Nathanael Greene Herreshoff

Yacht building

The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company's early work centered on steam-powered vessels, such as SY Stiletto built in 1885 and sold to the US navy in 1887 having been converted into a torpedo boat USS Stiletto). This was small but fast (23 knots). Other sister ships by Herreshoff for the Navy were USS Lightning, USS Cushing, USS Du Port, USS Porter, USS Cushing, USS Twin and USS Talbot.

By the 1890s the Herreshoffs turned to the design and construction of yachts for wealthy American clients, including Jay Gould, William Randolph Hearst, John Pierpont Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt III, Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, William Kissam Vanderbilt II, Harry Payne Whitney and Alexander Smith Cochran. Herreshoff boat production incorporated power tools that increased productivity at a high level of quality, using craftsmen that received the highest boatbuilder wages in the state of Rhode Island.

Herreshoff was noted as an innovative sailboat designer of his time. His designs ranged from the 12½, a 16-foot (12½ foot waterline) sailboat for training the children of yachtsmen, to the 144-foot America's Cup Reliance, with a sail area of 16,000 square feet. He received the first US patent for a sailing catamaran. The firm built the America's Cup 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.

The 123-foot Defender featured steel-framing, bronze plating up to the waterline and aluminum topsides to achieve a lighter and faster boat. This combination of materials had been pioneered in the French fresh-water racing yacht Vendenesse, which had been described in a New York Times article and caught the attention of the Vanderbilt Americacup syndicate. In salt water, Defender was subject to galvanic corrosion, which limited its durability in water. Defender won 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. She was broken up in 1901.

The shipyard built wooden hull PT boats (PT-430 to PT-449) used in the Lend-Lease program in 1944. The shipyard also built for Great Britain PT Boat (BPT), called MTB (MTB-288 to MTB-294).

Legacy The Herreshoff Marine Museum preserves Herreshoff's legacy at the former site of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co.

Notable vessels Herreshoff catamaran, Duplex, on the River Thames—built in 1877, was 31 ft long. Nathanael Herreshoff climbing aboard Defender in 1895; photograph by John S. Johnston

Steam vessels Lightning—the US Navy's first purpose-built torpedo boat—a speed record breaking steam launch with a spar torpedo, 1876. Peruvian Torpedo boats in the War of the Pacific, (1879-1883). SY Now Then (1887) and SY Say When (1888)for New York publisher Norman Munro SY Ballymena (1888) the first yacht to have a steel hull. Sy Vamoose (1890) for William Randolph Hearst sold to Norman Munro in 1894, and ultimately owned by J. A. Pugh

Sailing vessels In the last quarter of the 19th century, Herreshoff constructed a double-hulled sailing boat of his own design (US Pat. No. 189,459). The craft, Amaryllis, raced at her maiden regatta on June 22, 1876, and performed exceedingly well. Her debut demonstrated the distinct performance advantages afforded by catamarans over the standard monohulls.

In 1892 he build Wee Win a ½ rater for Winifred Sutton, daughter of Sir Richard Sutton, 5th Baronet, whose yacht Genesta had been beaten in the 1885 America's cup by Puritan. Wee Win was very successful racing on the Solent, leading to several follow-up orders from British Yachtswomen and Yachtsmen.

Amaryllis – sailing catamaran, 1876 Tarantella – catamaran, 1877 Westward – racing yacht, 1910 Helianthus III, 1924 Herreshoff Bull's Eye Herreshoff 12½

America's Cup yachts Herreshoff designed and built the following America's Cup contenders. All won the series against their challengers. Herreshoff was the helmsman of Vigilant. Vigilant, 1893 Defender, 1895 Columbia, 1899 & 1901 Reliance, 1903 Resolute, 1920

Technical achievements

According to his son's biography, Herreshoff's achievements include: