Profiles in NJ Ice Yachting History – 1913 Rockets Agustus Haviland

Red Bank’s Capt. Haviland, Present Owner of the Scud, Built His First Boat in 1860.

Mr. Local History Jersey Ice Boat Time Machine Series
Join us as we look back at stories written about great ice yachts and those who made them iconic names in the sport. This 1913 Asbury Park Press story is about Red Bank ice yachting pioneers Captain Augustus Haviland, Uncle Dan Asay and Captain James F. Weaver and their early boat building, famous yachts and record setting races on the North Shrewsbury and Hudson River that helped shape competitive ice yachting in New Jersey.

Pioneers Tell of Early Ice Yachts

Personalities: Captain Augustus Haviland, Uncle Dan Asay, Captain James F. Weaver, Mart Haviland, Thomas Hubbard, Captain Charles E. Throckmorton, James Doughty, George Hook, Irving Grimnell
Yachts: Scud, Rocket, George S., Bella, Vixen, Grover Cleveland, Dreadnaught, Say When, Kitty, Whiff

1913 – The Asbury Park Press

Capt. Haviland, Owner of the Scud, Built His First Boat in 1860

RED BANK, Jan. 23. There are no more interested and enthusiastic spectators of the championship and club ice yacht races sailed on the North Shrewsbury than 3 pioneer ice yachtsmen, Captain Augustus Haviland, 78 years old, “Uncle Dan” Asay, 71, and Captain James F. Weaver, 63, and acting commodore of the North Shrewsbury Ice Yacht Club, which holds the American and State championship pennants.

It was in the 60s that Captain Haviland, still actively engaged in boat building, made his first iceboat and sailed on the Shrewsbury. He used skates for runners, sticks for the runner plank and a tiller on which was attached another skate. From this beginning in his boyhood the captain developed into one of the best ice yacht builders in the country. Haviland turned out the first class boat Rocket, the former champion third class yacht George S., the Bella, Vixen, Grover Cleveland and other “white winged fliers.”

Contrasting the ice yacht racing of today with that of 20, 30 and 40 years ago, Captain Haviland said, “It never blew or rained too hard if we wanted to sail a race. Why, I have sailed races in which several boats started, but not 1 finished, for they were blown to pieces by the gales, and I have sailed an iceboat when I could see the thin ice rolling like waves ahead of me.”

Kitty’s Twenty Mile Record

The captain spoke of sailing the old Dreadnaught on Gull Lake, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in a race with his son, Mart, the present skipper of the Say When, and of races on the Hudson River near Thomas Hubbard and Captain Charles E. Throckmorton. Two other veterans, and the late James Doughty, were among the other Red Bank contestants.

He is the owner of the first class yacht Scud, which he raced on Gull Lake, and which holds the record of a mile and 1 quarter in 52 seconds. He also owns the third class yacht Kitty, which hung up a record for 20 miles of 51 minutes 4 seconds.

This boat was built by the late George Hook after a design Captain Weaver took from the Whiff, owned by Irving Grimnell of New Hamburg, and was built before the Scud and raced on the Hudson first under that name.

Captain Weaver has been actively interested in iceboating for 46 consecutive years and is acting as an official at the championship races this week. He has done much in developing this sport on the North Shrewsbury and in maintaining a fair and clean standard of ice yacht racing.

Additional Background
(1916 Article)

Mr. Haviland was born at Oceanic, the son of Archibald Haviland, and was one of a family of ten children. He studied in the old public school at Oceanic, and when he was eighteen went to Red Bank where he learned the sash and blind business. Later he became a house carpenter and then a mill hand, working for the Morford mill, which was destroyed by fire a few years ago. After the fire he went into the boat building business, which he conducted for thirty five years. He is still active at his trade and has worked for Captain Charles Irwin for the past eight years.

While a boat builder Captain Haviland built some of the fastest ice yachts on the river. Captain Haviland is a veteran iceman and is a charter member of the North Shrewsbury Ice Yacht Club. For several years he has been a member of the club’s regatta committee.

Captain Haviland went with James B. Weaver, owner of the Scud, the late Captain James Doughty and Captain Haviland’s son, Mart, when the Scud and Dreadnaught were to sail in championship races at Kalamazoo, Mich. They waited there for seventeen days for favorable weather and ice. Finally the race was started but never finished because conditions continued unfavorable. Captain Haviland also raced yachts on the Hudson in 1880.

Mrs. Haviland was born in Bordentown, the daughter of the late Allen Wood, who for several years was assistant superintendent of the old Southern railroad. The family moved to Red Bank when Mrs. Haviland was fourteen. The couple were married December 4, 1866, at the bride’s home, which was located on the river bank near Hubbard’s bridge and several years ago torn down. The ceremony was performed by the late Rev. Isaiah King, pastor of the First Methodist Church, of which Mrs. Haviland has long been a member.

The couple have lived in Red Bank their entire married life. The couple have five children, Mrs. Lucy A. Zieglar, Allen W. Haviland, Mart P. Haviland, Miss Lillian M. Haviland and Frank S. Haviland.

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The World’s Ice Sailing Epicenter – Red Bank, New Jersey

Down on the Navisink River just off the shores of Red Bank. Iceboating on the Navesink River was a vivid winter tradition that turned frozen water into a racetrack and social gathering place for river towns like Red Bank and Fair Haven. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, when winters were colder and ice stayed thick for weeks, local sailors adapted their yachting skills to sharp steel runners and towering sails. Iceboats with names like Icicle, Snowbird, Jack Frost, and Swallow skimmed across the river at astonishing speeds, often faster than any sailboat could manage in summer.

Historic Ice Boat Video Collection

Check out the Mr. Local History Collection and the beauty of ice boating in New Jersey as well as a few other spots that honor the beauty, history, excitement, and yes, the speed of these great frozen machines.

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New Jersey Iceboating Authors

New Jerseyans have been experts in the field of iceboating for generations, so much so that they helped define the sport by writing some of its classic books. S. Calhoun Smith drew on countless hours spent racing and studying iceboats to explain how speed, balance, and design truly worked on frozen water. His writing reflected hard won experience and became a trusted reference for sailors not only in New Jersey, but across the United States and internationally.

Jack Andresen brought the same depth of knowledge to iceboating from the sailor’s perspective. Having lived the sport during its postwar rise, he understood the excitement, technique, and danger that came with sailing on ice. In Sailing on Ice, he captured what it felt like to rig a boat in the cold and fly across a frozen lake, turning personal experience into enduring guidance. Together, their work shows how New Jersey’s iceboating tradition produced experts whose influence reached far beyond the state.

Author	Cover	Book Title	Year First Published	Link
S. Calhoun Smith		Ice Boating: A Complete Guide to Ice Boat Development, Design, Construction and Sailing	1962	https://archive.org/details/iceboatingcomple0000scal
Jack Andresen		Sailing on Ice – An introduction to the fast sport of ice sailing.	1961	https://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Ice-Jack-Andresen/dp/0498012417