Nathanael Herreshoff
Encyclopedia
Nathanael Greene Herreshoff I (March 18, 1848 – June 2, 1938), was an American naval architect-mechanical engineer. "Captain Nat," as he was known, revolutionized yacht
design, and produced a succession of undefeated America's Cup
defenders between 1893–1920.
and was named after General Nathanael Greene
. He had as brothers Lewis Herreshoff and John Brown Herreshoff
.
He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
in 1870 with a 3-year degree in mechanical engineering
. After graduation, he took a position with the Corliss Steam Engine
Company in Providence, Rhode Island
. At the 1876 Centennial Exposition
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, he oversaw operation of the Corliss Stationary Engine, a 40-foot tall, 1400-horsepower dynamo
that powered the exhibition's machinery.
In 1878 Herreshoff returned to Bristol where he and his older brother, John Brown Herreshoff
, formed the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. While Captain Nat provided the engineering expertise, J.B., as his brother was known, contributed genius-level business acumen. Despite going blind at the age of 14, J.B. suffered under no handicap when it came to making deals. For example, he did all the cost calculations of building the boats in his head—an extremely challenging but critical task under any circumstances. J.B. was responsible for negotiating with the firm's wealthy and demanding clientele, and was also a good manager, keeping up the enthusiasm of his employees. Under the partnership, the business burgeoned from about twenty employees to over 400.
In 1888, tragedy struck while Herreshoff was supervising speed trials of a 138-foot, 875 horsepower steamboat
named Say When. After a safety valve
opened to release over-pressure, Herreshoff closed it so the boat could achieve its anticipated maximum speed. But a boiler exploded, fatally injuring a member of the crew. Consequently, Herreshoff lost his steam engineer's license.
Two of Herreshoff's son's would also become yacht designers: Sidney Dewolf Herreshoff and Lewis Francis Herreshoff
.
He died on June 2, 1938 in Bristol, Rhode Island
.
, William Randolph Hearst
, John Pierpont Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt III
, Harold Stirling Vanderbilt
, William Kissam Vanderbilt II
, Harry Payne Whitney
and Alexander Smith Cochran
.
The Herreshoffs resolved to turn out yachts of only the highest quality. To retain skilled craftsmen they paid among the highest wages in the state. This inducement to lure the most highly skilled workmen to the company may not have been strictly necessary as most who came simply wanted to be associated with the Herreshoff name, a symbol of the highest standards in construction and craftsmanship. Many of those men made lifelong careers at the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company.
Herreshoff is credited with being perhaps the most innovative sailboat designer of all time. His designs were notably graceful, scientifically engineered, and speedy. Because of his many accomplishments, Herreshoff was among the few people ever made an honorary member of the New York Yacht Club, his name being listed immediately before those of England's King George V and the Prince of Wales. His fame spread around the world and the period of his greatest activity from 1890 to 1920 became known as the "Herreshoff Era" so greatly did his personality and the yachts he designed dominate the sport.
The range of boats drawn by Herreshoff was vast and eclectic. It included everything from the 12½, a 16 foot (12½ foot waterline) sailboat for training the children of yachtsmen, to the 144-foot America's Cup behemoth Reliance
, with a sail area of 16,000 square feet. He received the first US patent for a sailing catamaran. Among Herreshoff's few technical failures was the 123-foot Defender
--- its radical construction featured steel
-framing, bronze
plating up to the waterline and aluminum topsides. When placed in salt water, the then little-understood phenomenon known as galvanic corrosion immediately began "dissolving" the boat. Defender won the Cup race, but never competed again and was broken up in 1901.
It should be noted that this story about Defender is the one that was told by hostile journalists who disliked Herreshoff for his secretive ways. Capt. Nat had little use for yachting journalists, so the feeling was mutual. However, Defender was not a technical failure at all. She lasted five years, winning the America's Cup in 1895 over Lord Dunraven's Valkyrie III, and she was used as an effective trial-horse for Herreshoff's new Cup defender Columbia in 1899. Maynard Bray and Carlton Pinheiro quote a letter from Herreshoff on this subject in their book Herreshoff of Bristol. According to Herreshoff "[Defender] had performed her mission, and that was all that she was constructed for. From the start, durability was put aside." To suggest Herreshoff and his people did not understand the consequences of mating aluminum to bronze is absurd. He knew exactly what he was doing, and those aluminum topsides on Defender were surely one reason she was so fast for so long.
Cup boats then, and now, were not intended to last very long. None of Herreshoff's Cup boats survive, and none were intended to do so. In particular, the syndicates that paid for their construction generally had them broken up for scrap (often quite valuable scrap) after the boats had outlived their immediate usefulness. They were tools to win races. No more, no less.
