Nathanael Greene Herreshoff

{{Short description|American naval architect}} {{for|other Herreshoff family members|Herreshoff (surname)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Nathanael Greene Herreshoff | image = Nathanael G. Herreshoff.jpg | caption = Herreshoff circa 1898 | children = 2, including Lewis Francis Herreshoff<ref name="Simpson 2007" /> | birth_date = {{Birth-date|March 18, 1848}} | birth_place = Bristol, Rhode Island, US | death_date = {{death date and age|1938|6|2|1848|3|18}} | other_names = Nickname: Captain Nat | death_place = Bristol, Rhode Island, US | spouse = {{plainlist| * Clara Anna DeWolf * Ann Roebuck }} | relatives = J. B. F. Herreshoff, brother<br/>John Brown Herreshoff, brother<br/>Charles F. Herreshoff, nephew<br/>Halsey Chase Herreshoff, grandson | known_for = Designing motor and sailing yachts, especially America's Cup defenders between 1893-1920 | occupation = Naval architect<br/>Mechanical engineer | signature = Signature of Nathanael Greene Herreshoff (1848–1938).png }}

'''Nathanael Greene Herreshoff''' (March 18, 1848 – June 2, 1938) was an American naval architect, mechanical engineer, and yacht design innovator.<ref name="Johnson-Brown 1904" /> He produced a succession of undefeated America's Cup defenders between 1893 and 1920.

==Biography== Herreshoff was born on March 18, 1848, in Bristol, Rhode Island and was named after General Nathanael Greene.<ref name="Simpson 2007" /> He was one of seven brothers.<ref name="Herreshoff-Lewis-Francis 1953" />

He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1870 with a three-year degree in mechanical engineering.<ref name="Herreshoff-Lewis-Francis 1953" /> 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 {{convert|40|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}}, {{convert|1400|hp|adj=on}} dynamo that powered the exhibition's machinery.<ref name="Simpson 2007" />

In 1878 Herreshoff returned to Bristol where he and one of his brothers, John Brown Herreshoff (1841–1915), who was blind, formed the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Nathanael provided the engineering expertise and John provided the business expertise, managing the firm's personnel and interacting with clients. Together, they grew the business from about 20 employees to over 400.<ref name="Marden 1901" /> Herreshoff's talent for innovation found expression in both design and light-construction techniques. They built a variety of fast, steam-powered vessels and military craft. Having started its design since 1876, The Herreshoffs built the first torpedo spar boat for the U.S. Navy. ''Lightning'', that was purchased for experimental evaluation in 1878.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Simpson |first=Richard V. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p1k6ejrEZlkC&q=herreshoff+stiletto |title=Building the Mosquito Fleet: The U.S. Navy's First Torpedo Boats |date=2001 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-0-7385-0508-4 |pages=29–44 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1885, ''Stiletto'', a wooden torpedo boat with a length of 94 feet, 31 tons of displacement and a speed of 18.2 knots was launched at the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. as a private speculation. It was purchased for the United States Navy under an Act of Congress dated 3 March 1887, and entered service in July 1887, attached to the Naval Torpedo Station in Newport Rhode Island. ''USS Stiletto'' was the Navy's first torpedo boat capable of launching self-propelled torpedoes.<ref name=":2" />

In 1888, a serious accident occurred while Herreshoff was supervising speed trials of a {{convert|138|ft|m|adj=on}}, {{convert|875|hp|adj=on}} 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.<ref name="Simpson 2007" />

Herreshoff was an accomplished sailor, and was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nshof.org/inductees/herreshoff-nathanael/|title=Capt. Nathanael Greene Herreshoff|date=2011|website=National Sailing Hall of Fame|access-date=April 11, 2020}}</ref> Two of Herreshoff's sons, Sidney Dewolf Herreshoff and Lewis Francis Herreshoff, also became yacht designers.

He died on June 2, 1938, in Bristol, Rhode Island.<ref>{{cite news |title=America's Cup Yacht Designer Dies at 91 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=q_1IAAAAIBAJ&pg=1002,6310506 |newspaper=The Meriden Daily Journal |agency=Associated Press |date=June 3, 1938 |access-date=April 26, 2011 }}</ref>

==Yacht building== thumb|right|''New York 30'' class design [[File:Reliance & Shamrock III.jpg|thumb|right|''Reliance'' ahead of ''Shamrock III,'' Sir Thomas Lipton's 1903 America's Cup contender designed by William Fife]] 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.<ref>The Steam Yachts by Erik Hoffman ISBN 0-8286-0040-6</ref>

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.<ref name = Jones> {{cite book | last = Jones | first = Gregory O. | title = Herreshoff Sailboats | publisher = Voyageur Press | date = December 25, 2004 | location = McGregor, Minnesota | page = 160 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=c6C_XPostscC&pg=PA103 | isbn = 978-0-7603-1160-8 }}</ref>

