George Steers
{{Short description|American shipbuilder and designer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = George Steers
| image = George Steers.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1819|8|15}}
| birth_place = Washington, D.C.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1856|9|25|1819|8|15}}
| death_place = Cranston, Rhode Island, US
| nationality = {{flagicon|USA}} American
| occupation = shipbuilder
| spouse =
| children =
}}
George Steers (August 15, 1819 – September 25, 1856){{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/20448950/?terms=%22George%2BSteers%22 |title=Death of George Steers|date=1856-09-26|access-date=2020-08-14}} was a designer of yachts best known for the famous racing yacht America. He founded a shipyard with his brother, George Steers and Co, and died in an accident just as he was landing a major contract to build boats for the Russian Czar.
Early life
George Steers was born in Washington, D.C., USA, in 1819. His father, Henry Steers, was engaged as Naval Constructor for the U.S. Government.
George never learned the trade of ship carpenter, but rather built vessels based on the design concepts he worked out for himself in his youth, growing up as a shipbuilder's son.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1896/03/29/106918290.pdf George Steers, The Famous Long Island Shipbuilder, March 29, 1896, The New-York Times] He became a journeyman for William H. Brown, in whose service he assisted in building the Arctic and another of the Collins steamers.
Designer of famous racing yacht ''America''
Between 1841 and 1850, Steers built many yachts which were well known in their day. In 1845, Steers went into business with a partner under the name of Hathorne & Steers, at the foot of North First street, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In 1849, George Steers designed the pilot boat Mary Taylor, with a radical new design in a schooner. The firm was closed in 1849.
{{cite book|last=Neblett|first=Thomas R.|date=2009
|title= Civil War Yacht
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VsHSeP8cN9YC&q=Mary%20Taylor
|location=Mustang, Oklahoma
|publisher=Tate Publishing & Enterprises
|pages=36–45
|isbn=9781604627183}}
In 1850 he formed the firm George & James R. Steers with his brother.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1896/04/19/106884220.pdf Obituary record, April 19, 1896, The New York Times][https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1856/10/07/77060763.pdf George Steers - His Early Shipbuilding, October 7, 1856, The New York Times] In 1850, Steers designed the pilot boat Moses H. Grinnell, No. 1. The Grinnell was the first pilot boat to have a long lean bow, which made it very fast. It was owned by George W. Blunt.[https://books.google.com/books?id=VNsGi3nmuaQC&q=in+1888 Cunliffe, Tom, Pilots: Pilot, The World Of Pilotage Under Sail and Oar] Wooden Boat Publications. Brooklin, Maine. 2001
George Steers is perhaps best known as the designer of the most famous racing yacht of all time, the schooner yacht America (1851), for which the America's Cup is named. No doubt influenced by the Mary Taylor and Grinnell, and the ship designs of fellow New Yorker John W Griffiths, the aptly named America established the American naval architecture of the day.
He also built one full-sized ship, the clipper ship Sunny South, which was sold to foreign owners after a voyage around Cape Horn to San Francisco, and captured in the Mozambique Channel in 1860 with a cargo of over 800 slaves.
{{Cite web
| last = Bruzelius
| first = Lars
| title = Clipper Ships: Sunny South (1854)
| work = Sunny South
| publisher = The Maritime History Virtual Archives
| date = 1997-03-22
| url = http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/Sunny_South%281854%29.html
| access-date = Feb 13, 2011}}
List of boats built by Steers include:
- William G. Hagstaff Pilot Boat (1841) built for the New Jersey pilots{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80373811/william-g-hagstaff/ |title=The America and George Steers.|work=The Sun|place=New York, New York|date=5 Jul 1897|page=9|access-date=2021-06-27}}
- Mary Taylor, Pilot Boat (1849)
- George Steers Pilot Boat (1852)
- Phantom three-masted schooner (1853){{cite book|last=MacGregor|first= David R.|date=1997|title=The schooner: its design and development from 1600 to the present|url=https://archive.org/details/uboatsdestroyedg0000kemp/page/106/mode/2up?q=George+Steers|publisher=Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press|page=106|isbn= 9781557508478}}
- Anthony B. Neilson Pilot Boat (1854){{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/usnauticalmagazi61857newy/page/244/mode/2up?q=%22Anthony+B+Neilson%22|title=U.S. nautical magazine and naval journal|work= New York : Griffiths, Bates|date=1858|page=244|access-date=2021-01-11}}
- Julia Yacht (1855)[https://www.newspapers.com/image/61098640/?terms=%22Haze%22%20%22George%20Steers%22&match=1 The Waterford News, Waterford, Waterford, Ireland, 29 Jun 1855, Page 4].
- Haze Yacht (1855)[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Yacht_Haze_87_Tons._Built_by_George_Steers_New_York_to_her_Owner_Wm._B._Duncan_Esq_-_RMG_PY8736.tiff The Yacht Haze 87-tons].
- Widgeon Pilot Boat (1855){{cite news|title=Sports On Land And Water|place=New York, New York|work=New-York tribune|date=May 9, 1886|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1886-05-09/ed-1/seq-15/#date1=1882&sort=date&date2=1889&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&lccn=sn83030212&lccn=sn83030213&lccn=sn83030214&lccn=sn83030313&lccn=sn83045774&index=11&words=Widgeon&proxdistance=5&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=Widgeon&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1|page= 15}}
- {{USS|Niagara|1855|6}} (1855) Steers last ship.{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BtkaAAAAYAAJ&q=%22george+steers%22&pg=PA20 |title=Sketch of the Life of George Steers|work=The Sailor's Magazine|year=1858}}
Landed a large contract, but died young
On 25 September 1856, George Steers, while driving a pair of horses to Glen Cove, Long Island, in order to bring home (91 Cannon St.) his wife, who had been visiting, was thrown from his wagon and mortally wounded. He was only 37 years old. He had just negotiated for $1,000,000 worth of boats for the Czar of Russia.[https://archive.org/details/historyofnewyork00morr History of New York ship yards, John Harrison Morrison, Press of W.F. Sametz & Co., 1909]{{cite journal |last1=Ferreiro |first1=Larrie |title=Notes on the deaths of two prominent New York naval architects |journal=Nautical Research Journal |date=Spring 2022 |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=79–82}} He left a son behind him.
A procession of 800 citizens was followed by lodges of the Masonic Order, including the Mariner's Lodge (400 men), and 70 carriages of friends and relatives.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1856/09/29/77060246.pdf Funeral of Mr. George Steers. September 29, 1856, Wednesday, The New York Times] Steers is interred at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.
References
Further reading
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=CaYiAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22george+steers%22&pg=PA14 George Steers and His Work], from "American Yachting" (part of the American Sportsman's Library) by W.P. Stephens
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=YR8pAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22george+steers%22&pg=PA126 George Steers, Shipbuilder], a tale for boys
- Henry Howe, Adventures and Achievements of Americans, 1859; pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yCwJ5xoKSWMC&dq=%2B%22george+steers%22&pg=PA141 140 – 146].
{{Portal|Biography}}
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{{List of Shipbuilders and Designers}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Steers, George}}
Category:American naval architects
Category:American yacht designers
Category:America's Cup yacht designers
Category:Businesspeople from New York City
Category:Businesspeople from Washington, D.C.