Sunday Standard Times September 2, 2001
WAREHAM -- Cape Cod Shipbuilding Co. has reached a milestone, completing its
900th Bull's Eye last month.
• The fiberglass Bull's Eye is a marconi-rigged sloop with aluminum spars and
oiled teak trim. The boat overall measures 15 feet 8 inches and weighs 1,350
pounds.
• Capt. Nat Herreshoff designed this hull in wood in 1914. Most popularly known as
the Herreshoff H-12½, the boat was designed for the winds and waves in Buzzards
Bay.
• E.L. Goodwin of Cape Cod Shipbuilding Co. began work on the fiberglass version
in 1947. This version with cuddy cabin and aluminum spars, named the Cape Cod
Bull's Eye, has been built in the same manner ever since.
• Today the Bull's Eye and Herreshoff H-12½ are built side by side in the shop.
• Bull's Eyes are known for being a stable sailing vessel. Boats that were built
in the '50s are still competitively racing today. Fleets of Bull's Eye owners
along the East Coast formed the Bull's Eye Association which is still thriving
today.
• Cape Cod Shipbuilding Co., was established in Wareham, in 1899 by Myron and
Charles Gurney. E.L. Goodwin purchased the company in 1939 and produced 40-foot
wooden tugboats for the armed forces during World War II. At the end of the war,
production of pleasure boats resumed.
• In 1947, after 50 years of building wood boats, Cape Cod Shipbuilding Co. began
pioneering fiberglass boat construction. The Cape Cod Bull's Eye and Cape Cod
Mercury were two of the first fiberglass boats to be converted from wood.
• In 1979 Gordon L. Goodwin was promoted to president of Cape Cod Shipbuilding
Co., taking over from his father. Mr. Goodwin's daughter Wendy became vice
president in 1998.
