Here is some info on Avenger. I have sent Pat a complete factfile about her.
From Nathanael G. Herreshoff:
"... Avenger [Name], 666 [Building Number], 48 [Rating], 53 [Waterline], 46.3 [L = length at 1/4 beam as for Universal Rule], 14.06 [B = breadth of waterline as for Universal Rule], 9.47 [d = draft of water as for Universal Rule], 1,218 [D = displacement in cubic foot as for Universal Rule (= 77,952 lbs or 34.8 long tons)], 3696 [Sail Area], 3910 [Sail limit Present rule], -314 [sic] [Diff.], 3730 [Sail limit Proposed rule], -34 [Diff.], Quite able [Notes] ..." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. "Formula for Obtaining the Limit of Sail-area in Yachts when measured by the Universal Rule Formula." Bristol, R.I., July 13, 1907. Original handwritten document held at the Herreshoff Marine Museum, Bristol, R.I.)
"Coconut Grove, Fl. Mch 21 1927 {1927/03/21} N. G. Herreshoff Bristol, R. I. Dear Francis, ... Bob Emmons found [Gloriana] too much for "Avengir" [sic, i.e. Avenger] in light weather when some 18 years old. ... Your father -- Nathl G. Herreshoff. " (Source: Mystic Seaport Museum, L. Francis Herreshoff Collection, Box 17, Folder 3: Letter from N. G. Herreshoff to L. F. Herreshoff.)
"[In] the year 1907, the popular sixty-three foot class [N.Y.Y.C. 57 Footer Class] of sloops was built. They were ISTALENA, AURORA, and WINSOME. Also [built was] AVENGER, fifty-three feet waterline, and nearly a dozen other smaller [craft]." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. "Some of the Boats I Have Sailed In." Written 1934. In: Pinheiro, Carlton J. (ed.). Recollections and Other Writings by Nathanael G. Herreshoff. Bristol, 1998, p. 71.)
From L. Francis Herreshoff
"... Avenger [was] in my opinion the finest all around sailing yacht ever built. She was not excessively lofty or deep but was a fine yacht in which to cruise and a most successful cup winner. I happened to race on Avenger in most of her races in the first two or three years of her life. Not only did she win most of the races she started in, but several times on New York Yacht Club cruises she would win two cups in a race --- one, the cup for her class, and the other the cup for the whole fleet under time allowance. I remember one morning her owner, Robert Emmons, came aboard and said, 'Boys, we won two cups yesterday and one of them is most big enough to use for a dinghy.' During the time I raced on Avenger she was handled by Bob Emmons, Charles Francis Adams and Captain Charlie Barr. Strange to say, she felt the best and went the best when Mr. Emmons was steering." (Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. The Common Sense of Yacht Design. Vol. II. New York, 1948, p. 47.)
"The same year, 1907, Captain Nat designed the sloops 'Avenger' and 'Adventuress.' Although they were smaller than the fifty-seven-footers, they were of composite construction as were the Fifty-sevens. But 'Avenger' and 'Adventuress' had all hollow spars excepting the bowsprit, while the Fifty-sevens had solid mainmasts. 'Avenger' was built for R. W. Emmons and was seventy-four feet nine inches O.A., fifty-three feet W.L., fourteen feet six inches beam, and nine feet two inches draft, and rated at the very bottom of the class in which the Fifty-sevens raced. As the three fifty-seven-footers rather interfered with one another in luffing, the 'Avenger,' with her lighter spars, usually slipped in and beat them with time allowance. In fact the 'Avenger' was one of the most successful yachts Captain Nat designed, and besides winning the Astor Cup four times she won countless other large and valuable trophies. The author raced on 'Avenger' many times and was in her afterguard twice when she was winning the Astor Cup." (Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. The Wizard of Bristol. The Life and Achievements of Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, together with An Account of Some of the Yachts He Designed. New York, 1953, p. 270-271.)
"Avenger was one of our greatest prize winners of any time. Her story was something like this: Robert W. Emmons had owned the sloop Humma [#553s] in 1906 when it was thought that she won the Astor Cup, and this cup had been awarded to him, but during the winter the great mathematician, Charles Lane Poor, reckoned the measurements and times of Humma and the Gardner-designed Weetamoe and showed that the Gardner boat really had won the race, so the New York Yacht Club took back the 1906 Astor Cup. This rather disturbed Mr. Emmons and he decided to avenge himself, so he ordered from Mr. Herreshoff a fast sloop to be named Avenger. She was designed and built right after the 57-footers the same winter and she too was a composite yacht but rated at the bottom of Class K, or, with a change of trim, could race in Class L.
