen'' (1892) – built by James E. Doyle Kingston *5 ton lugger ''Elva'' (1894) *8 ton 1.5-rater lugger ''Vill-u-An'' (1895) – built by

*6-ton Dublin Bay 25 cutters ''Darthula'', ''Nepenthe'' and ''Whisper'' (1898–1899) – built by James E. Doyle KingstonLloyds Register of Ships 1899

References

External links

Fairlie YachtsFife Regatta 2008flickr archive of the Scottish Maritime Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fife, William 1857 births 1944 deaths America's Cup yacht designers Scottish shipbuilders British yacht designers Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from North Ayrshire