Charles Mower
Charles Drown Mower | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 October 1875 |
| Died | 18 January 1942 |
| Occupation(s) | Yacht Designer Author |
| Spouse | Francis Petriken Mower |
| Children | Charles Petrican Mower |
Charles Drown Mower of New York was a noted yacht designer and author, and was at one time design editor of the Rudder magazine and a contributing author to Motor Boating magazine.
Career
He starting studying yacht design in 1895 with Arthur Binney and later Bowdoin B. Crowninshield, moving on to a partnership with Thomas D. Bowes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1911. During the first World War he served as a lieutenant commander in the Construction Corps, Naval Reserve.
After the war Mower worked either alone or in partnership as Mower and Humphries Ltd. He was also a chief naval architect at Henry B. Nevins, Inc., City Island, New York, and in 1937 was associated with the office of Nelson & Reid, Inc. He was also official measurer of the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club, the Cruising Club of America and the New York Yacht Club.
Family
His wife was Francis Petriken Mower, who died in August 1967. His son, Charles Petriken Mower, (Born 12/28/1920 Died 7/31/01) married Jane Stilwell Mower (Born 4/18/1924 Died 1/8/2001), who was daughter of John Stilwell and niece of Joseph Stilwell, the noted WWII general. His grand children are Mildred Pastula 11/06/1954 to present and Charles Mower 05/29/1950 to 1/1/1976
Surviving Work
Most of his surviving designs are held in the Mystic Seaport Library, where a total of 433 sheets represent 107 designs.[1] A lot of his work was destroyed in the 1992 Noreaster and 1954 Hurricane Carol storms that attacked Connecticut. All of the surviving boat models once owned by Charles P. Mower (Mower's son) are with Mildred Mower Pastula, grand daughter of Mower, and her sons; David, Stephen and Jamie Osler. At times models have been loaned to Yacht clubs in Greenwich CT.
Designs
Some Mower yachts designs that have been well publicized include The A-Cat, The R-Class, The Legendary and the Fishers Island Design.
The A-Cat
In 1922 Judge Charles McKeehan of Philadelphia hired Mower to design a new boat specifically to win the Toms River cup. Mower's design became the Mary Ann, a 28-foot hull based on the traditional East Coast catboat lines. In place of the gaff-rigged catboat sail, the first A-cat was soon equipped with a powerful Marconi rig, a tall triangular sail on a 46-foot tall mast and sweeping 28-foot boom at its foot. After Mary Ann swept the race in July 1922, other racers started having their own versions built. The seven-boat fleet became a familiar sight during the 1920s, but the Great Depression put a damper on the race scene and no more A-cats were built. Mary Ann can still be found on Barnegat Bay[2].
| Year | 1922 |
| Overall length | 28 feet |
| Waterline length | 22 feet |
| Beam | 11 feet |
| Draft | 2 feet 6 inches |
| Mast above Deck | 46 feet |
| Boom | 28 feet |
| Sail area | 615 square feet |
| Construction | Cedar on oak |
| Fastenings | Bronze cooper |
| First Builder | Morton Johnson, Bay Head |
Fishers Island One Designs
Since they were built in 1923, the Fishers Island One Designs, as the Class A's were originally called, have been enthusiastically raced, day sailed and cruised on Fishers Island Sound. The fleet has anchored in only two harbors. Hay Harbor, Fishers Island, New York, from 1923-33 and then the Lagoon at Groton Long Point, Conn., from 1933 to the present. The original model of this boats is owned by Mildred Pastula (grand daughter of Mower) and is nearly identical to the Sidney or Charles Herreshoff models. The two designers were acquainted and both worked on the Fishers Island boats, so the similarity is not a surprise, but who should get the credit remains an area of contention.
The Mower model is in poor shape after years on neglect and flood damaged from the 1992 storm, much like many of the other half models that were stored in Charles P. Mower's basement.
| Year | ~1910 |
| Overall length | ~23 feet |
| First Builder | City Island, New York or Dauntless Yard in Essex, Conn |
R-Class
R-Class racing sloops were built to the universal rule developed by Nathanael Herreshoff. They were widely raced in New England, on the Great Lakes, and in California. A few well noted R boats are still in existence. There are six such yachts at the Cleveland Yachting Club that continue to race against one another every summer. CYC yacht Ardette is a fully restored and updated 1931 Mower.
