Henry B. Nevins (1878–1950) was a master yacht builder and author on vessel construction in

City Island, New York City Island is a neighborhood in the northeastern Bronx in New York City, located on an island of the same name approximately long by wide. City Island is located at the extreme western end of Long Island Sound, south of Pelham Bay Park, and ...

. Born in New York in 1878, Nevins wanted to be a doctor but was too frail, so he decided to work Gas Engine & Power Company"Henry B. Nevins, Inc. Shipyard Collection." Mystic Seaport. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 July 2010. before deciding upon his hobby, shipbuilding by apprenticing at Charles L. Seabury Company"MODERN LIVING: As Idle as a Painted Ship - TIME." TIME.com. N.p., 12 June 1954. Web. 16 March 2020. . in City Island, New York. At age 29, Nevins bought the nearby Hansen Boat Yard in City Island in 1907 and founded Henry B. Nevins, Incorporated. Later Nevins would purchase the nearby Byles Yard to increase his acreage. Nevins' company built custom cruising and racing craft as well as minesweepers during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as part of the war effort. Nevins collaborated with naval architect

George Crouch George F. Crouch (1879–1959) was an American boat designer. He worked for the Dodge Boat Works in Newport News. Three speedboats built to his designs won the first three places in the 1924 Gold Cup of the American Power Boat Association. In ...

on many vessels, including the

APBA Gold Cup The APBA Gold Cup (originally known simply as the Gold Cup, a speedboat race) is an American hydroplane boat race, named for the American Power Boat Association. It is now run as part of the H1 Unlimited season. First run in 1904, it is the old ...

winner of

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

and

1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...

Baby Bootlegger ''Baby Bootlegger'' is an American wooden-built speedboat. It was designed by George Crouch for Caleb Bragg in early 1924, and was built by Henry Nevins. Bragg won the APBA Gold Cup in it in both 1924 and 1925. It was fitted with a 220-horsepo ...

, said to be the most beautiful wooden boat ever built. Nevins was seriously injured in a fall at his shipyard in 1949 and died in 1950. In the last months of his life, he would ask to be carried out to his yacht ''Polly'' just to feel the swell of the sea again.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nevins, Henry B. 1878 births 1950 deaths American shipbuilders People from the Bronx People from City Island, Bronx