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Henry B. Nevins, Incorporated

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Yacht builder

Henry B. Nevins Incorporated was wooden-hull yacht builder in City Island, New York founded in 1907 by Henry B. Nevins. Nevins was a master yacht builder and author on vessel construction who apprenticed at the island's Charles L. Seabury & Company. Later he purchased the nearby Byles Yard to increase his company's acreage. Henry B. Nevins Inc. built custom sail and motor yachts and racing craft for affluent clients, but also small tugs and barges for commercial customers. Run by a perfectionist, Nevins' company seasoned its own lumber, designed and machined its own fittings, made its own glue, and balanced spars by weighing shavings. As a result, Nevins built more cup-winning yachts than anyone else in the industry.

In 1939, Henry B. Nevins Inc. was awarded $15,000 by the United States Navy for the best design of a 54-foot (16 m) motor torpedo boat. During World War II, Henry B. Nevins Inc. built 24 YMS-1 class minesweepers for the U.S. Navy and 4 aircraft-rescue boats during as part of the war effort. A few yachts built by Nevins before World War II, such as USS Saluda served the Navy during the war. Following World War II the yard resumed private and commercial shipbuilding. Nevins died in 1950. Except for three minesweepers built for the Belgian Navy in 1953–54, the shipyard was unable to compete with postwar European shipyards able to make yachts at 1/3 the cost. His widow sold the yard in 1954 and it ceased operations in 1962. The former site is now occupied by the City Island School. Today little remains of the yard except for marine railways and slipways only visible at low tide.

Nevins built the Fishers Island One Design. Designed by Charles Mower these sloops had a 24-foot (7.3 m) hull with 15 feet (4.6 m) on the waterline and 7-foot (2.1 m) beam. The first boats were gaff rigged sloops. Twenty-five were built.

Ships built by Henry B. Nevins, Incorporated

References

  1. ^ "MODERN LIVING: As Idle as a Painted Ship – TIME." TIME.com. N.p., 12 June 1954. Web. 2 July 2010. <>.
  2. "Henry B. Nevins, Inc. Shipyard Collection." Mystic Seaport. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 July 2010. <http://library.mysticseaport.org/manuscripts/coll/spcoll028.cfm>. Archived 4 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Former Site of Henry B. Nevins Yacht Builders (New York City, New York)". www.wikimapia.org. Wikimapia. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  4. "NATIONAL DEFENSE: Small Boats". Time. Time. 10 April 1939. Archived from the original on 14 December 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  5. ^ "Henry B. Nevins Yacht Builders." U.S. Shipbuilding History. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 July 2010. <http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/6yacht/inactive/nevins.htm>. Archived 4 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Saluda (YAG-87)". www.navsource.org. NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  7. Egan, James F.X.. "Fisher Island One Designs." Groton Long Point Yacht Club. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 July 2010. <"Fisher Island One Designs". Archived from the original on 1 June 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2010.
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