Purdy Boat Company
Encyclopedia
The Purdy Boat Company, of Port Washington, Long Island
, New York was one of the most famous makers of custom yachts and racing boats in the 1920s and 1930s. The name "Purdy" evokes a bygone era of classic race boats and cruisers custom designed and built by James Gilbert Purdy's sons, Ned and Gil Purdy, and their families. The company and its boats represent an era of New York society comparable to what "Tiffany occupies in the jewelry business."
As T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) wrote in July 1930, "My boat's maker is the Purdy Boat Co . . . and its class name is the Biscayne Baby . . . . They are the ... best things the States have made, I think." One of the Purdy Boat Company's most famous works was the Aphrodite, built for multimillionaire John Hay Whitney. "APHRODITE'S guest list over the years reads like a "Who's Who" in the worlds of government, business and entertainment with such luminaries as Fred Astaire, Sir Laurence Olivier, Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, Henry Ford II, FDR advisor Harry Hopkins and Nelson Rockefeller aboard for summer day cruises down Long Island Sound. APHRODITE also once served as the site for a birthday party for Shirley Temple."
Port Washington, New York
Port Washington is a hamlet and census-designated place in Nassau County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2010 Census, the community population was 15,846....
, New York was one of the most famous makers of custom yachts and racing boats in the 1920s and 1930s. The name "Purdy" evokes a bygone era of classic race boats and cruisers custom designed and built by James Gilbert Purdy's sons, Ned and Gil Purdy, and their families. The company and its boats represent an era of New York society comparable to what "Tiffany occupies in the jewelry business."
As T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) wrote in July 1930, "My boat's maker is the Purdy Boat Co . . . and its class name is the Biscayne Baby . . . . They are the ... best things the States have made, I think." One of the Purdy Boat Company's most famous works was the Aphrodite, built for multimillionaire John Hay Whitney. "APHRODITE'S guest list over the years reads like a "Who's Who" in the worlds of government, business and entertainment with such luminaries as Fred Astaire, Sir Laurence Olivier, Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, Henry Ford II, FDR advisor Harry Hopkins and Nelson Rockefeller aboard for summer day cruises down Long Island Sound. APHRODITE also once served as the site for a birthday party for Shirley Temple."
See also
- USS Raven III (SP-103)USS Raven III (SP-103)USS Raven III , later USS SP-103, was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919....
and USS Shadow III (SP-102)USS Shadow III (SP-102)USS Shadow III was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919.Shadow III was built as a civilian motorboat in 1916 by the Purdy Boat Company, at Miami, Florida. The U.S. Navy purchased Shadow III from Purdy on 12 June 1917 for use as a patrol boat...
, both civilian motorboats built by Purdy Boat Company, and used as patrol boats for the United States NavyUnited States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during World War 1.
External links
- http://zephyrsail.blogspot.com/2006/07/aphrodite-underway.html.
- http://longislandgenealogy.com/Surname_Pages/purdy.htm.
- http://cdm15281.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=any&CISOFIELD1=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOROOT=/p15281coll63&CISOBOX1=Purdy.