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HELEN B. THOMAS fishing schooner
American Ingenious
Ship Design
Thomas F. McManus was the most
influential and prolific designer of American fishing
schooners between 1890 and 1925. Tom McManus began
as a fish dealer, but through his work with noted naval
architects he took up designing in the 1880s.
Always interested in the lot of his fishermen friends,
he made many design improvements to fishing vessels.
McManus's most notable design was the
elimination of the bowsprit. With this new design, fishermen would not have to
clamber out on the bowsprit to tend the jib (the
vessel’s forward-most sail), a dangerous task especially
in bad weather.
McManus made a
half-hull model and displayed it in his Boston office. After nearly a year, Capt. William Thomas of Portland,
Maine, decided to try the design and contracted with the Oxner & Story yard in
Essex, Mass., to build the schooner.
The Helen B. Thomas was
launched in 1902 and quickly reaped success. This pioneer schooner design became known as the
“knockabout” which was adopted widely later on.
McManus
also promoted fishermen's races. His schooner Henry Ford was among the best of the racing
fishermen of the 1920s.
This 16" long
x 13" tall x 3" wide fishing schooner
model was built
for an architect who supplied scenic models to
prestigious museums. The architect asked for a
two-masted fishing schooner and we recommended
the Helen B. Thomas schooner model. Being
satisfied with the result, the architect came back to
order four
1:87 scale waterline boats to make a scene of a
historic fishing village. These models
were completed in 12/2014.
If you have a sailboat and
want a model of it. Let us build it for you by clicking on this link to let us know of
your preferences:
Commissioning. |
