Colin Archer

Colin Archer
Portrait of Colin Archer

Colin Archer (22 July 1832 – 8 February 1921) was a Norwegian naval architect and shipbuilder from Larvik, Norway. His parents emigrated from Scotland to Norway in 1825.

Prior to his career as a naval architect in Norway, he spent time in Queensland, Australia, with several of his brothers, including Thomas. While there, he sailed with a cargo up the Fitzroy River, Queensland "when it was almost if not quite unknown".

He and his shipyard were known for building durable and safe ships. The most notable single ship built by Colin Archer was the Fram, which participated in expeditions to the North Pole, and later Roald Amundsen's historic first expedition to the South Pole. He also designed a sturdy sailing vessel class for the Redningsselskapet (The Norwegian Lifeboat institution) which was used for many years and now is referred to as a Colin Archer. Fram is now preserved in the Fram Museum on Bygdøy, Oslo, Norway. The prototype lifeboat "Colin Archer RS 1" is still afloat and in use as a floating museum. Several other original vessels of the Redningsselskapet are still sailing including the Frithjof Wiese RS40.

Archer spent a lot of time calculating how an efficient hull should be designed. Even to this day, people still consult his work when designing new ships. He is credited with over 200 vessels. The Fram is one example.

Archer's designs were adapted to pleasure sailing in the 20th century. In 1904, Archer built a boat for the writer Robert Erskine Childers called the Asgard. This yacht is now in a museum and is considered the "most important yacht in the history of Ireland".[1] In 1928 William Atkin scaled down Archer's 47-foot (14 m) Regis Voyager, a pilot boat, to make the 32-foot (9.8 m) Eric. This design went on to become very influential in ocean sailing, with boats such as Vito Dumas's Lehg II and Robin Knox-Johnston's Suhaili making notable circumnavigations. In the 1970s, the design was adapted to glass-reinforced plastic by William Crealock, and became the Westsail 32; this famous cruising boat has, in turn, inspired many imitations, so that the "Archer double-ender" style of boat continues to be popular to this day.

Honors

Two rescue ships were named after him; the Colin Archer of 1893 and a later Colin Archer. The Colin Archer Peninsula, Devon Island, Nunavut is named in his honor.

The Colin Archer Memorial Race sailing race is named in his honour. The race starts in Lauwersoog, Netherlands and finishing near Larvik in Norway, organised every two years. The distance is about 365 nautical miles (676 km), depending on the weather and the type of ship the sailing time generally amounts to 3 to 5 days.

References

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Colin Archer — (circa 1893) Colin Archer (* 22. Juli 1832 in Larvik; † 3. Februar 1921 ebenda) war einer der bedeutendsten Yacht und Schiffskonstrukteure. Die Seetüchtigkeit seiner meist als Rettungs oder Lotsenboote verwendeten Segelschiffe ist legendär.… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Colin Archer — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Colin et Archer (homonymie). Colin Archer Colin Archer (22 juillet 1832 3 février 1921 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Colin Archer Memorial Race — (произносится Колин Арчер Мемориал Рейс) международная регата, посвящённая памяти Колина Арчера. Проводится раз в два года, маршрут гонки проходит по Северному морю от нидерландского Лауверсога до норвежского Ларвика (фактически Ставерна).… …   Википедия

  • Colin Archer Peninsula — The Colin Archer Peninsula is located on the northwestern Devon Island, a part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It stretches eastward into Baffin Bay. It is named in honor of Colin Archer, naval architect and… …   Wikipedia

  • Colin Archer Peninsula — Sp Kòlino Árčerio pùsiasalis Ap Colin Archer Peninsula L Devono s., Kanada (Nunavutas) …   Pasaulio vietovardžiai. Internetinė duomenų bazė

  • Archer — (engl. „Bogenschütze“, entspricht dem deutschen Schütze, Schütz und Schütt) und ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Alexander Archer (1910–1997), britischer Eishockeyspieler und trainer Amy Archer Gilligan (1869–1928), US amerikanische… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Archer (Homonymie) — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Un archer est une personne utilisant un arc. Sommaire 1 Toponymie 2 Patronyme …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Colin — tritt hauptsächlich als männlicher Vorname aus dem Englischen auf. Colin ist die englische Kurzform von Nicholas; eine Schreibvariante ist Collin. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Bekannte Namensträger 1.1 Vorname 1.2 Künstlername …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Archer — An archer is someone who practices archery. Examples of archers can be found at the List of archers article.They were used in ancient and medieval times as part of armies. An archer was equipped with a bow and arrows which they used for long… …   Wikipedia

  • Archer (homonymie) — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Un archer est une personne utilisant un arc. Sommaire 1 Toponymie 2 Patronyme …   Wikipédia en Français

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