Halsey Chase Herreshoff is a Naval Architect of production- and custom yachts, sailor and former president of Herreshoff Marine Museum

Herreshoff Marine Museum

The Herreshoff Marine Museum, located in Bristol, Rhode Island, USA, is a maritime museum dedicated to the history of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, yachting, and the America's Cup...

. At the museum he and Edward duMoulin founded the America's Cup Hall of Fame

America's Cup Hall of Fame

The America's Cup Hall of Fame, located at the Herreshoff Marine Museum of Bristol, Rhode Island, USA, honors individuals for outstanding achievement in the America's Cup sailing competition...

 in 1992. Halsey is son of Sidney DeWolf Herreshoff and Rebecca Chase Herreshoff and the grandson of the famous Nathanael Greene Herreshoff. As several before him in the Herreshoff family he studied Naval Architecture. At Webb Institute of Naval Architecture he finished a bachelors degree and later a master at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

. In the US navy he achieved rank of Lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 before he started as a Naval Architect at the Bethlehem Steel Company and as a teacher at MIT. Halsey was involved in politics and was the elected chief executive officer (Town Administrator) in Bristol

Bristol, Rhode Island

Bristol is a town in and the historic county seat of Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 22,954 at the 2010 census. Bristol, a deepwater seaport, is named after Bristol, England....

 Town Council, Rhode Island

Rhode Island

The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

 from 1986 to 1994.

As a yacht designer his Freedom 40 design led to a line of Herreshoff ketch

Ketch

A ketch is a sailing craft with two masts: a main mast, and a shorter mizzen mast abaft of the main mast, but forward of the rudder post. Both masts are rigged mainly fore-and-aft. From one to three jibs may be carried forward of the main mast when going to windward...

es from 27 to 45 feet and changed the way the world felt about un-stayed masts

Mast (sailing)

The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall, vertical, or near vertical, spar, or arrangement of spars, which supports the sails. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship...

. Halsey might be best known for his career as an America's Cup

America's Cup

The America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America's Cup match races between two yachts. One yacht, known as the defender, represents the yacht club that currently holds the America's Cup and the second yacht, known as the challenger, represents the yacht club that is challenging...

 sailor, having served on many cup defenders of the 12-metre class

12-metre class

The 12 Metre Class is a rating class for racing boats designed to the International rule. It enables fair competition between boats that rate in the class whilst retaining the freedom to experiment with the details of their designs. The first 12 Metres were built in 1907. The 12 Metre Class was...

 Era, first as bowman on Columbia in 1958 and concluding as navigator on Liberty in 1983. But perhaps his greatest contribution to sailing has been his development of the America's Cup Hall of Fame at the Herreshoff Marine Museum.