A body of correspondence between the author and marine architect Howard 'Chap' Chapelle, and Frederic 'Fritz' Fenger, a fellow yacht designer, author, and sailor
Ipswich, Mass, Cambridge, Maryland and Norwell, Mass. 1938-1952. Consisting of 15 letters from Chapelle on 29 pages, all but one typed and single-spaced, all 11" x 8½; and 14 letters in reply from Fenger on 30 typed pages, plus a full-page drawing of a figurehead; some toning to some of the paper, but on the whole these are in very good to fine condition, and chock-a-block full of interesting tidbits regarding many aspects of yacht design and marine architecture, including their respective commissions, rigs and the efficiencies thereof, the aerodynamics of certain types of sails, ballasts, propellers, auxiliaries, marine inspections, boat shows, performance of yachts in different conditions, discussion on articles in Yachting and Rudder Magazines (including their own), an extensive critique of the 72-foot Ptarmagan, a Sparkman & Stephens yawl recently launched, nautical terminology, a summary of Chapelle's time in the Navy where he had charge of all the Army boat and vessel building and the rerigging of Perry's flagship on Lake Erie, book publishing, publishers, etc., and mentioning numerous others in the field (both favorably and not-so-favorably) including Lincoln Colcord, Uffa Fox, Herbert Stone, L. Francis Herreshoff, Bill Luders, Clinton Crane, and others. In all, a fascinating correspondence between two premier naval architects of the 20th century. Mystic Seaport notes that Fenger (1882-1970) was a yacht designer, sailor, and author. His main contributions to yacht design are his use of the dhow-form hull, the wishbone rig, and the main trysail rig. Fenger was an inventive designer, and while some of his innovations never became popular, they did enjoy a following, and the wishbone rig has recently had a revival of interest in commercially produced yachts. Fenger was particularly interested in rigs which would be manageable when sailing short-handed. Chapelle (1901-1975) was the author of many books on maritime history and naval architecture, and was curator of maritime history at the Smithsonian Institution. Item #68717
Price: $600.00