Many of the 2,000-plus designs by the "Wizard of Bristol" have fared better, and today are highly prized by connoisseurs of classic yachts. Herreshoff S-Class sailboats, designed in 1919 and built until 1941, are still actively raced in Narragansett Bay, Buzzards Bay and Western Long Island Sound (Larchmont, New York
). His 12½ design of 1914 is still being built and raced in New England as well. The New York 30 is widely considered--to this day--among the finest racer/cruiser one-designs ever created. For nearly a century now "New York 30s have been raced and sailed in all kinds of weather, and, with their original gaff-sloop rigs, enjoyed a reputation for never having to the reefed, no matter how hard it blew." (Maynard Bray)
A facility dedicated to the preservation of Herreshoff's legacy, the Herreshoff Marine Museum
, now occupies the site where the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. formerly operated.
Yacht
A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
design, and produced a succession of undefeated America's Cup
America's Cup
The America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America's Cup match races between two yachts. One yacht, known as the defender, represents the yacht club that currently holds the America's Cup and the second yacht, known as the challenger, represents the yacht club that is challenging...
defenders between 1893–1920.
Biography
He was born on March 18, 1848 in Bristol, Rhode IslandBristol, Rhode Island
Bristol is a town in and the historic county seat of Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 22,954 at the 2010 census. Bristol, a deepwater seaport, is named after Bristol, England....
and was named after General Nathanael Greene
Nathanael Greene
Nathanael Greene was a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. When the war began, Greene was a militia private, the lowest rank possible; he emerged from the war with a reputation as George Washington's most gifted and dependable officer. Many places in the United...
. He had as brothers Lewis Herreshoff and John Brown Herreshoff
John Brown Herreshoff
John Brown Herreshoff , was an American yacht and ship builder with his brother, Nathanael Greene Herreshoff.-References:...
.
He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
in 1870 with a 3-year degree in mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
. After graduation, he took a position with the Corliss Steam Engine
Corliss Steam Engine
A Corliss steam engine is a steam engine, fitted with rotary valves and with variable valve timing patented in 1849, invented by and named after the American engineer George Henry Corliss in Providence, Rhode Island....
Company in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
. At the 1876 Centennial Exposition
Centennial Exposition
The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. It was officially...
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, he oversaw operation of the Corliss Stationary Engine, a 40-foot tall, 1400-horsepower dynamo
Dynamo
- Engineering :* Dynamo, a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator* Dynamo theory, a theory relating to magnetic fields of celestial bodies* Solar dynamo, the physical process that generates the Sun's magnetic field- Software :...
that powered the exhibition's machinery.
In 1878 Herreshoff returned to Bristol where he and his older brother, John Brown Herreshoff
John Brown Herreshoff
John Brown Herreshoff , was an American yacht and ship builder with his brother, Nathanael Greene Herreshoff.-References:...
, formed the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. While Captain Nat provided the engineering expertise, J.B., as his brother was known, contributed genius-level business acumen. Despite going blind at the age of 14, J.B. suffered under no handicap when it came to making deals. For example, he did all the cost calculations of building the boats in his head—an extremely challenging but critical task under any circumstances. J.B. was responsible for negotiating with the firm's wealthy and demanding clientele, and was also a good manager, keeping up the enthusiasm of his employees. Under the partnership, the business burgeoned from about twenty employees to over 400.
In 1888, tragedy struck while Herreshoff was supervising speed trials of a 138-foot, 875 horsepower steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
named Say When. After a safety valve
Safety valve
A safety valve is a valve mechanism for the automatic release of a substance from a boiler, pressure vessel, or other system when the pressure or temperature exceeds preset limits....
opened to release over-pressure, Herreshoff closed it so the boat could achieve its anticipated maximum speed. But a boiler exploded, fatally injuring a member of the crew. Consequently, Herreshoff lost his steam engineer's license.
Two of Herreshoff's son's would also become yacht designers: Sidney Dewolf Herreshoff and Lewis Francis Herreshoff
Lewis Francis Herreshoff
Lewis Francis Herreshoff , 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....
.
He died on June 2, 1938 in Bristol, Rhode Island
Bristol, Rhode Island
Bristol is a town in and the historic county seat of Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 22,954 at the 2010 census. Bristol, a deepwater seaport, is named after Bristol, England....
.
Yacht building
While the firm's early work centered on steam-powered vessels, by the 1890s the Herreshoffs began focusing on the yacht designs that would win their firm world renown and earn Nat another sobriquet: "the Wizard of Bristol." Herreshoff Manufacturing built its reputation chiefly on the superbly crafted sailboats it produced for America's elite, including Jay GouldJay Gould
Jason "Jay" Gould was a leading American railroad developer and speculator. He has long been vilified as an archetypal robber baron, whose successes made him the ninth richest American in history. Condé Nast Portfolio ranked Gould as the 8th worst American CEO of all time...
