Colin Archer

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Colin Archer (22 July, 1832 - 3 February, 1921) was a naval architect and shipbuilder from Larvik, Norway. He was born of Scottish parents who emigrated to Norway in 1825.

Prior to his career as a navel architect in Norway, he spent time in Queensland, Australia, with his brother, Thomas. While there, he sailed with a cargo up the Fitzroy River, Queensland "when it was almost if not quite unknown".

He and his shipyard were known for building durable and safe ships. The most notable single ship built by Colin Archer was the Fram, which participated in expeditions to the North Pole, and later Roald Amundsen's historic first expedition to the South Pole. He also designed a sturdy sailing vessel type for the Redningsselskapet (a Norwegian association dedicated to rescuing sailors) which was used for many years and now is referred to as a Colin Archer. Fram is now preserved in the Fram Museum on Bygdøy, Oslo, Norway.

Archer spent a lot of time calculating how an efficient ship body should be constructed. Even to this day, people still consult his work when constructing new ships. He is credited with over 200 vessels.

Two lifeboats were named after him; the Colin Archer of 1893 and a later Colin Archer.

Archer's designs were adapted to pleasure sailing in the 20th century. In 1928 William Atkins scaled down Archer's 47-foot Regis Voyager, a pilot boat, to make the 32-foot Eric. This design went on to become very influential in ocean sailing, with boats such as Vito Dumas's Lehg II and Robin Knox-Johnston's Suhaili making notable circumnavigations. In the 1970s, the design was adapted to glass-reinforced plastic by William Crealock, and became the Westsail 32; this famous cruising boat has, in turn, inspired many imitations, so that the "Archer double-ender" style of boat continues to be popular to this day.

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