Searching for Charles D. Mower

A long time ago now, at a cluttered, used-book shop on the New Jersey shore, I acquired the 1945 edition of Sailing Craft: Mostly Descriptive of Smaller Pleasure Sail Boats of the Bay. First published in 1928, Sailing Craft had been conceived and edited by a wealthy Philadelphian named Edwin J. Schoettle. Although he’d gained considerable success as a manufacturer of cardboard boxes, Schoettle’s real passion was sailing. It was this boat obsession, centered on but not limited to Barnegat Bay in New Jersey, and his impressive social connections that gave Schoettle access to the best-known yachtsmen and designers of his time.

Thus it was that Schoettle persuaded a cast of characters as diverse as Sir Thomas Lipton, Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr., and the designers Edson B. Schock, Maurice Griffiths, and Francis Sweisguth—who designed Schoettle’s great catboat SILENT MAID (see WB No. 214)—to contribute, gratis, the 65 articles that make up Sailing Craft. As I began reading Schoettle’s book, I encountered one yacht design after another credited as “Designed by Charles D. Mower.”

I’d heard of Mower, of course, and readers of this magazine will almost certainly have encountered his name, too. Although I didn’t know much about him, I did learn that Mower was someone Schoettle counted as both a friend and sailing companion. Mower, who was always more interested in designing, building, and sailing than in money, contributed many drawings to his friend’s book. Among them were an R-class sloop, the Long Island Sound Interclub, the first of Barnegat Bay’s A-Cats, a schooner, one-design sneakboxes, and a 6-Meter. Whoever Charles D. Mower was, I thought, he was demonstrably versatile.