Camper & Nicholsons
Camper & Nicholsons is the name of a traditional British boatyard that was founded by Francis Amos in Gosport in 1782 . The shipyard has had a decisive influence on the construction of regatta and luxury sailing boats for several generations. Yacht construction was taken over by Nautor's Swan in 2001 . In 2005 the shipyard in Gosport was closed.
The remaining companies with the name Camper & Nicholsons offer various services in connection with luxury yachts . This includes brokerage services, construction, refitting, charter management and crew placement.
owner
Francis Amos
Francis Amos moved from London to Gosport in 1782 and founded a shipyard there. To do this, he leased a plot of land from the Royal Naval Dockyard. In the beginning, Amos built and repaired small boats for the local boatmen and fishermen. The shipyard expanded its activities over the years and built small cargo ships.
William Camper
Amos remained childless and therefore appointed his great-nephew William Camper as his successor in 1824. In the period after the coalition wars, interest in yachting in England grew strongly, which also led to the establishment of the Royal Yacht Squadron . Camper cultivated his contacts with various club members and received orders for the construction of yachts. His first known yacht was the cutter Breeze on behalf of James Lyon. The Breeze was launched in 1836 and Lyon instantly won the King's Cup regatta that same year. With the win, Camper became known in one fell swoop and received a number of other orders for racing yachts.
By the mid-1850s, Camper had built a number of yachts, most of them schooners . In addition to the yachts, Camper continued to build cargo ships at this time and also took part in cargo trips himself.
James Lapthorn
James Lapthorn was a sailmaker who ran his business right next to Camper's shipyard. He was also supported by the James Lyons family. When Camper received the numerous orders from the Royal Yacht Squadron, he worked closely with Lapthorn. The families von Camper and von Lapthorn supported the shipyard financially in 1836 when it was taken over by Ben Nicholson.
Ben Nicholson (Senior)
Camper hired Ben Nicholson as an apprentice in 1842. After completing his apprenticeship, he continued his education in shipbuilding and over the course of time also increasingly worked on boat design. Nicholson's first known yacht was the racing schooner Aline in 1860 . The outstanding regatta success of this ship brought the shipyard numerous orders for similar yachts over the next 20 years.
In 1863, William Camper retired and Nicholson took over the management of the yard under the name Camper and Nicholson. Nicholson was very successful with his racing schooners and expanded the shipyard to include additional workshops, joiner's shops and his own sawmill. In 1880 the company had already doubled in size. Nicholson knew that his reputation as a boat designer could well be fleeting. He therefore relied more on the shipyard's reputation for reliability, build quality and maintenance, and often left the design to independent boat designers.
Ben had three sons whom he wanted to introduce into the business. He therefore renamed the shipyard to the final name Camper and Nicholsons. The youngest son Arthur W. took care of the maintenance and construction facilities on the shipyard site.
Ben Nicholson (Junior)
Ben was the eldest of Ben Nicholson's three sons. He wasn't particularly interested in boat building. He offered the yacht owners the placement of seafarers to operate the yachts. This service is still part of the Camper & Nicholson offer today. He hired the seafarers mainly from the local fishermen. In summer they worked on the racing yachts of the wealthy people because of the better income opportunities and in winter they went back to fishing.
The fishermen were very interested in modern yachts and the innovations in hull shapes and rigging implemented in them . If the innovations withstood their critical judgment, appeared useful to them and the implementation was within their own possibilities, they flowed into their own fishing boats. As a result, the fishing boats on the English east coast developed extremely quickly, handy, stable and seaworthy. Many of these ships were bought from the fishermen during the construction phase and finished as yachts.
Charles E. Nicholson
The second oldest son turned out to be a very talented boat designer. The Dacia he built made Charles famous when it claimed victory in the first 14 races it competed. Gradually, yachts were again designed by Camper & Nicholson in-house.
Charles continued to expand the business. He took over another shipyard in neighboring Southampton . In the early 1920s, the shipyard also built steam and diesel ships. The largest motor ship of its time was the Philante built for Thomas Sopwith . This ship later became the Royal Norwegian Yacht Norge .
As the pre-eminent yacht designer of his day, Charles built all of the British Challenger yachts for the America's Cup between 1920-1937, as well as all British J-Class yachts ever built .
