Wooden Boat AtlasDesigners, builders & classes · v3.0

Atlas / Designers

Designers

Naval architects and the people who drew the lines.

San Francisco Bay

Donald Abbott
Sponsor of the 1937 'Weekender' — San Francisco Bay
dates unverified · 2 open questions
Fred C. Brewer
Naval architect — Sausalito
dates unverified · 1 open question
Harry Cookson
Saloon keeper and part-time boatwright — Belvedere
dates unverified · 3 open questions
Jim DeWitt
Sailmaker, designer and painter — Richmond
1930 – 2022
David W. Dickie
Naval architect — San Francisco
dates unverified · 2 open questions
Hank Easom
Boatbuilder, sailmaker and racer — Sausalito and Tiburon
1934 – 2023 · 2 open questions
Bill Lee
Yacht designer and builder — Santa Cruz
born 1942
Ron Moore
Boatbuilder — Santa Cruz
dates unverified · 1 open question
Gary W. Mull
Yacht designer — San Francisco Bay Area
1937 – 1993
Ernest 'Ernie' Nunes
Designer of the Bear and the Mercury — Sausalito
dates unverified · 1 open question
George Olson
Yacht designer — Santa Cruz
1939 – 2008
J. Parsons
Amateur designer and builder — Tiburon
active 2011 – present · 1 open question
Josh Pryor
Designer, owner and charter captain — San Francisco
active from the late 1970s · 1 open question
Carl Schumacher
Yacht designer — Alameda, California
1949 or 1951 – 2002 · 1 open question
Myron Spaulding
Naval architect, boatbuilder and concert violinist — Sausalito
1905 – 2000 · 1 open question
W. Frank Stone
Designer and yard principal — San Francisco Bay
died 1923 · 3 open questions
George H. Wayland
Naval architect — Seattle, then San Francisco
1885 – 1947 · 1 open question
Tom Wylie
Yacht designer — Canyon and Watsonville, California
birth year unverified · 1 open question

Southern California

Hugh Angelman
Designer and yard partner — Wilmington, California
dates unverified · 1 open question
Charlie Davies
Designer — Southern California
died July 1998 · 1 open question
Merle Davis
Yacht designer — Los Angeles
dates unverified; died within about a year of 1946 · 1 open question
George W. Kettenburg Jr.
Designer and yard principal — Point Loma, San Diego
died 1952 · 1 open question
C. William 'Bill' Lapworth
Naval architect — Southern California
1919 – 2006
William 'Bill' D. Schock
Boatbuilder — Newport Beach and Costa Mesa
dates unverified · 1 open question

Pacific Northwest

William Garden
Naval architect — Seattle, then Vancouver Island
1918 – 2011
L. E. 'Ted' Geary
Naval architect — Seattle
1885 – 1960
Ed Monk Jr.
Naval architect — Bainbridge Island
dates unverified · 1 open question
Ed Monk Sr.
Shipwright and naval architect — Seattle
1894 – 1973
Robert 'Bob' Perry
Yacht designer — Seattle
born 1945
Ben Seaborn
Yacht designer — Seattle
c. 1916 or 1920 – 1960 · 1 open question