, William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
, John Pierpont Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt III
Cornelius Vanderbilt III
Cornelius Vanderbilt III was a distinguished American military officer, inventor, engineer, and yachtsman, and a member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family.-Biography:...
, Harold Stirling Vanderbilt
Harold Stirling Vanderbilt
Harold Stirling Vanderbilt was an American railroad executive, a champion yachtsman, a champion bridge player and a member of the Vanderbilt family.-Background:...
, William Kissam Vanderbilt II
William Kissam Vanderbilt II
William Kissam Vanderbilt II was a motor racing enthusiast and yachtsman and a member of the prominent United States Vanderbilt family.-Biography:...
, Harry Payne Whitney
Harry Payne Whitney
Harry Payne Whitney was an American businessman, thoroughbred horsebreeder, and member of the prominent Whitney family.- Early years :...
and Alexander Smith Cochran
Alexander Smith Cochran
Alexander Smith Cochran was a wealthy manufacturer, sportsman and philathropist from Yonkers, New York.-Biography:He was the son of Willam F. Cochran and grandson of Alexander Smith, founder of the Alexander Smith Carpet Company....
.
The Herreshoffs resolved to turn out yachts of only the highest quality. To retain skilled craftsmen they paid among the highest wages in the state. This inducement to lure the most highly skilled workmen to the company may not have been strictly necessary as most who came simply wanted to be associated with the Herreshoff name, a symbol of the highest standards in construction and craftsmanship. Many of those men made lifelong careers at the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company.
Herreshoff is credited with being perhaps the most innovative sailboat designer of all time. His designs were notably graceful, scientifically engineered, and speedy. Because of his many accomplishments, Herreshoff was among the few people ever made an honorary member of the New York Yacht Club, his name being listed immediately before those of England's King George V and the Prince of Wales. His fame spread around the world and the period of his greatest activity from 1890 to 1920 became known as the "Herreshoff Era" so greatly did his personality and the yachts he designed dominate the sport.
Reliance (yacht)
Reliance was the 1903 America's Cup defender, the fourth America's Cup defender from the famous designer Nat Herreshoff, and reportedly the largest gaff-rigged cutter ever built....
, with a sail area of 16,000 square feet. He received the first US patent for a sailing catamaran. Among Herreshoff's few technical failures was the 123-foot Defender
Defender (yacht)
Defender was the 1895 America's Cup defender.-Design:Defender was designed by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff and built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in 1895. It was Herreshoff's second victorious America's Cup defender design....
--- its radical construction featured steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
-framing, bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
plating up to the waterline and aluminum topsides. When placed in salt water, the then little-understood phenomenon known as galvanic corrosion immediately began "dissolving" the boat. Defender won the Cup race, but never competed again and was broken up in 1901.
It should be noted that this story about Defender is the one that was told by hostile journalists who disliked Herreshoff for his secretive ways. Capt. Nat had little use for yachting journalists, so the feeling was mutual. However, Defender was not a technical failure at all. She lasted five years, winning the America's Cup in 1895 over Lord Dunraven's Valkyrie III, and she was used as an effective trial-horse for Herreshoff's new Cup defender Columbia in 1899. Maynard Bray and Carlton Pinheiro quote a letter from Herreshoff on this subject in their book Herreshoff of Bristol. According to Herreshoff "[Defender] had performed her mission, and that was all that she was constructed for. From the start, durability was put aside." To suggest Herreshoff and his people did not understand the consequences of mating aluminum to bronze is absurd. He knew exactly what he was doing, and those aluminum topsides on Defender were surely one reason she was so fast for so long.
Cup boats then, and now, were not intended to last very long. None of Herreshoff's Cup boats survive, and none were intended to do so. In particular, the syndicates that paid for their construction generally had them broken up for scrap (often quite valuable scrap) after the boats had outlived their immediate usefulness. They were tools to win races. No more, no less.
Many of the 2,000-plus designs by the "Wizard of Bristol" have fared better, and today are highly prized by connoisseurs of classic yachts. Herreshoff S-Class sailboats, designed in 1919 and built until 1941, are still actively raced in Narragansett Bay, Buzzards Bay and Western Long Island Sound (Larchmont, New York
Larchmont, New York
Larchmont is a village in Westchester County, New York. The population was 5,864 at the 2010 census. It is located within the town of Mamaroneck, on the shore of Long Island Sound, northeast of Midtown Manhattan...
). His 12½ design of 1914 is still being built and raced in New England as well. The New York 30 is widely considered--to this day--among the finest racer/cruiser one-designs ever created. For nearly a century now "New York 30s have been raced and sailed in all kinds of weather, and, with their original gaff-sloop rigs, enjoyed a reputation for never having to the reefed, no matter how hard it blew." (Maynard Bray)
A facility dedicated to the preservation of Herreshoff's legacy, the Herreshoff Marine Museum
Herreshoff Marine Museum
The Herreshoff Marine Museum, located in Bristol, Rhode Island, USA, is a maritime museum dedicated to the history of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, yachting, and the America's Cup...
