Mayea Boat & Aeroplane Works
Encyclopedia
Mayea Boat & Aeroplane Works is an American wooden boat builder based in Michigan. The company was founded in 1911 by Louis T. Mayea and represents the oldest family run custom mahogany speedboat builder/designer in the United States. While all other early wooden speedboat builders have changed owners, shutter their doors, or turned to fiberglass construction, Mayea Boat & Aeroplane Works continues the wooden speedboat tradition with direct lineage to the company’s founder.
reported that the company designed and built the fastest step bottom hydroplane in the United States named Kitty Hawk II. That same year the company also gained attention after designing and building the first successful pontoons for Russell Alger's Wright Brothers
Model B plane. Frank Trenholm Coffyn
used the hydroplane in 1912 to take off and land on the Hudson River, enabling him to capture aerial video of the New York skyline for the first time in history.
By September 1911 Louis T. Mayea had taken control of the company and renamed the firm to Mayea Boat Works. The new company's advertisements touted their ability to build launches, hydroplanes and cruisers up to 100'. in length. In 1916 the General Aeroplane Company commissioned Mayea Boat Works to build a line of mahogany, two-passenger, biplane flying boats. The planes were named Verville Flying Boats after their designer Alfred Verville
. They were the first Michigan designed and built planes sold to the U.S. Navy. That same year the company was renamed to Mayea Boat & Aeroplane Works and relocated to Fair Haven, Michigan.
During the Great Depression
the American economy slowed as did the luxury boat business. The company was somewhat better positioned then other boat manufactures as it had remained a family run business able to survive on building a small number of custom boats. In order to stay solvent the company also began building fast custom bootleggers for local rum-runners to smuggle booze the short distant form Canada to Detroit. The outbreak of World War II helped put the company on more solid footing. Louis' sons, Louie and Herbert, produced three experimental military boats for a joint venture between Gray Marine Motors and General Motors
; the 49' GM2, the 53' GM3, and a 65' troop huller named GM6. GM3 was powered with four GM 6-71 diesels making it the fastest diesel powered boat in the United States.
In 1946 the first Mayea boat branded as a Mays Craft was design and built. The company continued designing and building one-of-a-kind custom wooden boats through the years for customers such as William Andrew Fisher of Fisher Body
.
History
Louis T. Mayea started building boats in 1893 when he was 15 years old. In 1907 he became the Superintendent of the newly formed Detroit Launch & Power Company. The company was incorporated in Detroit, Michigan by John F. Hacker, father to the now well-known boat designer John L. Hacker. In 1908 the company roles were listed as, John F. Hacker - President, Louis T. Mayea - Vice President and Superintendent, and John L. Hacker - General Manager. The company designed and built launches, sailboats, hydroplanes and cruisers up to 60'. In 1911 The Detroit NewsThe Detroit News
The Detroit News is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival Free Press's building. The News absorbed the Detroit Tribune on February 1, 1919, the Detroit Journal on July 21, 1922, and on November 7, 1960,...
reported that the company designed and built the fastest step bottom hydroplane in the United States named Kitty Hawk II. That same year the company also gained attention after designing and building the first successful pontoons for Russell Alger's Wright Brothers
Wright brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...
Model B plane. Frank Trenholm Coffyn
Frank Trenholm Coffyn
- Biography :He was born in Charleston, South Carolina on October 24, 1878 to George M. Coffyn, a banker.He married Louise D. Adams around 1900 and had the following children: Nancy Lou Coffyn and Kingsland A. Coffyn ....
used the hydroplane in 1912 to take off and land on the Hudson River, enabling him to capture aerial video of the New York skyline for the first time in history.
By September 1911 Louis T. Mayea had taken control of the company and renamed the firm to Mayea Boat Works. The new company's advertisements touted their ability to build launches, hydroplanes and cruisers up to 100'. in length. In 1916 the General Aeroplane Company commissioned Mayea Boat Works to build a line of mahogany, two-passenger, biplane flying boats. The planes were named Verville Flying Boats after their designer Alfred Verville
Alfred V. Verville
Alfred Victor Verville was an aviation pioneer and designer who contributed to civilian and military aviation. During his 47 years in the aviation industry, he led the design and development of nearly a dozen commercial and military airplanes...
. They were the first Michigan designed and built planes sold to the U.S. Navy. That same year the company was renamed to Mayea Boat & Aeroplane Works and relocated to Fair Haven, Michigan.
During the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
the American economy slowed as did the luxury boat business. The company was somewhat better positioned then other boat manufactures as it had remained a family run business able to survive on building a small number of custom boats. In order to stay solvent the company also began building fast custom bootleggers for local rum-runners to smuggle booze the short distant form Canada to Detroit. The outbreak of World War II helped put the company on more solid footing. Louis' sons, Louie and Herbert, produced three experimental military boats for a joint venture between Gray Marine Motors and General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
; the 49' GM2, the 53' GM3, and a 65' troop huller named GM6. GM3 was powered with four GM 6-71 diesels making it the fastest diesel powered boat in the United States.
In 1946 the first Mayea boat branded as a Mays Craft was design and built. The company continued designing and building one-of-a-kind custom wooden boats through the years for customers such as William Andrew Fisher of Fisher Body
Fisher Body
Fisher Body is an automobile coachbuilder founded by the Fisher brothers in 1908 in Detroit, Michigan; it is now an operating division of General Motors Company...
.