a Scotsman and an Englishman
WILLIAM FIFE III (1857 – 1944) CHARLES E NICHOLSON (1868 – 1954)
The first of three-part series looking at
these influential designers, contemporaries
in a golden age of yacht building
WORDS NIGEL SHARP
T
he single most significant factor that these three
designers had in common, which others of their
day didn’t, was that they all worked at family-run
boatyards. It has so often been the case, and still is today,
that a new client’s first port of call is the naval architect
or designer, who then has the opportunity to influence
the later process of selecting a builder. When trying to
attract work, a yard that has its own designer is going
to be one step ahead of one that doesn’t.
The story of Camper and Nicholsons began in 1782
when Francis Amos set up a boat building and repair
business in Gosport. When Amos died in 1824, he left the
business to his great nephew William Camper, who had