, now occupies the site where the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. formerly operated.
Herreshoff America's Cup designs
- VigilantVigilant (yacht)Vigilant was the victorious United States defender of the eighth America's Cup in 1893 against British challenger Valkyrie II. Vigilant was designed by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff and built in 1893 by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company of Bristol, Rhode Island...
, 1893 (of which Herreshoff was the helmsman) - DefenderDefender (yacht)Defender was the 1895 America's Cup defender.-Design:Defender was designed by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff and built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in 1895. It was Herreshoff's second victorious America's Cup defender design....
, 1895 - ColumbiaColumbia (1899 yacht)Columbia was the defender of the tenth America's Cup race in 1899 against British challenger Shamrock as well as the defender of the eleventh America's Cup race in 1901 against British challenger, Shamrock II...
, 1899 & 1901 - RelianceReliance (yacht)Reliance was the 1903 America's Cup defender, the fourth America's Cup defender from the famous designer Nat Herreshoff, and reportedly the largest gaff-rigged cutter ever built....
, 1903 - ResoluteResolute (yacht)Resolute was a yacht designed and built by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff for a syndicate of New York Yacht Club members headed by Henry Walters to contend the 1914 America's Cup...
, 1920
Herreshoff innovations
During a career spanning 72 years, Herreshoff:- Designed and built five winning America's Cup yachts. He could sail them as well, earning a reputation as a skilled helmsman. Additionally, his firm built the winning Cup yachts Enterprise - 1930, and Rainbow - 1934 (designed by Starling Burgess). Every winning America's Cup Yacht from 1893 to 1934 was built by the Herreshoff yard.
- Designed well over 2000 craft and produced more than 18,000 drawings. Between 1890 and 1938, the number of yachts he designed that won the Astor Cup, Puritan Cup and Kings Cup outnumbered the winning yachts of all rival yacht designers combined.
- Built the first torpedo boats for the U.S. Navy.
- Developed the first handicapping formula (the Herreshoff Rule) to allow yachts of different sizes and types to race together.
- Developed yacht scantlings (specifications) based on scientific load calculations; prior to Herreshoff, most yacht designers simply relied on traditional rules of thumb to determine the proper dimensions for planks, frames and rigs.
- Invented streamlined bulb and fin keels.
- Invented the sail track and slide in its present form along with many other patterns of marine hardware.
- Developed long overhangs on racing yachts that produced longer immersed waterlines, hence greater speed, when underway.
- Developed the first light steam engine and fast torpedo boats.
- Developed nearly all of the methods of constructing light wooden hulls.
- Introduced screw fastenings for planking to this country.
- Invented the crosscut sail, with panels running at right angles to the leech, in order to combat cotton canvas' tendency to distort under load.
- Designed more types of steam engines than anyone else.
- Designed the web frame and longitudinal construction for metal hulls afterward patented and known as the Isherwood System.
- Developed light hollow metal spars combined with scientifically engineered rigging.
- Developed the flat stern form of steam yachts capable of being driven at high speed/length ratios.
- Designed the first folding propeller.
- Designed below-deck winches - Reliance 1903.
- Developed the method of splicing rope to wire.
- Herreshoff yachts were the first to attach shrouds and stays to mast tangs.
- Invented the modern turnbuckle.
- Invented sail tracks on masts and slides attached to the luff of sails to ride in the tracks (up until then, sails had been attached with mast hoops or laced to masts).
- Invented the modern winch.
- Received the first U.S. patent on catamaran sailboats (the Amaryllis, 1876).
See also
- Herreshoff Marine MuseumHerreshoff Marine MuseumThe Herreshoff Marine Museum, located in Bristol, Rhode Island, USA, is a maritime museum dedicated to the history of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, yachting, and the America's Cup...
- Herreshoff CastleHerreshoff CastleHerreshoff Castle, formerly known as Castle Brattahlid, is an unusual residence located at 2 Crocker Park, Marblehead, Massachusetts. As of 2006 it was a private residence offering bed-and-breakfast rentals....
- Helianthus IIIHelianthus III (yacht)The Helianthus III was a yacht, built by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff in 1924. She was a ketch-rigged wooden vessel, 62½' long on deck with a 13'-9" beam and 4'-6" draft...
, 1924
Literature
- Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Recollections and Other Writings (Bristol, RI:Herreshoff Marine Museum)
- Herreshoff, Nathanael G. and William Picard Stephens, annotated by John W. Streeter, Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, William Picard Stephens: Their Last Letters 1930-1938 (Bristol, RI: Herreshoff Marine Museum) 1998.