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{{Short description|American shipbuilder and designer}}
{{Infobox person
'''George Steers''' (August 15, 1819 – September 25, 1856<ref name="funaeral">New York Times: ''[http://article.archive.nytimes.com/1856/09/29/77060246.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJBTN455PTTBQQNRQ&Expires=1420293471&Signature=KMHny4z8C0jHKX5hRa%2Ft%2FcAHXQs%3D Funeral of Mr. George Steers]''{{dead link|date=March 2019}}, September 29, 1856: "The coffin [...] was inscribed [...] George Steers, Died Sept. 25, 1856, Aged 37 years, 1 month, 10 days". URL last accessed 2015-01-03.</ref>) was a designer of yachts best known for the famous racing yacht [[America (yacht)|''America'']]. He founded a shipyard with his brother, [[George Steers and Co]], and died in an accident just as he was landing a major contract to build boats for the Russian Czar.▼
| name = George Steers
| image = George Steers.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1819|8|15}}
| birth_place = [[Washington, D.C.]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1856|9|25|1819|8|15}}
| death_place = [[Cranston, Rhode Island]], US
| nationality = {{flagicon|USA}} American
| occupation = [[shipbuilder]]
| spouse =
| children =
}}
▲'''George Steers''' (August 15, 1819 – September 25, 1856)<ref name="funaeral">
==Early life==
George Steers was born in [[Washington, D.C.]], USA, in 1819.<ref name="Steers"/> His father, [[Henry Steers]], was engaged as [[Naval Constructor]] for the U.S. Government.
George never learned the trade of ship carpenter, but rather built vessels based on the design concepts he worked out for himself in his youth, growing up as a shipbuilder's son.<ref name="query.nytimes.com">[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1896/03/29/106918290.pdf George Steers, The Famous Long Island Shipbuilder, March 29, 1896, The New-York Times]</ref> He became a journeyman for [[William H. Brown (shipbuilder) |William H. Brown]], in whose service he assisted in building the ''Arctic'' and another of the Collins steamers.
==Designer of famous racing yacht ''America''==
Between 1841 and 1850, Steers built many yachts which were well known in their day. In
{{cite book|last=Neblett|first=Thomas R.|date=2009
|title= Civil War Yacht
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VsHSeP8cN9YC&q=Mary%20Taylor
|location=Mustang, Oklahoma
|publisher=Tate Publishing & Enterprises
|pages=36–45
|isbn=9781604627183}}</ref>
In
[[File:Interior of George Steers' "model room", as it appeared at the time of his decease LCCN2003655420.jpg|thumb|Interior of George Steers' ''model room'', as it appeared at the time of his death in 1856, showing labelled models of ships and yachts designed or built at the yard]]
George Steers is perhaps best known as the designer of the most famous racing yacht of all time, the schooner yacht [[America (yacht)|''America'']] (1851), for which the [[America's Cup]] is named. No doubt influenced by the ''Mary Taylor'' and ''Grinnell'', and the ship designs of fellow New Yorker [[John W. Griffiths|John W Griffiths]], the aptly named ''America'' established the American [[naval architecture]] of the day.<ref name="Pilots"/>
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| date = 1997-03-22
| url = http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/Sunny_South%281854%29.html
|
</ref>
List of boats built by Steers include:
==Landed a large contract, but died young==▼
On 25 September 1856, George Steers, while driving a pair of horses to Glen Cove, Long Island, in order to bring home (91 Cannon St.) his wife, who had been visiting, was thrown from his wagon and mortally wounded. He was only 37 years old. He had just negotiated for $1,000,000 worth of boats for the Czar of Russia.<ref name="query.nytimes.com"/><ref>[https://archive.org/details/historyofnewyork00morr History of New York ship yards, John Harrison Morrison, Press of W.F. Sametz & Co., 1909]</ref> He left a son behind him.▼
