Use of bronze during war time

[Erick Singleman]

When I purchased my 12 1/2 that was built in 1941, I noticed that some of the bronze hardware typically seen on earlier 12 1/2s was not there.  For example the angles used to attach the coamings to the transom were mahogany pieces and not bronze.  The classic bronze oar lock sockets were replaced with mahogany blocks on the outside of the coamings.  Then when the lower portion of the transom fell off from rot, it revealed that the drifts were made of steel.

Does anyone know if on earlier boats the drifts were made of bronze?

If so this would confirm my suspicion that bronze was a valued commodity for the war effort and HMC may have cut back on it's use of bronze either because of scarcity or expense or both.  I believe the 1934 America's cup defender "Rainbow" had her bronze hull scrapped during the early 1940s, probably for that reason.  Damn shame too because I always thought she was with the exception of "Ranger" one of the most beautiful racing yachts ever built, and with a bronze hull would probably still be sailing today.

[Jon Brooks]

From what I understand, the materials regs for the war effort didn't kick in until late 1942.  Remember that Pearl Harbor didn't happen until December of '41, and it took some time for Congress to figure out what was needed. 

A perfect example was that the Lionel toy train company still put out a catalog in 1942, but many plated parts were instead blackened to prevent corrosion.  By 1943 they were building ships binnacles and compasses for the navy.

By the end of '42 everybody was in the war effort, including Herreshoff.

Jon 

[Steve]

My take on this is that when HMCo was taken over by the Haffenreffers, they began to increase the amount of decision making that was business-driven rather than driven purely by "how fast can we make this thing go?"  Carl Haffrenreffer, a business school graduate, took over as GM in late 1931 or early 1932.  Based on the research I did with the casting pattern cards at MIT, the company started sub-contracting much of the hardware manufacturing in the early thirties.  I assume that this was done as a cost-saving initiative, which leads one to surmise that they may have been were reducing the quantity (and quality) of the hardware castings. One of the coompanies they used was General Alloy.

As far as I know, the 12-1/2 traansom drifts were never made of bronze.  The transoms are one of the components that frequently are found to need replacement.  According to George Zachorne, the company switched from using dowels to iron rod in the early twenties.

-Steve   

[Charles Barclay]

Wikipedia provides insight on this question of bronze use:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper

In particular, copper is the major component of bronze.  In 1999, copper hit a 60 year low price of $.60/lb.  Which also means in 1939 the price of copper started a six decade rise in price.  With the entry into the war in September 1939, the British began buying raw materials from the US as well as materiel; thus, starting the increase in copper prices.

In the Epilogue to Ian Dear's 4th edition (1999) "Enterprise to Endeavor--The J Class Yachts" he lists the demise of the American J Yachts: "Whirlwind (wood) and Enterprise were scrapped in 1935; Weetamoe in 1938, Vanitie and Resolute in 1939, Rainbow in 1940, and finally, Ranger and Yankee in 1941. "

Whirlwind never sailed after 1930, nor did Enterprise because of rule changes.  Weetamoe and Yankee sailed competitively through at least 1937.  Rainbow was the most competitive of the earlier J's with Ranger.  Ranger was built of steel at Bath Iron Works. 

Harold "Mike" Vanderbilt changed his focus from the J's to 12 meters and began campaigning "Vim" in 1939. 

According to Herreshoff of Bristol, in 1937 the firm lost nearly $17,000.  The 1938 Hurricane severely damaged the works, the Haffenreffer's repaired the damage and offered the business for $300,000.  Unable to find a buyer, the firm continued to build boats mostly on order.  The firm rebounded during the war building 100 military vessels from 1942 through 1944.  Only 8 sailboats show up on the build record during the war.   

With the owners scrapping the big boats because they no longer wished to pay storage fees for boats they would not use, one should assume there was plenty of bronze available for use, even as the price was starting to rise.  Although Steve suggests the decision to use iron or steel was made in the 30's most likely for business reasons as was using vendors for casting.