Avenger's general dimensions were LOA 74' 9"; LWL 53'; beam 14' 6"; draft 9' 6" and, while she was not very different from the 57-footers in model, she did have all hollow spars except, of course, the bowsprit, while the 57's had rather heavy, solid Oregon pine masts.
However, there were several reasons why Avenger did so well, and one of them was that two gun starts were still being used. At the first gun the three 57-footers (later 65-footers) [663s Istalena, 664s Winsome and 667s Aurora], went over the line together and did more or less luffing through the race, while Avenger made a later start all clear of the other yachts and could then concentrate on making the best time over the course. It is my opinion (and I raced on Avenger in many of the races of her first two years), that the thing that helped her most was a flat cut balloon jib that Mr. Emmons had made for her, and we carried this sail even close hauled sometimes in light weather. So I claim Mr. Emmons was the first to make practical use of what is now called a lapping jib, or Genoa jib. It is also interesting that Mr. Emmons told me he had used such a sail (we then called them flat-cut balloon jibs), on his Buzzards Bay Thirty [#569s Mashnee] in 1902. While I agree with the old saying that there is nothing new under the sun, and that English cutters have carried what is called a balloon forestaysail since about 1850, still I like to credit Bob Emmons with the first practical use of large jibs when close-hauled. I also remember that my father, who designed Avenger and followed her closely in the races, said rather crossly to me, 'If you are not careful you will carry the topmast out of Avenger,' but we generally had the jib set in stops so if it breezed up we could break it out and lower away this great jib topsail in its lee.
... In 1908, there had been a financial panic of short duration and Mr. Emmons decided to sell her that summer, so he hired Charlie Barr to put her in commission and sail her in the New York Yacht Club cruise as the best way to sell her. I was a guest and the only amateur aboard Avenger while we were standing by at Newport for a few days before the Astor Cup race, when a nice looking, middle-age gentleman came out in his steam launch to look at Avenger. Captain Barr gave me the job of showing the gentleman around and I showed him all her parts so enthusiastically that the gentleman, who turned out to be Alexander S. Cochran, bought her on the spot and took her over, crew and all, inviting me to be his guest for the next few days, so that I had the pleasure of being on Avenger when she was winning the three successive Astor Cups of 1907, 1908 and 1909. As she won this cup again in 1911 I believe that she has won the Astor Cup in the sloop class more times than any other vessel." (Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. An Introduction to Yachting. New York, 1963, p. 170-171.)
From other Contemporary Text Source(s):
"AVENGER AND QUEEN WIN ASTOR CUPS. ... NEWPORT, R. L, Aug. 8 [1908]. --- In the race for the Astor Cups, sailed over the course off Newport to-day, the Avenger made luminous her name, and the Queen [#657s], despite the efforts that were made to depose her, is still Queen in her class. The Queen defeated all of the competitors of her class, and possessed herself of the cup that goes to the fleetest schooner, Avenger taking for the second time the one which sloops had fought to capture. The triumph of Avenger gives point to the name she bears, as she was butlt to avenge what her owner deemed a wrong.
It was three years ago that Robert W. Emmons, second, of Boston, entered Humma [#553s] in the race for the Astor trophy. Humma won, but before the victor had time to admire the cup he received a letter from the official measurer of the New York Yacht Club, in which it was stated that there had been a mistake in measurement, and that, therefore, he must surrender the cup. Emmons protested and asked for a remeasurement. This was refused. Then he demanded a remeasurement of the yachts he sailed against. This was also denied. Then he set about the building of a new yacht, and savagely naming her The Avenger, sent her into this race last year to retrieve the cup. Avenger won last year and has now repeated the triumph.
The event to-day was over a 38-mile triangular course and was sailed in fast time to a freshening wind from the southward and westward. But, owing to the smaller boats realizing that it was futile to continue, only six of the yachts finished. These were Queen, Vigilant, Elmina, Istalena, Aurora, and Avenger, all in the order named. Avenger, although last to cross the finish line, was adjudged first in the sloop class, her time allowance making this apparent defeat a signal triumph. ..." (Source: Anon. "Avenger and Queen Win Astor Cups." New York Times, August 9, 1908, p. S1.)
