Henry B. Nevins Incorporated was wooden-hull yacht builder in City Island, New York founded in 1907 by Henry B. Nevins. Nevins was a master yacht builder and author on vessel construction who apprenticed at the island's Charles L. Seabury & Company.[1] Later he purchased the nearby Byles Yard to increase his company's acreage. Henry B. Nevins Inc. built custom sail and motor yachts and racing craft for affluent clients,[2] but also small tugs and barges for commercial customers.[3] Run by a perfectionist, Nevins' company seasoned its own lumber, designed and machined its own fittings, made its own glue, and balanced spars by weighing shavings. As a result, Nevins built more cup-winning yachts than anyone else in the industry.[1]
In 1939, Henry B. Nevins Inc. was awarded $15,000 by the United States Navy for the best design of a 54-foot (16 m) motor torpedo boat.[4] During World War II, Henry B. Nevins Inc. built 24 YMS-1 class minesweepers for the U.S. Navy and 4 aircraft-rescue boats during as part of the war effort.[5] A few yachts built by Nevins before World War II, such as USS Saluda served the Navy during the war.[6] Following World War II the yard resumed private and commercial shipbuilding.[3] Nevins died in 1950.[1] Except for three minesweepers built for the Belgian Navy in 1953–54,[3] the shipyard was unable to compete with postwar European shipyards able to make yachts at 1/3 the cost. His widow sold the yard in 1954 and it ceased operations in 1962. The former site is now occupied by the City Island School.[5] Today little remains of the yard except for marine railways and slipways only visible at low tide.[3]
Nevins built the Fishers Island One Design. Designed by Charles Mower these sloops had a 24-foot (7.3 m) hull with 15 feet (4.6 m) on the waterline and 7-foot (2.1 m) beam.[7] The first boats were gaff rigged sloops. Twenty-five were built.