* ''William G. Hagstaff'' Pilot Boat (1841) built for the New Jersey pilots<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80373811/william-g-hagstaff/ |title=The America and George Steers.|work=The Sun|place=New York, New York|date=5 Jul 1897|page=9|access-date=2021-06-27}}</ref>
* [[Mary Taylor (pilot boat)|''Mary Taylor,'']] Pilot Boat (1849)
* [[George Steers (pilot boat)|''George Steers'']] Pilot Boat (1852)
* ''Phantom'' three-masted schooner (1853)<ref>{{cite book|last=MacGregor|first= David R.|date=1997|title=The schooner: its design and development from 1600 to the present|url=https://archive.org/details/uboatsdestroyedg0000kemp/page/106/mode/2up?q=George+Steers|publisher=Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press|page=106|isbn= 9781557508478}}</ref>
* ''[[Anthony B. Neilson]]'' Pilot Boat (1854)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/usnauticalmagazi61857newy/page/244/mode/2up?q=%22Anthony+B+Neilson%22|title=U.S. nautical magazine and naval journal|work= New York : Griffiths, Bates|date=1858|page=244|access-date=2021-01-11}}</ref>
* ''Julia'' Yacht (1855)<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/61098640/?terms=%22Haze%22%20%22George%20Steers%22&match=1 The Waterford News, Waterford, Waterford, Ireland, 29 Jun 1855, Page 4].</ref>
* ''Haze'' Yacht (1855)<ref>[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Yacht_Haze_87_Tons._Built_by_George_Steers_New_York_to_her_Owner_Wm._B._Duncan_Esq_-_RMG_PY8736.tiff The Yacht ''Haze'' 87-tons].</ref>
* [[Widgeon (pilot boat)| Widgeon]] Pilot Boat (1855)<ref>{{cite news|title=Sports On Land And Water|place=New York, New York|work=New-York tribune|date=May 9, 1886|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1886-05-09/ed-1/seq-15/#date1=1882&sort=date&date2=1889&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&lccn=sn83030212&lccn=sn83030213&lccn=sn83030214&lccn=sn83030313&lccn=sn83045774&index=11&words=Widgeon&proxdistance=5&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=Widgeon&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1|page= 15}}</ref>
* {{USS|Niagara|1855|6}} (1855) Steers last ship.<ref name="Steers">{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BtkaAAAAYAAJ&q=%22george+steers%22&pg=PA20 |title=Sketch of the Life of George Steers|work=The Sailor's Magazine|year=1858}}</ref>
▲==Landed a large contract, but died young==
▲On 25 September 1856, George Steers, while driving a pair of horses to Glen Cove, Long Island, in order to bring home (91 Cannon St.) his wife, who had been visiting, was thrown from his wagon and mortally wounded. He was only 37 years old. He had just negotiated for $1,000,000 worth of boats for the Czar of Russia.<ref name="query.nytimes.com"/><ref>[https://archive.org/details/historyofnewyork00morr History of New York ship yards, John Harrison Morrison, Press of W.F. Sametz & Co., 1909]</ref> <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ferreiro |first1=Larrie |title=Notes on the deaths of two prominent New York naval architects |journal=Nautical Research Journal |date=Spring 2022 |volume=67 |issue=1 |page=79-82}}</ref>He left a son behind him.
A procession of 800 citizens was followed by lodges of the Masonic Order, including the Mariner's Lodge (400 men), and 70 carriages of friends and relatives.<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1856/09/29/77060246.pdf Funeral of Mr. George Steers. September 29, 1856, Wednesday, The New York Times]</ref> Steers is interred at [[Green-Wood Cemetery]] in [[Brooklyn]], [[New York (state)|New York]].
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==Further reading==
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=
*[[Henry Howe]], ''Adventures and Achievements of Americans,'' 1859; pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=
{{Portal|Biography}}
{{commons category}}
{{List of Shipbuilders and Designers}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steers, George}}
[[Category:American naval architects]]
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[[Category:1819 births]]
[[Category:1856 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]
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