Neptune's Needle

Inventor. He and his brothers, John Herreshoff and Nathanael Herreshoff, became famous for their many contributions to the design and construction of sail and steam yachts, including five defenders of the America's Cup from 1893 to 1903.

John and Nathanael Herreshoff founded their boat-building company in 1878. While the Herreshoff yards were expanding, James contributed a number of ideas. A sliding seat for rowboats, still used in racing shells, was not of much help, but an antifouling paint and lapstreak construction for small hulls enhanced the speed and durability of Herreshoff yachts.

After his return to Bristol Herreshoff perfected a new type of steam boiler for light vessels, made in the form of a beehive with coils of iron pipe, which heated water quickly while saving fuel. It was first tried on a 48-foot launch,Vision, which attained a speed of fifteen miles per hour. Its success led the Herreshoffs to be deeply involved with steam-powered vessels for the next decade. The coil-type boiler was adopted for the first torpedo boat built for the U.S. Navy. Five years later, in 1879, James went one step further by devising an engine that could be operated with super-heated steam.

James Herreshoff began experimenting with a revolutionary idea for racing yachts--a fin keel which would, by virtue of its depth and weight, allow the yacht to carry unconventionally large sails. Returning to Bristol in 1883, he perfected this concept, undeterred by his brothers' skepticism. In their eyes James had always been an impractical dreamer when it came to yachting design, but Nat Herreshoff finally adopted the knifelike fin keel and incorporated it to great advantage in his America's Cup defenders. His brother never received credit for this invention.

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Compiler

Peter Richards