The Herreshoff Forum - Index
Herreshoff Forum => Miscellaneous Herreshoff Topics => Topic started by: mhunt on February 20, 2012, 06:01:40 AM
-
1902 full keel Herreshoff 15' (pretty sure) but with a cabin and bowsprit. Donated to Bath Maritime Museum in '75 and sold- date and to whom not on record. Frustrating! I am flummoxed, as is Maynard Bray. Possibly in a field growing daisies or already kindling, but it was my mom's boat and the fate would be good to know. I can e-mail pics, and would appreciate any leads. Thanks!
-
I assume you refer to #559s Little Robin, the cruising boat based on the Buzzards Bay 15 model?
I believe I have a photo of her from before 1904, but without a bowsprit.
(http://i41.tinypic.com/346b51s.jpg)
"No. 31 --- For Sale --- Herreshoff 16-foot water line keel knock about; a perfect little craft in every way; just the boat for the boys, or for afternoon sailing; able and fast; very complete inventory for small boat. Dimensions are: 26 feet over all; 16 feet 4 inches water line; 6 feet 9 inches beam; 4 feet 6 inches draught; 1,500 lbs. of lead on keel; built by Herreshoff in 1901. Impossible to find a better boat of the kind, and anybody wishing a small knockabout, could not do better than look into this one. One of the few Herreshoff boats ever placed on the market. Apply to E. A. Boardman, Naval Architect and Yacht Broker, 20 Central St., Boston, Mass. [Although Little Robin was not explicitly identified in the accompanying advertisement text, it is clear that only she could have been meant, as she was the only 16' 4' LWL keel boat that had been contracted for in the 1900-1901 time period.]" (Source: Rudder, March 1904, p. 162.)
"No. 10937 --- For Sale --- A dandy little Herreshoff knockabout; 26 ft o. a., 16 ft. 4 in. w. l., 6 ft. 9 in. beam, 4 ft. 6 in. draught, 1,500 lb outside lead ballast. Small cabin with enough headroom to sit up in with full length transoms. Built in the usual high grade Herreshoff manner with cedar planking and brass screw fastenings. Watertight cockpit. Canvas deck. This smart little craft was built in 1901 and has always had the finest care. Ideal boat for a boy or girl to learn to sail in as she is absolutely uncapsizable and unsinkable. Handles to perfection. Price $500. Can be seen in Boston by applying to Hollis Burgess Yacht Agency, 15 Exchange Street, Boston, Mass. [Although Little Robin was not explicitly identified in the accompanying advertisement text, it is clear that only she could have been meant, as she was the only 16' 4' LWL keel boat that had been contracted for in the 1900-1901 time period.]" (Source: Anon. "For Sale." Rudder, March 1914, p. 153.)
-
I agree that would be the logical guess, except for the bowsprit. My mother owned the Alert from 1928 until sometime in the '60's. It was being used for sail training by Maine Maritime Museum from '75 until? Then it disappeared.
-
If you send me a pic(s) I can post them for you - I would like to see pictures!
-
Thanks, happy to send you my pics. I would need to e-mail them to you as I don't have snapfish etc. How do I send?
-
How sure are you about 1902? There is a WH15 named ALERT in a field in Rhode Island, and a BB15 from 1909, with a bowsprit but no cabin, on Jamestown.
-
I know about the Alert in RI- but the full keel is the difference. As far as the year goes, I'm going by what Maine Maritime told me.
-
There is a little envelope under my name - Click that and mail away!
-
That 15 in Jamestown is Endeavor, which was one of the last BB 15s to be registered at Beverly Yacht Club. It's a normal BB 15, and the bowsprit was added by an owner, can't remember if it's the current one or not.
-
From MHunt:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/6774655582_63eaa82cbf_o.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/6774655574_2b30712e8f_o.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7194/6774655570_d9ef06251e_o.jpg)
-
Alert has been found, thanks for all the posts. She has been in a field in Georgetown Maine since 2000, lovingly watched over by a previous owner who found her and brought her home. Not my fantasy ending, but I'm told she was well used and appreciated for many years.
-
Do we have a hull number for her ?
-
Oddly no. An oval plaque with the name Alert in the center, with Herreshoff Mfg. Co. Bristol Rhode Island 1902 around the outside. There is a thought that a previous owner had it manufactured. Still working on that puzzle.
-
That doesn't sound like a builder's plate that I have seen before. It could very well have been made by a prior owner. By any chance would you have a photo of it?
-
HMCo only built 4 boats using the 15-footer model that had a full-keel, and only LIITLE ROBIN, 559, was built in 1902 (or late 1901 ... she was contracted in June, 1901). The others came several years later.
The information HH has supplied is quite to the point. You will note that in both 1904 and 1915, she is referred to as a knockabout, which means the bowsprit must have been added later.
I would like to compile some provenance. Could you tell me your Mom's name? I don't suppose you know from whom she got her and to whom and when she sold the boat? Did your Mom name her ALERT or was it that way when she bought it? How about the current owner in Maine? His name? And all the same questions.
You say the boat is ina field? Is she a total wreck? Do you have any photos?
Thansks.
-Steve
-
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.
-
Very informative ... thanks. Please do keep us up-to-date.
-Steve
-
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.
-
Nice work, HH. I think this may be the information we are looking for.
-
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!
-
>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.
-
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:
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8142/6969692848_bd60b45c05_o.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7085/6969692820_d93dc00f69_o.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7120/6969692816_77bccbeacf_o.jpg)
-
BTW - Pretty sure those pics are in Boston Harbor - The second one looks like off Peddocks Island.
-
I just sent an e-mail to some folks at the YC and CMI (Cohassets wooden boat school).
-
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!
-
hah! Like that - much better then Boston Harbor....
-
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.
-
I would assume Ballou - I believe they are an old south shore/Boston family. Some are still in Cohasset I believe.
-
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.)