Yacht design becomes a profession. Watson opens the first dedicated design office in 1873; Herreshoff industrialises it at Bristol; Burgess and Fife define the racing cutter. The America's Cup and the Big Class drive engineering far beyond anything the working fleets needed.
What happened
- 1873 — G.L. Watson opens the first small-craft design office, Glasgow
- 1878 — Herreshoff Manufacturing Company founded at Bristol, RI
- 1885–87 — Edward Burgess defends the Cup three years running
- 1902 — Herreshoff devises the Universal Rule
- 1907 — The International Rule ratified in Paris; the Metre classes begin
Where
Designers
John G. Alden
Naval architect — Boston
Johan Anker
Naval architect and Olympic sailor — Norway
Colin Archer
Naval architect and builder — Larvik, Norway
Edward Burgess
Naval architect — Boston
W. Starling Burgess
Naval architect and aviation pioneer — Marblehead
Bowdoin B. Crowninshield
Naval architect — Boston
Thomas Fleming Day
Editor of The Rudder — New York
David W. Dickie
Naval architect — San Francisco
Gustaf Estlander
Architect turned yacht designer — Helsinki, Berlin, Stockholm
William Fife III
Naval architect and builder — Fairlie, Ayrshire
L. E. 'Ted' Geary
Naval architect — Seattle
Henry J. Gielow
Naval architect and yacht broker — New York
William H. Hand Jr.
Naval architect — New Bedford and Fairhaven
Nathanael Greene Herreshoff
'Captain Nat' — Bristol, Rhode Island
Linton Hope
Designer and Olympic sailor — England
Thomas F. McManus
Naval architect — Boston
Charles D. Mower
Naval architect and design editor — New York
Alfred Mylne
Naval architect — Glasgow
Charles E. Nicholson
Naval architect — Gosport, England
Edson B. Schock
Naval architect — New York, Vancouver, Los Angeles
Charles Sibbick
Designer and builder — Cowes
A. Cary Smith
Naval architect and marine painter — New York
W. Frank Stone
Designer and yard principal — San Francisco Bay
Albert Strange
Artist, art-school headmaster and yacht designer — Scarborough
George Lennox Watson
Naval architect — Glasgow
Ralph E. Winslow
Naval architect — Boston
Builders & Yards
Abeking & Rasmussen
Lemwerder, Germany
Alexander Robertson & Sons
Sandbank, Argyll
Anderson & Cristofani
900 Innes Avenue, India Basin, Hunters Point
Anker & Jensen
Norway
Arques Boatyard
Napa Street then Johnson Street, Sausalito
Camper and Nicholsons
Gosport, Hampshire
Dickie Brothers / John W. Dickie & Son
Potrero Point, then Alameda
Herreshoff Manufacturing Company
Bristol, Rhode Island
Hodgdon Yachts
East Boothbay, Maine
Kneass Boat Works
Mission Street, Pier 70 and 3rd Street, San Francisco
George F. Lawley & Son
Scituate, South Boston, then Neponset
Luders Marine Construction Co.
Byram then Stamford, Connecticut
Moore Dry Dock Company
Oakland Estuary
Henry B. Nevins, Inc.
City Island, New York
Menotti Pasquinucci
Turney Street, Sausalito
Rice Brothers
East Boothbay, Maine
Smith and Rhuland
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Stephens Brothers Boat Builders
Stockton, California
W. F. Stone & Son / Stone Boat Yard
Hunters Point → Tiburon → Harbor View → Oakland → Alameda
Matthew Turner
Shipbuilder — Hunters Point, then Benicia
Union Iron Works / Bethlehem San Francisco
Potrero Point, San Francisco
Classes & Types
The Canoe Yawl
Albert Strange and the Humber Yawl Club
The Gloucester Fishing Schooner
New England, 19th century to the 1930s
The Metre Classes
The International Rule, ratified 1907
Monterey Clipper & the San Francisco Felucca
Italian-American fishing craft, 1860s – 1950s
Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter
British working sail, 1795 – 1922
San Francisco Bay Scow Schooner
The Bay's cargo craft, c. 1850 – 1930s
Spidsgatter
Danish double-enders, from 1914
Associations & Institutions
Corinthian Yacht Club
Tiburon
Encinal Yacht Club
Alameda
San Francisco Yacht Club
Belvedere Cove, Tiburon
Vessels
Adventuress
Gaff schooner — B. B. Crowninshield, 1913; Rice Brothers, East Boothbay
Freda
Gaff sloop — Harry Cookson, Belvedere, 1885
Yankee
Gaff schooner, 52 ft — W. F. Stone, 1905; launched 18 April 1906
← Working Sail · Between the Wars →
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