Down-Easter Merchant Ship, name unknown, 

 photo 45/85-c) 



notable examples; both were also designers of other 

 types of vessels. 



George and Henry Steers were the sons of an Eng- 

 lish shipwright who came to the United States after 

 the War of 1812 and became a shipbuilder at New 

 York. The elder Steers, trained in an English naval 

 dockyard, had adapted the Baltimore clipper model 

 as his favorite. His sons followed his trade, Henry, 

 the older, became a very famous shipbuilder who de- 

 signed sailing ships, steamers, and at least two men- 

 of-war; he also turned out some very fast yachts. 

 George, the younger, specialized in pilot-boat schoon- 

 ers and yachts. In 1851 he designed the famous 

 schooner yacht America whose success in England 

 brought him great fame. He later designed and 

 built the extreme clipper Simtiy South and, with Henry, 

 designed the notable American Navy steamer Niagara. 

 He was killed in 1856, by being thrown from his car- 

 riage. The brothers were closely associated profes- 

 sionally from 1852 to 1856, and some vessel designs 



472S46— 60 5 



in drydock on the West Coast about 1885. (Smithsonian 



have been credited to George that should have been 

 assigned to Henry. 



Dennison J. Lawlor was born in New Brunswick, Can- 

 ada, and came to Massachusetts about 1848. He 

 worked for various shipbuilders and began designing as 

 early as 1849; in the 1850's he had become well known 

 as a designer of fast schooners and began turning out 

 notable pilot schooners. Inthel860's hedesignedand 

 built some very fast fishing schooners, as well as com- 

 mercial craft including coasting schooners and brigan- 

 tines. During the Civil War he designed the Meteor, 

 a very fine auxiliary steamer in her day, and after the 

 war became one of the leading designers and builders 

 of tugs and small steamers. He also achieved fame 

 as a yacht designer, in New England. A number of 

 his designs, including famous pilot boats and fishing 

 schooners, a tug, the auxiliary steamer Meteor, steam 

 yachts, and a launch, are represented by half-models 

 in the Watercraft Collection. 



53 



