Herreshoff, John Brown, 1841-1915, American yacht and ship builder. Though totally blind from the time he was 15, he managed his own sail-boat building company until his brother, Nathaniel Green Herreshoff, 1848-1938, became his partner in 1878. Together they produced steam yachts and torpedo boats, but in 1891 they resumed the construction of sailing yachts, introducing new and radical features of design. The Gloriana won them a reputation, and they subsequently produced five successful defenders of the America's Cup—the Vigilant (1893), the Defender (1895), the Columbia (1899), the Reliance (1903), and the Resolute (built 1914; raced 1920).