Herbert L. Stone

Herbert Lawrence Stone (January 18, 1871 – September 27, 1955) was an American magazine editor and publisher, and a renowned sailor. He was the editor of Yachting from 1908 until 1952.

Early life Herbert Lawrence Stone was born in 1871 in Charleston, South Carolina, to William and Mary (Taylor) Stone. His father William was a successful New York attorney, after serving for a short time as South Carolina Attorney General. Herbert's paternal grandfather Thomas Treadwell Stone was a prominent New England minister and Transcendentalist. Herbert spent much of his childhood in New York, but spent many summers in Plymouth, Massachusetts, learning to sail in Cape Cod bays.

After being diagnosed with a lung condition that was expected to significantly shorten his life, Stone went to sea at the age of 17. He made several voyages on the schooner Hattie Weston under the command of Captain Josiah Morton. Stone subsequently went to work as assistant paymaster for the New York Central Railroad. In 1898 Herbert married Redelia Gilchrist in Iowa City, Iowa, and had two sons, William and James.

Career with Yachting magazine On January 1, 1907, publisher Oswald Garrison Villard released the first issue of Yachting. A year later Villard appointed his "schoolmate and lifelong friend", 37-year-old Herbert Stone, as the magazine's second editor. Stone continued as the editor through a series of ownership changes, except for a brief two-year period during World War I when he went to war and left William Atkin in charge of Yachting.

In 1920 Herbert Stone, Albert Britt, and William A. Miles purchased the magazine from Villard, selling it to John Clarke Kennedy a few years later. In 1938 Stone assembled the Yachting Publishing Company and took on the role of president, publisher, and editor. In the years that followed, he wrote many articles for the magazine, both under a variety of pen names as well as his own. Stone also wrote and edited a number of books, including ABC of Boat Sailing and America's Cup Races. He served as the editor and guiding spirit of the magazine until his retirement in 1952. He remained as publisher and president of the corporation until his death in 1955. His influence helped steer that club to a preeminent position in the national and even global yachting picture.

Publications The Yachtsman's Handbook on the Practical Equipping, Care and Handling of Boats, Stone, Herbert L., Outing Publishing Company, New York, 1912. Ice-boating; the latest opinions of the foremost authorities in America, Stone, Herbert L., Outing Publishing Company, New York, 1913. The America's Cup Races, Stone, Herbert L., Outing Publishing Company, New York, 1914. Millions for Defense; a pictorial history of the races for the America's Cup, Stone, Herbert L. and Alfred Fullerton Loomis. The Derrydale Press, New York, 1934. ABC of Boat Sailing, Stone, Herbert L., Dodd, Mead & Company, 1946. The America's Cup Races, Stone, Herbert L., and William H. Taylor and William W. Robinson, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1958.