USS Darke, an LCVP 18 (also known as a Higgins Boat), possibly with army troops as reinforcements at Okinawa, circa 9 to 14 April 1945. (Public Domain)
Andrew Higgins (1886–1952) was born to be an inventor and entrepreneur. His drive to create and be self-sufficient began when his father, John, died when he was 7 years old. Within two years of his father’s death, Higgins began a lawn service and took on several paper routes to help the family. By the time he was 12, he had built his first boat in the basement of the family home in Omaha. Boat building and designing would become his forte.
He was introduced into the lumber business in 1906 after moving to Mobile, Alabama, and became the manager of a lumber import company in New Orleans four years later. In 1922, Higgins decided to personally meet the lumber needs of various businesses and individuals. He launched Higgins Lumber and Export Co., which resulted in his acquiring a large fleet of various vessels and building his own shipyard.
New Orleans soon presented Higgins with another opportunity. Along the Gulf Coast and rivers in Louisiana, none more prominent than the Mississippi, pilots, trappers, and oilers struggled to reach shallow waters. He began tinkering with the idea of a propeller-powered flat bottom boat. By 1926, he resolved the issue by designing and building the Eureka boat.
Andrew Higgins at the event celebrating the making of 10,000th Higgins Boat was held on Sunday, July 23, 1944. (Public Domain)
The Eureka Boat
As the economy took a harsh downturn, Higgins shuttered Higgins Lumber and Export Co. and opened Higgins Industries, which specialized in building tugs, barges, and the Eureka boat for various clients, including the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard would use the Eureka boat to chase rum runners during Prohibition. Rumors remain that Higgins would build Eureka boats for rum runners that were faster than those of the Coast Guard.
Higgins’s ingenuity and innovation for sea vessels eventually caught the attention of what would become his biggest client: the federal government. As the 1930s progressed, war began to break out in Europe and Asia. The Navy and Marine Corps sought a craft that could quickly land troops on shores. They contacted Higgins in 1938 and tested out his Eureka. The military liked what they saw, except for one aside. Troops had to climb over the sides of the boat in order to disembark, leaving them open to enemy fire. The military discussed with Higgins how the Japanese had built a landing craft that lowered its front end to allow soldiers to quickly disembark. Within the month, and to the delight of the U.S. military, Higgins Industries had created a landing craft that met their requirements.
The Higgins Boat
The military offered Higgins Industries a contract to build its landing craft vessels. The company would build the Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP), famously known as the Higgins Boat. These boats, capable of maneuvering in less than a foot of water, were absolutely essential to the June 6, 1944 D-Day Invasion along the beaches of Normandy. The day that turned the tide of World War II in the favor of the Allies.
Higgins Industries would go on to develop several variations of the landing craft, including the Landing Craft, Mechanized (LCM), which had the capacity to haul and land a 30-ton tank. The story goes that the Navy wanted to see design plans for its development within three days. Higgins said he would not just have a design, but a prototype ready. The Navy suggested it wasn’t possible to create the craft in 72 hours. Higgins replied, “You just be here in three days.” When the Navy brass arrived, the first LCM was ready.
The Higgins Boat would become most famous for the Normandy invasion, but it would also be used in other amphibious invasions, including in Italy, Africa, and the Pacific Islands. Higgins died in 1952, but in 1964, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had been supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe, reflected on the importance of the Higgins Boat and stated, “Andrew Higgins is the man who won the war for us.”
Dustin Bass is an author and co-host of The Sons of History podcast. He also writes two weekly series for The Epoch Times: Profiles in History and This Week in History.
