Charles Ernest Nicholson

Charles Ernest Nicholson, OBE, RDI (12 May 1868 – 26 February 1954) was a British yacht designer.

He was born in 1868, one of four sons and six daughters of Benjamin Nicholson (1828-1906), also a yacht designer, and the original Nicholson of Camper and Nicholson. His eldest brother, Benjamin Watson Nicholson (1857-1927), and younger brother, Arthur William Nicholson (1872-1957) also became directors of the firm.

Nicholson's first design of note was the Redwing class. The Bembridge sailing club met in October 1896 to agree the need for a shallow draughted yacht - to allow for the shoal waters of Bembridge Harbour - which could be sailed single-handed, to replace the expensive half racers. Nicholson designed the yacht in ten days, and by 1898 the fleet consisted of 16 boats, all built by the Camper & Nicholsons shipyard.^[1]

In the early 1900s, Nicholson developed a new powered craft which would enable the owners to come from their "big-boats" before and after the competitions. Named the Gelyce class, the name derived from the combined first and last letter of the wives of the three brothers: Gertie (married to Ben Jr), Lucy (married to Charles), and Constance (married Arthur).

In 1912, Nicholson introduced the 15mR design Istria with a Marconi rig, the first yacht in the world with a lightweight, laminated wood construction. This led to further developments and growing expertise in the use of lightweight materials which saw its fruition in the use of plywood in deck construction.^[2] This ultimately led to arguably Nicholson's most beautiful sailing creation, the 1927 commissioned Vira (later Creole) was built on behalf of Alexander Smith Cochran.^[3]

He died on 26 February 1954.^[4]

• Dacia (5-rater, 1891)
• Marigold (cutter, 1892) - still sails
• Avel (cutter, 1896) - still sails as tender to Creole (see below)
• Black Swan (originally Brynhyld, yawl, 1899) - still sails
• Merrymaid (handicap cruising yacht, 1904) - still sails^[5]
• Norland (schooner, 1904)
• Nyria (first large Bermuda cutter, 1906)
• Brynhild II (23mR, 1907)
• Joyette (originally Almara) (101 ft, 1907) - under refit
• Orion (racing schooner, 1910) - still sails
• Istria (15mR, 1912)
• The Brat of Dunkirk (38 Yawl, 1913)-Hout Bay Yacht Club - restoration project
• Marguerita (racing schooner, 1913)
• Pamela (15mR, 1913)
• Paula III (15mR, 1913)
• Shamrock IV (Universal Rule 75-footer, 1914) for Sir Thomas Lipton
• Patricia (R-Class, 1921)
• BARBARA (Bermuda yawl, 1923) - still sails
• Borgila (6mR, built 1924 in Gothenborg, GKSS No.1) - still sails
• Sylvia (Bermuda ketch, 1925) - still sails
• Hurrica V (24 m ketch, 1924, Nicholson design 315), Built in Australia, restored at Norman Wrights in Brisbane, en route to San Francisco
• Creole (originally Vira, three-mast staysail schooner, 1927) - still sails
• Astra (23mR, 1928) - still sails
• Lady Van (Universal Rule “R” Class, 1928) - still sails
• Candida (23mR, 1929) - still sails
• Driac (Bermudian cutter, 40', 1930) - still sails
• Shamrock V (J-class yacht, 1930) for Sir Thomas Lipton - still sails ^[6]
• Patience (Bermuda cutter, 1931) - still sails
• Velsheda (J-class yacht, 1933) - still sails
• Endeavour (J-class yacht, 1934) - still sails ^[7]
• Endeavour II (J-class yacht, 1936)
• Bloodhound (12mR, 1936) - still sails
• Gadwall (30' Bermuda Sloop, 1939) - Xyris Class - still sails (one of a class of eight yachts designed in the late 1930s)
• Oiseau de Feu (originally Firebird X, offshore racing ketch, 1937) - still sails
• Trivia (12mR, 1937) - still sails
• Folly (8mR first rule) 1909 was his boat (Mr Charles E Nicholson designed for himself and was built at Camper & Nicholson in Gosport). Still sails and race.

• Lucia Del Sol Knight, Daniel Bruce MacNaughton (2005). The Encyclopedia of Yacht Designers. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 332–336. ISBN 0-393-04876-4.