Captain Robert P. Beebe was born in 1909. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1931 becoming a naval aviator, serving as a navigation officer on the aircraft carrier USS SARATOGA during World War II and serving as the executive officer of the carrier USS SITKOH BAY during the Korean War before accepting a post in the Alaskan territories as an intelligence officer in 1954. In 1958, Captain Beebe accepted his final posting to the United States Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, where he stayed until retiring in 1961.
Captain Beebe worked as an amateur yacht designer throughout his naval career and took on the job full time after his retirement. He contributed extensively to Rudder, Yachting and other maritime publications. His early work in the 1940's and 1950's consisted of mainly traditional craft, especailly sharpies and canoes, but he is best known for PASSAGEMAKER, a powerboat he designed for himself that was capable of long range cruising. Captain Beebe wrote "Voyaging Under Power," published in 1975, and continued to design passagemakers for clients all over the world until his death in 1988.
From the description of Capt. Robert P. Beebe collection [naval architecture drawings], 1946-1988 (Mystic Seaport Museum, G W Blunt White Library). WorldCat record id: 63174267