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Some of the legendary yachts that he designed and built include:
- Dacia (5-rater, 1891)
- Marigold ( cutter , 1892) - still sails
- Avel (cutter, 1897) - still sails as a dinghy from Creole (see below)
- Black Swan (formerly Brynhyld , Yawl , 1899) - still sails
- Merrymaid (cruising yacht, 1904) - still sails
- Norland ( schooner , 1904) - still sails
- Nyria ( Bermuda cutter , 1906) - still sailing
- Brynhild II ( 23mR , 1907)
- Orion (schooner, 1910) - still sailing
- Waterwitch (schooner, 1911)
- Istria ( 15mR , 1912)
- Marguerita (schooner, 1913)
- Pamela (15mR, 1913)
- Paula III (15mR, 1913)
- Shamrock IV (Universal Rule 75-footer, 1914)
- Patricia (R-Class, 1921)
- Sylvia ( Bermuda-Ketch , 1925) - still sails
- Creole (at times Mistral , three-mast staysail schooner , 1927) - still sails
- Astra ( 23mR , 1928) - still sails
- Candida (23mR, 1929) - still sailing
- Shamrock V ( J-class yacht , 1930) - still sailing
- Patience (Bermuda cutter, 1931) - still sails
- Velsheda (J-class yacht, 1933) - still sailing
- Endeavor (J-class yacht, 1934) - still sailing
- Endeavor II (J-class yacht, 1936)
- Bloodhound ( 12mR , 1936) - still sailing
- Oiseau de Feu (formerly Firebird X , Ketch , 1937) - still sails
- Trivia (12mR, 1937) - still sailing
At the beginning of the Second World War , Camper & Nicholsons only had a ship chandler in Southampton as a subsidiary in addition to the two shipyards. During the war, the company transformed into a group with many different services. In 1950, this became C & N Electrical Ltd. spun off. In addition, under the name Camper & Nicholsons Marina Ltd. founded another company, which built a marina right next to the Gosport shipyard on the former site of the British Admiralty .
Charles Nicholson never retired, but remained Chairman of Camper & Nicholsons until his death. He died in 1954 at the age of 86.
In 1997 he was posthumously inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame as an Inductee (member) for his services as a yacht designer .
John Nicholson
John was the son of Charles Nicholson. He worked on boat design with his father. The series construction of yachts goes back to his initiative when he made six identical 30 foot slups in 1939 . Ultimately, John was never able to step out of his father's shadow. Even the yachts he designed himself were published under his father's name, which he did not point out publicly until after his father's death.
Charles A. Nicholson
John's cousin Charles A. Nicholson was also known as Young Charlie . He worked in the factory in Southampton and was thus much more independent from his uncle Charles E. His design of the ocean racing yacht Yeoman from 1937 was known.
Peter Nicholson
Peter Nicholson was the first son of Charles A. Nicholson. Peter realized that the shipyard would not receive enough orders in the post-war years either through arms contracts or the construction of large luxury yachts. Peter divided the production into three areas: In addition to the large motor yachts and individual sailing yachts, inexpensive sailing boats were now also produced.
The newly emerging material glass fiber reinforced plastic (GRP) is particularly well suited for this purpose . However, Camper & Nicholsons had no previous experience with this material. So in 1960 Peter turned to Halmatic Ltd., which had specialized in GRP production. The first model of this cooperation was the Nicholson 36 . Halmatic supplied the hull and Camper & Nicholsons completed the ship with high-quality timber construction. Later models between 27 and 70 feet were built with a higher proportion of GRP and thus even more efficiently. The series were very successful on the market.
The large conglomerate that had emerged required greater investments in the post-war period than private companies could still afford. Therefore, in 1972, Crest Securities Ltd. a financially strong partner was added to the group and C & N Electrical Ltd. sold. Strikes, inflation, tax increases and, last but not least, a new bridge over the River Itchen , which practically cut off the Southampton shipyard from access to the Solent, experienced an economic decline. The Southampton shipyard was sold and the design department closed.
Tony Taylor
In 1981 the company was sold to Tony Taylor in a management buyout , who transformed it into Camper & Nicholsons Yachting Ltd. renamed. Mainly motor and sailing yachts of the luxury class were built. The production of series yachts was stopped in 1989. With a stopover at Cammell Laird , the company was finally sold to the Nautor Group , which in 2004 tried one last time with the Gosport shipyard to start series production of motor yachts. The decline could no longer be stopped and so the shipyard was finally closed in 2005.
Ships
19th century gaff yachts
William Camper established the good reputation of the shipyard. The first successful regatta yacht was the Breeze, built for James Lyon in 1836 . With the two-masted schooner Nancy Dawson , Camper demonstrated its expertise in ocean yachts. With this ship, the first recorded circumnavigation of the world was undertaken with a yacht and also sailed in the Bering Strait . Later, sailed by the Marquis of Dufferin made foam with travelogues by Iceland and Spitsbergen sensation.
With the construction of the racing schooner Aline 1860, Ben Nicholson made a name for himself. In the following years the shipyard received numerous other orders. One of the most famous ships was the two-masted gaff schooner Amphitrite , built in 1887 , which met the racing yacht Meteor of Kaiser Wilhelm II during regattas . The cruising Yawl Florinda was known by the nickname The Gosport Mistake (the fallacy of Gosport) because she sailed incomparably fast.