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,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |url=https://www.capecodtimes.com/sports/20190810/buzzards-yc-hosts-h-class-championship |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928220959/https://www.capecodtimes.com/sports/20190810/buzzards-yc-hosts-h-class-championship |archive-date=2021-09-28 |title=Buzzards YC hosts H Class Championship|last=Derderian|first=Steve|newspaper=Cape Cod Times |language=en|access-date=April 9, 2020}}</ref> to the 144-foot America's Cup ''Reliance'', with a sail area of 16,000 square feet.<ref> {{cite book | last = Pastore | first = Christopher | title = Temple to the Wind: The Story of America's Greatest Naval Architect and His Masterpiece, Reliance | publisher = Lyons Press | date = September 1, 2005 | location = Guilford, Connecticut | page = 312 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Oi8VaLsNDq4C&pg=PA88 | isbn = 1-59228-557-0 }}</ref> 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.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|last1=Thompson|first1=Winfield Martin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w1Z3GFPbbEQC&q=Sir+Joseph+Frederick+Laycock+AND+yacht+club+member&pg=PA180-IA1|title=The Lawson History of the America's Cup: A Record of Fifty Years|last2=Lawson|first2=Thomas W.|orig-date=1902 |date=1986 |location=Southampton |publisher=Ashford Press|isbn=1-332-43880-6|pages=179–196}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":1" />

Those of the 2,000-plus designs by Herreshoff that survive are sought 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 well regarded as a one-design racer/cruiser.<ref name=":0" />

==World War II== In the 1942 the shipyard built wooden hull APc-1-class small coastal transports to support the World War II demand for ships.<ref name="shipscribe">{{cite web|url=http://www.navsource.net/archives/09/23/23001.htm |title=Small Coastal Transport (APc) |website=NavSource |date= |access-date=February 16, 2021}}</ref>

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).<ref>[http://shipbuildinghistory.com/smallships/pt.htm PT Boat (BPT)], ''shipbuildinghistory.com''</ref>

==Legacy== The Herreshoff Marine Museum preserves Herreshoff's legacy at the former site of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://herreshoff.org/|title=Herreshoff Marine Museum|website=Herreshoff Marine Museum|language=en-US|access-date=April 9, 2020}}</ref>

==Notable vessels== [[File:Herreshoff Duplex Catamaran sailing in the Thames River--1880.png|thumb|Herreshoff catamaran, ''Duplex'', on the River Thames—built in 1877, was 31 ft long.]] [[File:Yacht Defender.jpg|thumb|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.<ref name="Herreshoff-Lewis-Francis 1953" /><ref name="Simpson 2007" /><ref>{{cite book |author=Richard V. Simpson|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p1k6ejrEZlkC&q=%22steam+launch%22&pg=PA28|title=Building the Mosquito Fleet: The U.S. Navy's First Torpedo Boats|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|date=2001|isbn=978-0-7385-0508-4|page=28|chapter=Three Fast Launches and Spar Torpedo Boats}}</ref> * 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<ref>The Steam Yachts by Erik Hofman ISBN 0-8286-0040-6</ref> * SY ''Ballymena'' (1888) the first yacht to have a steel hull.<ref>The Steam Yachts by Erik Hofman ISBN 0-8286-0040-6</ref> * Sy ''Vamoose'' (1890) for William Randolph Hearst sold to Norman Munro in 1894, and ultimately owned by J. A. Pugh<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Gregory O. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c6C_XPostscC&dq=Sailing+Yacht+Vamoose&pg=RA1-PA34 |title=Herreshoff Sailboats |publisher=Voyageur Press |isbn=978-1-61060-403-1 |pages=34 |language=en}}</ref>

===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.<ref name=ban>{{cite news |url=http://www.ulstc.org/Herreshoff.html |title=The Catamaran Chronicle |newspaper=The Spirit of the Times |date=November 24, 1877 |type=Reprint |author=Nathanael Herreshoff |editor=L. Francis Herreshoff |access-date=December 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080124161749/http://www.ulstc.org/Herreshoff.html |archive-date=January 24, 2008 |via=Union Lake Sailing and Tennis Club}}</ref>

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,<ref>{{cite web |title=History |url=https://www.bembridgesailingclub.org/home/club/history/ |website=The Bembridge Sailing Club}}</ref> leading to several follow-up orders from British Yachtswomen and Yachtsmen.<ref>{{cite news |title=Fair yachtswoman gives Herreshoff a knotty problem |newspaper=The San Francisco Call |date=30 July 1905 |volume=98 |issue=60 |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19050730.2.170.2&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1}}</ref>

*''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''.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} * ''Vigilant'', 1893 * ''Defender'', 1895 * ''Columbia'', 1899 & 1901 * ''Reliance'', 1903 * ''Resolute'', 1920

==Technical achievements== [[File:Herreshoff Torpedo Boat.jpg|thumb|Herreshoff torpedo boat, engraving from ''Harper's Weekly'', June 1889]] According to his son's biography, Herreshoff's achievements include:<ref name="Herreshoff-Lewis-Francis 1953" /> #Built the first torpedo boat, USS ''Cushing'' (TB-1), for the U.S. Navy. #Developed bulb and fin keels for large boats. #Updated the sail track and slide. #Invented the crosscut sail, with panels running at right angles to the leech, in order to combat cotton canvas' tendency to distort under load.