New England & the East Coast

John G. Alden
Naval architect — Boston
1884 – 1962
Edward Burgess
Naval architect — Boston
1848 – 1891
W. Starling Burgess
Naval architect and aviation pioneer — Marblehead
1878 – 1947
Howard I. Chapelle
Naval architect and maritime historian — Smithsonian
1901 – 1975
Thomas E. Colvin
Naval architect and builder — Virginia and Florida
1925 – 2014
Samuel S. Crocker
Draftsman in the Alden office, later independent — Massachusetts
dates unverified · 1 open question
Bowdoin B. Crowninshield
Naval architect — Boston
1867 – 1948 · 2 open questions
Thomas Fleming Day
Editor of The Rudder — New York
1861 – 1927
Henry J. Gielow
Naval architect and yacht broker — New York
1855 – 1925 (unverified) · 1 open question
Henry C. Grebe
Naval architect and yard owner — Chicago
died 1952 · 1 open question
Cyrus Hamlin
Naval architect and teacher — Maine
died aged 98; exact years unverified · 1 open question
William H. Hand Jr.
Naval architect — New Bedford and Fairhaven
1875 – 1946
John G. Hanna
Designer and design critic — Dunedin, Florida
1889 – 1948
L. Francis Herreshoff
Naval architect and writer — Marblehead
1890 – 1972
Nathanael Greene Herreshoff
'Captain Nat' — Bristol, Rhode Island
1848 – 1938 · 1 open question
C. Raymond Hunt
Designer — Boston
1908 – 1978
A. E. 'Bill' Luders Jr.
Designer and yard principal — Stamford, Connecticut
1909 – 1999 · 1 open question
Thomas F. McManus
Naval architect — Boston
1856 – 1938
Charles D. Mower
Naval architect and design editor — New York
1875 – 1942
K. Aage Nielsen
Naval architect — Denmark and Boston
c. 1904 – 1984 · 1 open question
Frank C. Paine
Naval architect and yard president — Boston
1890 – 1952
Philip L. Rhodes
Naval architect and marine engineer — New York
1895 – 1974
William J. Roué
Naval architect — Halifax, Nova Scotia
dates not researched · 1 open question
Edson B. Schock
Naval architect — New York, Vancouver, Los Angeles
1871 – 1950
Edson I. Schock
Naval architect and professor — Rhode Island
1897 – 1988
A. Cary Smith
Naval architect and marine painter — New York
1837 – 1911
Sparkman & Stephens
Naval architects and brokers — New York
founded 1929, still operating · 1 open question
Winthrop L. Warner
Naval architect — Middletown, Connecticut
1900 – 1987
J. Murray Watts
Naval architect — Philadelphia
dates unverified · 1 open question
Joel White
Naval architect and yard owner — Brooklin, Maine
1930 – 1997
Fenwick C. Williams
Naval architect — Massachusetts
1901 – 1992 · 1 open question
Ralph E. Winslow
Naval architect — Boston
1886 – 1957 · 1 open question

United Kingdom

A. M. Bellingham
Designer — Kent, England
dates unverified · 2 open questions
David Boyd
Naval architect — Sandbank, Scotland
dates not found · 2 open questions
Robert Clark
Yacht designer — England
dates not found · 1 open question
William Fife III
Naval architect and builder — Fairlie, Ayrshire
1857 – 1944
Uffa Fox
Designer and builder — Cowes, Isle of Wight
1898 – 1972
Jack Laurent Giles
Naval architect — Lymington, England
1901 – 1969
Maurice Griffiths
Editor and designer — East Coast of England
1902 – 1997
Linton Hope
Designer and Olympic sailor — England
1863 – 1920
Alfred Mylne
Naval architect — Glasgow
1872 – 1951
Charles E. Nicholson
Naval architect — Gosport, England
1868 – 1954
Arthur C. Robb
Naval architect — New Zealand, Scotland and London
1908 – 1969
Charles Sibbick
Designer and builder — Cowes
1849 – 1912 · 1 open question
Albert Strange
Artist, art-school headmaster and yacht designer — Scarborough
1855 – 1917
George Lennox Watson
Naval architect — Glasgow
1851 – 1904

Scandinavia & Northern Europe

Bjarne Aas
Naval architect, builder and broker — Fredrikstad, Norway
dates not researched · 1 open question
Johan Anker
Naval architect and Olympic sailor — Norway
1871 – 1940
Colin Archer
Naval architect and builder — Larvik, Norway
1832 – 1921 · 1 open question
Gustaf Estlander
Architect turned yacht designer — Helsinki, Berlin, Stockholm
1876 – 1930
Tore Holm
Designer, builder and Olympic sailor — Gamleby, Sweden
1896 – 1977
Erling Kristofersen
Naval architect — Norway
dates unverified · 1 open question
Knud H. Reimers
Naval architect — Stockholm
1906 – 1987
Tord Sundén
Naval architect — Sweden
died 1999, aged about 90 · 1 open question
Bert Woollacott
Yacht designer — New Zealand
dates unverified · 2 open questions

Wooden Boat Atlas v3.0 · built 30 July 2026 · a project of the Golden Gate Wooden Boat Foundation · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · open data · corrections