A Rich Heritage

The history of Mainship Corporation dates back to the 1830's and a German immigrant by the name of Henry Luhrs. His entry into the Marine trade began by supplying ships in the harbors of New York City. He eventually came to own his own chandlery and even his own ship, which he named the Sophia R. Luhrs.

His grandson, also named Henry, shared the same love of the sea and continued the family heritage by building and repairing boats on the New Jersey coast. About 100 years after his grandfather started his business, the younger Henry opened his; a small yard in Morgan, New Jersey.

From these humble beginnings sprang a vibrant and thriving business called the Henry Luhrs Sea Skiff Company. As the business grew, HenryÕs sons, John and Warren became involved and soon the company was producing over 1200 boats a year.

In 1965, Bangor Punta, a huge timber conglomerate made Henry an offer too good to refuse and the company was sold. The brothers, John and Warren, soon struck out on their own and formed Silverton Marine Corporation, the first of the Luhrs Marine Group of companies.

Under the guidance of their father, the brothers were very successful. Warren, being an accomplished sailor knew they could adapt their building philosophy to sailboats and Hunter Marine was incorporated in 1973. Hunter is now known as the largest sailboat builder in North America.

The international fuel-crisis gave a huge wake-up call to boat builders, and John and Warren saw opportunity in building an economical, single diesel cruising boat that a family could afford.

Mainship Corporation was formed in 1977 and soon outgrew the existing facilities. A new plant was built in Marlboro, NJ and was home to Mainship until 1992 when it was moved to St. Augustine, FL. Over 1200 of the traditionally styled cruisers were built before Mainship began building a European inspired line of cruisers in 1988. The new boat line did well for several years, but MainshipÕs real destiny was to return to the trawlers that made them famous. In 1994, the first new Trawler, a 35 sedan was introduced and the market accepted the new breed with enthusiasm.

Today, Mainship Corporation is the leading manufacturer of production trawlers building 6 different models with many more on the drawing boards. Production is split between the St. Augustine facility it shares with the reacquired Luhrs Corporation and a new facility in Salibury, MD.

Today, Mainship, along with its sister companies in the Luhrs Marine Group, is an employee ownership company. This means that all employees want to share in the success of creating value and satisfaction for all the Mainship owners for years to come.