Yachts with Marconirigg
A turning point in the design of sailing yachts was the 15-meter class yacht Istria in 1912 . The hull was a light plywood construction for the sails the Marconirigg was used for the first time . Convinced of this construction principle, the American Alexander Smith Cochran commissioned the construction of the Vita in 1927 . This schooner had a three-masted Marconirigg with additional staysails . The displacement was 689 tons. On his first visit to the site, Cochran found the size of the rig so terrifying that he had the masts shortened by nine meters before completion.
Fastnet and Admiral's Cup yachts
The 20 ton Yawl Ilex was designed by Charles E. Nicholson for the Corps of Royal Engineers and built in 1899. The Royal Engineers competed in all Fastnet races between 1925 and 1939 and won the race in 1926. The sister ships Foxhound and Bloodhound were later built for the American Issac Bell, who lived in England, based on the same plans . He won the Fastnet race in 1939 with the Bloodhound . The Foxhound was sailed by the Portuguese team at the Admiral's Cup in 1974 . At that time, the Fastnet race was the final race of the Admiral's Cup.
The Yeoman designed by Charles A. Nicholson won the Fastnet race in 1951 under the Eiger Owen Aisher.
Motor yachts
Camper & Nicholsons reached a milestone in machine-powered ships in 1914 with the Pioneer . For the first time a large yacht was powered by a diesel engine. This machine was much smaller and lighter than the usual steam engines and thus made it possible to build lighter ships with the same amount of space.
In 1926, the MY Vita was built for the multimillionaire Thomas Sopwith . In 1937 Sopwith had the Philante built. She was the largest motor ship of its time. The ship later became the Royal Norwegian Yacht Norge .
America's Cup yachts
Charles E. Nicholson built all of the British Challenger yachts for the America's Cup between 1920 and 1937 : the Shamrock IV and Shamrock V for Thomas Lipton and the Endeavor and Endeavor II for Thomas Sopwith.
J class yachts
Before defining the J-class measurement rule, Charles E. Nicholson designed the great racing yachts Astra and Candida . They were later modified in such a way that they complied with the J-Class surveying rules so that they could take part in appropriate regattas. King George V's sailing yacht Britannia was also converted accordingly by Camper & Nicholsons.
Other yachts were specially designed for the J-class and were able to make better use of the rules. Charles E. Nicholson has designed and built all such British J-class yachts . The Shamrock V was the first pure J-class yacht ever and was sailed in 1930 by Sir Thomas Lipton at the 14th Americas'Cup. The Velsheda was the only J-class yacht that was not intended for the Americas'Cup. It was built for William Stevenson in 1933. The Endeavor and Endeavor II were commissioned by Thomas Sopwith for use in the 15th and 16th Americas'Cup.
Cowes Week 1937
Camper & Nicholsons' dominance peaked in 1937. The Cowes Week of this year went by the name Charlie Nicholson's race in history. All participating J-class yachts were drawn by him; likewise three quarters of the 12-meter and half of the 8-meter yachts. In addition, many of the ocean-going racing yachts and motorized spectator boats were created on his drawing board.
GRP yachts
In 1964, Peter Nicholson showed the Rocquette yacht he had designed at an exhibition. This ship was the first British yacht to have a flush deck . These and other innovations have also been incorporated into the Ketsch Gipsy Moth IV . Sir Francis Chichester commissioned Camper & Nicholsons to build this ship in 1962 in order to undercut the times of the wool clippers from the 19th century for the circumnavigation .
Camper & Nicholsons began working with Halmatic Ltd. in 1960. To build boats out of glass fiber reinforced plastic (GRP). With the first joint model, the Nicholson 36 , the labor-intensive proportion of woodworking was still relatively high and therefore expensive. Therefore, strict specifications were made for the next model: The boat should cost less than 5000 pounds sterling and thus become an affordable people's boat . The ship size should be approximately 32 feet with a 24 foot waterline. In order to meet the price limit, the boat had to be very easy to build. The model was a great success: by the end of production in 1981, 369 copies had been built. Another 20 yachts are believed to have been built in hull shapes that were exported to Australia.
Following the same pattern, numerous other models between 27 and 70 feet were developed in the following years. The most successful of these were the Nicholson 35 (228 boats), Nicholson 38 (134 boats) and the Nicholson 33 (120 boats). A total of 1400 GRP yachts were sold during this time.
Web links
- Camper & Nicholsons International's Official Site Yachting (Engl.)
- Camper and Nicholsons Yachting (Engl.)
- Camper and Nicholsons Marinas (Engl.)
- Nautor's Swan (Engl.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n A short History of Camper and Nicholsons 1782–2005 . (PDF; 400 kB; engl.)
- ^ Charles Ernest Nicholson in the English language Wikipedia
- ↑ merrymaid.sy
- ↑ America's Cup Hall of Fame: Charles E. Nicholson.Retrieved July 21, 2009
- ↑ History of the Wreck ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . "MY Alastor" Project. (engl.)
Coordinates: 50 ° 47 ′ 45 ″ N , 1 ° 7 ′ 4 ″ W.