What's this? Quiz

[Steve]

This thread keeps getting better and better.

[HerreshoffHistory]

N. G. Herreshoff signed his name Nathaniel Greene Herreshoff until sometime between 1910 and 1915 when he visited the grave of General Nathanael Greene (after whom he was named). From then on he also spelled his name Nathanael Greene. (Source: Bray, Maynard and Carlton Pinheiro. Herreshoff of Bristol. Brooklin, Maine, 1989, p. 220.

I am still confused by this tag: N. G. H. wrote "Nathaniel Chase Herreshoff". Why did he write Nathaniel and not Nathanael if he really meant it to be Nathanael? And why Chase? His grandsons are Nathanael Greene Herreshoff III and Halsey Chase Herreshoff. That's why I was suggesting a mixup.

[HerreshoffHistory]

Hm, pretty quiet lately. I think it was Adam L's term. But he isn't here, apparently.

So here is the next question from me. No photo this time.

Only one vessel built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company was from a design by William H. Hand Jr.

Which one?

[Adam]

I have spent the better part of an afternoon trying to figure this one out....humph!

Not sail. or motor yacht. I'm going to take an educated guess that leaves military. The ww II designs are too late. the WWI boat designs are too few - and I believe all NGH. That leaves the flying boats - It just so happends Hand worked for a NY Navy yard doing seaplanes in WWI - so I take a guess - NC-4?

[HerreshoffHistory]

Nothing military.

WW I navy boats built by HMCo were designed either by N. G. Herreshoff or by A. Loring Swasey.

The NC-4 was designed by Glenn Curtiss. It's hull (which was built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company) was designed by Naval Constructor H. C. Richardson, U. S. N., with structural work mostly done by  W. L. Gilmore of the Curtiss Co. No William H. Hand Jr. involvement whatsoever.

The HMCo-built, Hand-designed vessel still exists and it is fairly typical for Hand's work.

[HerreshoffHistory]

Yet another hint: Her name was (and still is) Little Gull II.

When was she built and what was her Herreshoff building number?

Here is a photo of her:

[Adam]

Damn.
#389p
1928.

not good....

[HerreshoffHistory]

Why not good? Correct answer! Congratulations! Your turn!

That was a fairly difficult question because Hand and Herreshoff are usually not mentioned together.

HMCo #389p Little Gull II is the only William Hand designed yacht that was built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company.

She was contracted for on December 28, 1928 by Irving B. Bonbright and built in 1929 with an LOA of 42' 6", beam 10' 10", a draft of 2' 10" and two Hall Scott engines of 175 h.p.

In 1947 she was renamed Nublumoon but today she carries her old name Little Gull II again.

Maynard Bray thinks highly of her and featured her in Wooden Boat #183, March/April 2005, p. 152.

[Adam]

Not good because I went through the entire P records and still I missed this.

Anyway - Working on the next one...

[HerreshoffHistory]

Well, I think it was pretty easy to miss as no boat name nor designer was given in the Construction Record!

And this boat was not discussed in any of the Herreshoff literature.

You did very well!

[Adam]

Well, I came close - when you gave the hint that it was typical of Hands work I thought it was Ariel II for sure - or possibly Stroller. That's when I let my imagination get the better of me and came up with NC-4 because of his experience with such craft. I let over thinking get in the way of facts....In the end I would have never have figured Little gull II....

Question - assuming Hand did the plans and or model, I assume none exist at HMCo.? Do you know if Mystic (or is it MIT?) - has her plans as part of Hand's Collection (or whats left of it - if i remember correctly most of his stuff was destroyed in '38)?

[Adam]

OK - this one is simple I think - but we never discuss the pre HMCo. boats - What is NGH's first design? When was it Built? and how old was Nat at the time?

[HerreshoffHistory]

Adam asked about the plans for the Hand-designed, Herreshoff-built power cruiser Little Gull II: They are all at M.I.T. as part of the Davis-Hand Collection which in turn is part of the Hart Nautical Collections. Four plans are also in the Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, but they concern details such as the propeller shaft, the rudder or the exhaust muffler.

[HerreshoffHistory]

Adam asked:

>What is NGH's first design? When was it Built? and how old was Nat at the time?

Here is the answer in the words of his son L. Francis:

"The First Designs of N. G. Herreshoff

I believe the first yacht of any consequence that Captain Nat designed was the sixteen-foot catboat, "Henrietta," whose name was later changed to "Popasquash." The same year he made a model from which the twenty-five-foot sloop "Haidee" (later named "Fanchon") was built. "Violet" was also built from this model as well as "Ariel." These boats were modeled in 1864 when Nat was only sixteen years old, although "Violet" was not built until 1866.

This brings up the story of a strange incident that Captain Nat told me in his old age. When the "Violet" was completed young Nat sailed her in a trial race against an older boat designed and sailed by his father, and "Violet" was beaten. Nat was so disappointed that as soon as he got home he took an ax and chopped up the model from which "Violet" had been built so that no other boats would be built from it. Strange to say, all the boats built from this model turned out very well later and were much liked by their owners. This incident, Captain Nat told me, made him more patient in later life and taught him to wait until a boat was thoroughly tried out before he condemned her.

The model from which "Violet" was built is the only one missing in his collection of models." (Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. Capt. Nat Herreshoff. 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. 80.)

I think L. Francis gets to ask the next quiz question...

[Adam]

There was a reason for my asking this semingly easy question - as I was well aware of L. Frances comments in his Fathers Biography...I had also once read that Nat did make the 16' LWL Catboat Henrietta model first followed by Haidee model shortly thereafter - but that Henrietta was not built for some time until 1865. I got the sense that Haidee may have actually been built first. So depending on your definition of "first" one could argue...Does anyone know which one hit the water first?