Thomas F. McManus was the most influential and prolific designer of American fishing schooners between 1890 and 1925. In this, the first comprehensive biography of McManus, historian and naval architect W.M.P. Dunne traces the McManus family's Irish origins, their emigration as skilled artisans from Ireland to Boston in the 1840s, and their successful establishment there as sailmakers and fishermen. Tom McManus began as a fish dealer, but through his work with noted naval architects he took up designing in the 1880s. Always interested in the lot of his fishermen friends, he made many design improvements to fishing vessels, most notably the elimination of the bowsprit in his knock-about model. He also promoted fishermen's races, and his schooner Henry Ford was among the best of the racing fishermen of the 1920s.