Charles Ernest Nicholson (1868-1954) England

In the 1890s, with the arrival of Ben Nicholsons three sons to the firm Camper and Nicholson, a final name change was made to Camper and Nicholsons. Middle son, Charles Ernest Nicholson, emerged as the consummate yacht designer, able to combine elegance with speed and seamanship.

Nicholson’s first design of note was the Redwing class, designed for the Bembridge Sailing Club as a single-hander, to replace the expensive half racers. He designed the yacht in ten days, and by 1898 the fleet consisted of 16 boats, all built by C&N’s yard.

Of notable interest C.E. Nicholson designed the 1913 Class-A schooner MARGHERITA. The schooner won five first prizes out of six races in her first season, and according to Nicholson’s son John, was “probably the fastest yacht ever built by my father in his long career.”

Charles Nicholson designed, and built four J-class yachts, three of which raced in the America’s Cup. The first was Shamrock V for 1930 race, funded by retailer Sir Thomas Lipton. The second was Velsheda commissioned for Woolworths magnate William Lawrence Stephenson, but was not used as a Cup challenger. The third and fourth boats were funded by pioneer aviation entrepreneur Sir Thomas Sopwith. Sopwith had had his private yachts built by C&N, including M.Y. Vita and her sisters. Having bought Shamrock V on the death of Lipton in 1931, he returned to the yard to have Charles Nicholson design and build the 1934 America’s Cup entry Endeavour and the 1937 entry Endeavour II.

Charles E. Nicholson continued to chair C&N until his death in 1954 at aged 86. Posthumously Nicholson was inducted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame in 1997.

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