Ace
Ace is a 43 foot R-Class Sloop built in 1926, and was four time winner of the San Francisco Pepetual Challenge Cup in her early years. More recently won the A Class Sloop "West Coast Boat of the Year Award" in 1998, and also won the A Class First Place in the Josh Slocum's Lyle Galloway Memorial Summer Series. She has had X owners, being first sold in 1944 to Jack DeMandel of Belvedere, California. In 1987 Jack Langton of Long Beach purchased her, selling her on in 1990 to Jim Squire who raced and extensively restored her. The deck was replaced and covered with epoxy resin and fiberglass. 68 deck beams were replaced and a new mast along with a diesel engine added. Garth Blair then purchased Ace in January 1998 and she is currently harbored in Wooden Hull Yacht Club. Newport Beach CA. [3]
| Year | 1926 |
| Overall length | 43 feet |
| Waterline length | 29 feet |
| Beam | 7 and a half feet |
| Draft | 7 feet |
| Mast above Deck | |
| Builder | Madden & Lewis, Sausalito |
Penobscot
Penobscot is a custom built classic daysailer with teak decks, mahogany trim, Sitka spruce spars, and bronze hardware. Her Rig is that of a Fractional marconi sloop. She underwent a restoration in the late 80s that included the addition of a diesel engine.[4]. Currently harbored in Key Biscayne, Florida Keys.
| Year | 1923 |
| Deck length | 37 feet |
| Waterline length | 25 and a half feet |
| Beam | 8 feet |
| Draft | 6 feet |
| Displacement | 11,000 |
| Boom | |
| Sail area | |
| Construction | Wood |
| Fastenings | |
| Builder | Hodgdon Brothers of Boothbay, Maine |
Cutter Sailboat
Tops-O-Cotton
Tops-O-Cotton won a number of races in her early years in Milwaukee, before being sold to a Chicago sailer and then to Bob Jacobsen and his father. Jacobsen sailed Tops-O-Cotton for over 30 years, making her a familiar sight in the Montrose Harbor, and Chicago sailing circles generally. In 1998 she was purchsed by Carl Hammer, who converted her to glass covered cypress planking. She is still harbored in Montrose Harbor, Chicago, Illinois[5]
| Year | 1934 |
| Overall length | 34 feet |
| Waterline length | 26 feet |
| Beam | 8 feet 2 inches |
| Draft | 5 feet 2 inches |
| Ballast | 3300 lbs. |
| Displacement | 5,600 lbs. |
| Construction | one inch cypress carvel planking on oak frames with oak bow sprit and bumpkin. |
| Builder | Ferdinand Nimphius |
Other Notable Boats
| Boat | Type | Size |
|---|---|---|
| Buster | sailing dinghy | 12-foot |
| Caper | auxiliary Cape Cod cat | 22-foot |
| Columbia Jr. | hydroplane | 151-cu. in. |
| Comfy | RD cruiser, RB | 32-foot |
| Content | DC cruiser | 32-foot |
| Dolores | auxiliary cruising knockabout | 24-foot |
| Frances | auxiliary cruising knockabout | 18-foot |
| Grace | gaff-rigged Cape Cod cat | 21-foot |
| Marquita | DC runabout | 30-foot VB |
| Pacer | DC runabout | 26-foot VB |
| Pronto | schooner-rigged motor sailer | 40-foot and 48-foot version |
| Shorebird | shoal-draft gaff-rigged CB sloop | 21-feet |
| Shorty | RD cruiser | 20-foot |
| Slicque | economical VB runabout | 21-foot |
| Smarty | FB for sail or OB | 14-footer |
| Snapper | RB sailing dinghy | 12-foot |
| Transco | clinker-built OB runabout | 18-foot |
| Uwhilna | Teak Yawl | 51 foot |
| Whiz | baby hydroplane | 13 1/2-foot |
| Whiz | OB runabout | 16-foot |
Books
The Plan Book of Cruisers, Runabouts, Auxiliaries and Outboard Motor Boats (Smartest and Most Up-To-Date Collection of Small Boat Designs, Volume IX) (Hardcover) Hardcover: 48 pages Publisher: Motor Boating (1927)
How to build a knockabout, (Rudder how-to series) (Unknown Binding) Unknown Binding: 58 pages Publisher: The Rudder Pub. Co (1902)
How to build a cruiser (Sea bird) (Unknown Binding) Publisher: The Rudder publishing company (1912)
How to build a racing sloop, (Unknown Binding) Publisher: Rudder Pub. Co (1920)
How to build a motor launch, (Rudder how-to series) (Unknown Binding) Unknown Binding: 42 pages Publisher: Rudder Pub. Co (1901)
Thirty Easy To Build Sail Boats With Auxiliary Power, IDEAL SERIES, VOLUME 15 (co authored) Hardcover Publisher: Motor Boating (1945)
Sailing Craft, Edwin J. Schoettle (editor), The Macmillan Co. New York (1928)
References
- ^ http://www.mysticseaport.org/Library/manuscripts/coll/spcoll009/spcoll009.html#head68555072 Mystic Seaport
- ^ http://www.barnegatbayacat.com/maryann.html Mary Ann
- ^ http://www.whyc.org/pages/gallery/galler15.htm Wooden Hull Yacht Club
- ^ http://www.sail-miami.com/closea.html Penobscot
- ^ http://tops-o-cotton.com/ Top-O-Cotton website
Links
- Fishers Island One Designs
- 'Build A Boat - A New Book Of Small-Boat Designs And Blue Prints Of Twenty-Five Practical Runabouts, Crusiers, Hydroplanes, Auxiliaries And Dinghies - Volume VII - 1924'
- New Jersey Local Legacies - "A-Cats"
- New York Times article on A-Cats
- | Tops-O-Cotton photos
- 1909 Gentleman's launch