Looking for Alert

[mhunt]

My mother's name was Frances (Peg) Parson. I'm told she was given the boat in 1928 by her Aunt Margie- Mrs. Kenneth Parson. The boat was in Center Harbor until my mother passed it on to a good friend Andrew Willis in the mid 60's. He kept her in Boothbay until donating her to Maine Maritime in the ?early 70's. In '75 she became a project for The Apprentice Shop after falling on her side, and Alex Hadden took her over at age 17. He maintained and sailed her for 20 years, before passing her on to another apprentice, (don't know his name) who unfortunately removed the plaque while rebuilding the companionway hatch.  Alex has a vivid memory of it however. A few years later Alex found her in a backyard in Rockland. He brought her to his home in Georgetown where she sits today. After Alex passed her on, she sank at her mooring in an October gale, pounded against the bottom, losing her keel. That's what I know for now, but am in touch with Alex and we are both digging deep for more info.

[Steve]

Very informative ... thanks.  Please do keep us up-to-date.

-Steve

[HerreshoffHistory]

The following article may be of interest:

"John G. Alden reports the following two sales: The older Cohasset 17-footer Alert, by Roland H. Ballou, to Kenneth Parsons of Boston, and ..." (Source: Anon. "Notes from the Week's Log." Boston Globe, May 30, 1926, p. A63.)

This would mean that Alert was not a Herreshoff boat but one of the class of ten Lawley-built 17-foot one-design knockabouts which the Cohasset Yacht Club had commissioned in the winter of 1904/1905 from E. A. Boardman.

That class pretty much disbanded by 1911 when five of the boats were sold to members of the Bridgeport Y. C.

[Steve]

Nice work, HH.  I think this may be the information we are looking for.

[mhunt]

Wow! Amazing news- which I will forward to Alex. In a previous e-mail he wondered if she was a Lawley design...but the name plate threw him off. Thank you!

[HerreshoffHistory]

>he wondered if she was a Lawley design...

Note: If that report is correct, she'd be a Edwin A. Boardman design and built by Lawley. Both very nice, seldom, and worth preserving.

Someone at Cohasset Yacht Club should restore her...

Hart Nautical Collections at M.I.T. has some Boardman plans. It would be interesting to check if the Cohasset 17-footers are among them.

By the way, there are numerous reports of the Cohasset 17-foot one-design knockabouts racing but Alert / Ballou seem to not have raced.

[Adam]

Since I live in Cohasset maybe I should contact someone at the YC and see if they have other details.... Hmmm, Jon,  whom should I call....

Here are some more Pics from Ms. Hunt:

[Adam]

BTW - Pretty sure those pics are in Boston Harbor - The second one looks like off Peddocks Island.

[Adam]

I just sent an e-mail to some folks at the YC and CMI (Cohassets wooden boat school).

[mhunt]

Actually Adam I know the pics are on Eggemoggin Reach, my mom sailing with my dad during their courtship days when he was at his most accommodating!

[Adam]

hah! Like that - much better then Boston Harbor....

[mhunt]

HerreshoffHistory-
I talked to the curator (Kurt Hasselbalch) at MIT today, and he asked if I could find the original owner of Alert. You found the notice of the sale between Roland Ballou and Ken Parson. Is there a way to know if he was the first owner? Kurt thinks he has the plans for possibly 3 Boardman designs...trying to narrow it down. Thanks.

[Adam]

I would assume Ballou - I believe they are an old south shore/Boston family. Some are still in Cohasset I believe.

[HerreshoffHistory]

If Alert really is one of the Cohasset 17-footers (and we only have
that one little newspaper snippet to prove it), then Roland H. Ballou
was not the original owner.

"The Cohasset yacht club's class of 10 18- footers [sic, i.e. 17-
footers], from a design by E. A. Boardman, have been delivered from
Lawley's and are now off the clubhouse. Their names and owners are as
follows: Delta, Ralph Williams; Jap 2d, B. L. M. Tower, Nereid 2d, W.
R. Sears; name undecided, Thomas Lawson; Remora, G. G. Crocker; Bee,
C. W. Barron; Pippin, Alanson Bigelow; Tortoise, P. J. Moors; Sabrina
3d, Benjamin Hyde; Kotick 2d, H. Chapin." (Source: Anon. "Cohasset Y.
C. 18-Footers." Boston Globe, June 4, 1905, p. 48.)