MATTHEWS

MATTHEWS is a company founded in the XIX century and became one of the leading yacht manufacturers in the United States. It is MATTHEWS that produced the first boats with petrol engines. It all started in the basement of a private house in Ohio, where Scott Matthews experimented with the internal combustion engines. He founded the company, and later, in 1898 produced the first custom-made boats. In 1906 the company moved to Port Clinton (Ohio), where it was possible to build the larger yachts.

From the very beginning the company built the boats for competitions and long trips. In the early XX century these boats made cruises of 3-4 thousand miles - from the shores of America to Europe and Russia. Already in 1914, they produced a 100-feet cruiser with the engines of up to 900 horsepower and capable to develop the speeds of 30 knots or more.

In the last century MATTHEWS Company built the passenger ships and cruisers, speedboats, commercial ships. The company did not specialize in any one field of work, and during the Great Depression it went beyond the shipbuilding boundaries.

In 1950 the company celebrated another anniversary by presenting the first catamaran of 42 feet in length. Being a family business, the MATTHEWS survived two generations, and was sold in 1964. In the late 60s the new owner decided to replace the wooden hulls with fiberglass. But it did not help: in the 70s the production began to decline that led to the liquidation of the company.

MATTHEWS, nevertheless, remains popular. The wooden motor yachts, not inferior in speed and comfort to the modern ships, have become a real "classics of the genre."