Bowdoin Bradlee Crowninshield was an American naval architect who specialized in the design of racing yachts.
Background
Born October 13, 1867 in New York, Crowninshield grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts, into the wealthy Crowninshield family with long-standing ties to the sea. The family estate Crowninshield House was built by his father in 1870. His father was Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (1837–1892) and mother was Katherine May Bradlee (1844–1902).
Career
His great-grandfather Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (1772–1851) had served as Secretary of the Navy, and his great-granduncle George Crowninshield Junior. (1766–1817) built the first luxury yacht in the United States, Cleopatra"s Barge in 1816. Because of his many relations, he was known as "B.B." Crowninshield.
After graduating from Harvard in 1890 he speculated in real estate before signing on as a draftsman with John R. Purdon, a respected yacht designer in Boston with several knockabout designs to his cartulary-register
Crowninshield struck out on his own 18 months later, starting a yacht design and brokerage firm which quickly prospered. He would rise to become one of America"s most respected yacht designers during a period which is now regarded as the golden age of American wooden yacht design.
He designed the schooner Adventuress, which was launched in 1913 and has been named a National Historic Landmark. He was also responsible for designing the Dark Harbor sloop.
He designed the unique seven masted schooner Thomas West. Lawson, named for his patron.
After nine years, he was ordered to pay $448. She was found dead in a bathtub of a Boston hotel on October 8, 1915. She was checked in as "Mistress
Bowdoin", but the death was ruled accidental.
Schooner Adventuress.