{{clear}} ==See also== {{Commons category|Nathanael Greene Herreshoff}} * Herreshoff Marine Museum

==References== {{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="Herreshoff-Lewis-Francis 1953">{{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Herreshoff, L. Francis |2001}} |last1=Herreshoff |first1=Lewis Francis |author-link1=Lewis Francis Herreshoff |date=2001 |orig-date=1953 |title=Capt. Nat Herreshoff, the Wizard of Bristol: The Life and Achievements of Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, Together With an Account of Some of the Yachts He Designed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MpcgJ7MhMoUC&q=Nathanael+Greene+Herreshoff+brothers&pg=PA81 |language=en-US |location=Dobbs Ferry, New York |publisher=Sheridan House |isbn=978-1-57409-004-8 |via=Google Books |lccn=80-28519 |oclc=3889511}}</ref>

<ref name="Johnson-Brown 1904">{{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Johnson & Brown,|1904}} |last1=Johnson |first1=Edwin Rossiter |author-link1=Rossiter Johnson |last2=Brown |first2=John Howard |date=1904 |title=The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i1IDAAAAYAAJ&q=%22herreshoff%22&pg=RA11-PP4 |volume=5, "Habb—Izard" |location=Boston |publisher=The Biographical Society |via=Google Books}} :Entries (no page numbers): ::"Herreshoff, Charles Frederick" (1809–1888) ::"Herreshoff, James Brown" (1834–{{italics correction|''1930''}}) (photo) ::"Herreshoff, John Brown" (1841–{{italics correction|''1915''}}) ::"Herreshoff, John Brown Francis" (1850–{{italics correction|''1932''}}) ::"Herreshoff, Julian Lewis" (1854–{{italics correction|''1919''}}) ::"Herreshoff, Nathaniel Greene" (1848–{{italics correction|''1938''}})</ref>

<ref name="Marden 1901">{{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Marden,|1901}} |date=1901 |chapter=Chapter 17 – Herreshoff, the Yacht Builder |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/howtheysucceeded00mardrich#page/276/ |editor1-last=Marden |editor1-first=Orison Swett |editor1-link=Orison Swett Marden |title=How They Succeeded – Life Stories of Successful Men Told by Themselves |url=https://archive.org/stream/howtheysucceeded00mardrich#page/276/ |language=en-US |location=Boston |publisher=Lothrop Publishing |pages=276–303 |via=Internet Archive |oclc=2533927}}</ref>

<ref name="Simpson 2007">{{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Simpson,|2007}} |last1=Simpson |first1=Richard Vernon |date=2013 |orig-date=2007 |title=Herreshoff Yachts: Seven Generations of Industrialists, Inventors and Ingenuity in Bristol |language=en-US |location=Charleston, South Carolina |publisher=The History Press |pages=16, 24, & 94–95 |quote=Nathanael Greene Herreshoff III offers the following: Captain Nat, a seventh child, was named after Revolutionary {{nowrap|...}} |oclc=122701540 |isbn=978-1-5962-9306-9}}</ref>

}}

==Bibliography== *{{cite book |author1=Bray, Maynard |author2=Pinheiro, Carlton |title = Herreshoff of Bristol: A Photographic History of America's Greatest Yacht and Boat Builders| location = Brooklin | publisher = Woodenboat Publications | year = 1989 | isbn = 978-0-937822-19-7 }} *{{cite journal |last1=Grant |first1=I. A. |title=The Herreshoff Spar Torpedo Boats of 1878–1880 |journal=Warship International |date=1977 |volume=XIV |issue=3 |pages=253–261 |issn=0043-0374}} *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. *{{cite book | author = Page, Franco |title = Herreshoff and his Yachts | location = Brooklin | publisher = Woodenboat Publications | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-0-937822-98-2 }} * {{cite book |last=Simpson |first=Richard V. |year=2007 |title=Bristol, Rhode Island's Herreshoff yachts |isbn=978-1-59629-306-9 |publisher=The History Press |location=Charleston, South Carolina |oclc=226055968}}

==External links== * [http://www.herreshoff.org/ Herreshoff Marine Museum / America's Cup Hall of Fame]

{{Cape Cod Shipbuilding}} {{PT boat}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herreshoff, Nathanael Greene}} Category:1848 births Category:1938 deaths Category:American yacht designers Category:Multihull designers Category:America's Cup yacht designers Category:American naval architects Category:MIT School of Engineering alumni Category:People from Bristol, Rhode Island Nathanael Greene Category:Engineers from Rhode Island