Page 5 - Great Designers by Richard Macrae

eorge Lennox Watson was a Scottish naval architect. Born His influence on the other great designers of the time William Fife III and
Gin Glasgow in 1851, he spent many holidays during his Nathaniel Herreshoff was profound. Herreshoff wrote that his design for the 1895
youth on the Firth of Clyde where he developed a passion America’s Cup yacht, Defender was based on the “Watson Type”. In addition to his
for yacht design and boat building. At the age of sixteen yachts and countless steam yachts built for the world’s uber-wealthy, lifeboats
he commenced a drafting apprenticeship at Clydeside ship that he designed are credited with saving almost 20,000 lives at sea.
builders and engineering firm Robert Napier & Son,
Glasgow. After leaving Napier’s he worked for a period at
fellow Clyde shipbuilders J. & A. Inglis. Whilst at these Watson was prolific in his work with 432 yachts, lifeboats and other vessels being
yards Watson was introduced to the science of Notable Yacht Designs
hydrodynamics. Shipbuilders at the time were increasingly
being called on to achieve greater speed, with severe Thistle (1887) Sir James Bell (syndicate)
penalties for those who could not deliver it. To achieve
this both yards turned to scientists at the University of HMY Britannia (1893) Edward VII (Prince of Wales)
Glasgow who were at the forefront of research into Valkyrie II (1893) Lord Dunraven
hydrodynamics (Black 2013). Watson found himself at the Valkyrie III (1895) Lord Dunraven
cutting edge of this new science as to how ship hulls could be
made to move efficiently through water, and he quickly saw the Meteor II (1896) Kaiser Willhelm II
benefit to yacht design; this gave him a huge advantage over more traditional Rainbow (1898) C. L. Orr-Ewing
boatbuilders such as William Fife II, who still relied on tried and tested “rule-of-
thumb” approaches to design based on minor incremental improvements to Shamrock II (1901) Sir Thomas Lipton designed over his 32 year career. These
previous vessels (Black 2013). The traditional approach didn’t allow for innovation include in addition to Britannia, built for Edward VII (then the Prince of Wales),
which is where Watson excelled. Watson left Inglis’ in 1873 to establish his own firm then left to his son George V four America’s Cup challengers; Thistle (1887),
at the age of just 22; the worlds first yacht design office, dedicated to small yachts. Valkyrie II (1893), Valkyrie III (1895), Sir Thomas Lipton’s second challenger
is design for the 8 tonne cutter Peg Woffington (1871) was the first to dispense with Shamrock II (1901), and the largest schooner of its time Rainbow (1898).
internal ballast and locate all ballast completely outboard in the keel. He achieved
this through widening the base of the keelson, thus enabling the secure attachment
of keel bolts that further enabled the lead keel to be fully integrated into the shape Watson succumbed to Coronary Asthma in 1904 at the relatively young age of 53.
of the hull. Another innovation was to move away from having generally straight, As Watson was the sole owner of the business, when he died it was entrusted to
perpendicular to the keel bows, as was the trend at the time, thought essential for his Chief Draughtsman to carry on. It still operates today and will soon celebrate
th
good upwind sailing. By cutting away the forefoot he was able to reduce the wetted its 150 anniversary. After feeling extremely confident that he had the boat in
surface area and therefore surface friction. This delivered superior upwind Thistle to win the America’s Cup in 1887, to be let down by poor sails Watson
performance and even led William Fife II, to follow Watson’s lead and send his son, surmised, “I lost that cup because of my wonderful Scotch parsimony. I was afraid
William Fife III, to the Fullerton shipyard in Paisley so that he would benefit from a to spend proper money on proper sails. It saved the cup for America. It lost it for
proper shipbuilding training (Black 2013). me” (Gary 2015).

During his lifetime Watson was feted like no other British yacht designer. Tens of
thousands of spectators would line the banks of the Clyde when his yachts were
racing, and his designs were hronicled in the newspapers of the day. His dominance
on the fertile proving ground of the Clyde saw his fame grow and he received
commissions from high profile clients such as the Vanderbilts, Lord Dunraven, The
Rothschilds, Sir Thomas Lipton, and Kaiser Wilhelm II. In 1893, Watson, designed
two Big Class cutters, Britannia for Edward VII then the Prince of Wales, and Valkyrie
II, Lord Dunraven’s America’s Cup challenger. Britannia would become arguably the
most successful yacht of all time, beating all other Big Class cutters built that season.
With this success all future Big Class boats bar one were designed by Watson until
his death in 1904.

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