With the closure of Camper & Nicholsons Gosport yard and of the transfer of all the activities to the parent company, Nautor in Finland. This English yacht building company has had tremendous impact on the boating industry, which includes designing canoes and dinghies, offshore racers, steam yachts and schooners. Camper and Nicholsons has indeed contributed a lot to boating and yachting for more than two centuries.

The company can be traced back to Francis Amos, a boat builder who is originated from London. At the start things were very difficult with the work consisting only of building and repairing local fishermen’s boat.
But by 1821 the business grew with Amos beginning to build small trading ships. In 1824 Amos was succeeded by his great nephew, William Camper, who begins trading in his own name. During this period yachting was a growing business and William Camper successfully added this activity to his business. Camper’s enjoyed a great deal of publicity by the fact that his yachts were successful in a lot of races and cruises. Successful yachts include Breeze and the NancyDawson.
In 1842, Ben Nicholson joined the business as an apprentice and gradually become involved in the designing and management process of the yard. In 1860 Nicholson designed Aline and some smaller vessels which sustained the yard’s production during 20 years.
William Camper retired in 1863 and the yard was taken over by Nicholson not without the financial support of the Camper and Lapthorn families.
The business changed its name to Camper and Nicholson and was very successful under the management of Nicholson. The yard double its size and production and Nicholson made sure that the reputation of the business was maintained during the process. With the arrival of his three sons Nicholson changed the name of the business to Camper and Nicholsons.Nicholson’s eldest son, Ben, was not a great designer but has a great impact in the supply of crews for yachts which was continued by the company till 1939.Ben recruited fishermen which took a great interest in these vessels.
Ben’s son, Charles had great aptitudes for design and this coupled with the reputation of Camper and Nicholsons created once again high demand for yachts designed by the business. At the beginning of the century the business acquired a yard at Southampton and expanded the business in the production of steam yachts. In 1914, Pioneer, the world’s first diesel powered yacht was built. Camper and Nicholsons seized the opportunity to remain the leading builder of yachts till the beginning of World War 2.During the wars these yachts were used for military purposes and their toughness were notorious.
Innovation continued with the introduction of lightweight materials and in the use of plywood in the constructions of decks and high speed boats. The yard also introduced the first Bermudan rig for a large racing yacht and the three masted staysail schooner rigs on the Creole.
Among the greatest design of Charles were Shamrock V, Velsheda, Endeavour and Endeavour II.
Despite all this, cruisers and motor yachts, smaller classes were not neglected and a number of smaller racers were built. There was gradually beginning to be a shift from big yachts to smaller boats which were mainly used by novices in the field of sailing. In this area also Charles adapted and was successful. His success was so great that all the three quarters racers in the 1937 Cowes week were from Charles’ design. Among his great boat was Ilex, built in 1899,Foxhound and Bloodhound which enjoyed some great success in the Fastnet race between 1925 and 1939.Despite all these success in racing, Charles claimed that less than 10% of the yard’s output were racing yachts.
During this period Charles’ son, John, began to get involved in the business by helping his father in the design field. Although contributing to the design of a batch of six 30 foot sloops, John remained in the shadow of his father who remained the chairman of the company until his death in 1954.His cousin Charles A also known as Young Charlie did not have the same problem and successfully launched his design career with the offshore racer Yeoman in 1937.During the second world war the company were working flat with a lot of Admiralty projects. Southampton was more in the repair work while Gosport continued with prototype development. Prototypes include MTBs, MGBs, landing craft and even folding canoes for commando units. A lack of wood forced the yard into yacht building and to rely on government contracts after the war.
As time goes by restrictions were lifted and new orders became to appear for the company. Despite enjoying success in great races the company’s situation was difficult and became worse when the government decreased its order of defence boats in the 1950’s.During this period the son of Young Charlie, Peter, began to assume a leading role in the business. To save the company he decided to create a range of standard boats accomplishing the idea of his uncle John. Peter realized that there was great potential in a new material, GRP.However the company was not equipped to handle this material, and hence Peter turned to Halmatic Ltd.
This was the end of wooden boat building at the yard and they gradually involved in GRP boats.