Classic Boat – September 2019

An American, a Scotsman

An American, a Scotsman and an Englishman

NATHANAEL G HERRESHOFF (1848 – 1938) WILLIAM FIFE III (1857 – 1944) CHARLES E NICHOLSON (1868 – 1954)

H^ ERRES

HOFF^ MARIN

E MUSEUM

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The first of three-part series looking at these influential designers, contemporaries

in a golden age of yacht building

WORDS NIGEL SHARP

Tboatyards. It has so often been the case, and still is today, that a new client’s first port of call is the naval architect 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

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.when Francis Amos set up a boat building and repair The story of Camper and Nicholsons began in 1782

business in Gosport. When Amos died in 1824, he left the business to his great nephew William Camper, who had

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Westward (Herreshoff ) leading Britannia,

Cambria (Fife), Astra (Nicholson) and

Candida (Nicholson)