Head over to Herreshoff.info and you’ll land in Claas van der Linde’s Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné, which is, without doubt, the most comprehensive information source you’ll ever find on the 2,200 watercraft built in Bristol, Rhode Island by the Herreshoffs. It is a nearly ten-year-old, work-in-progress website that has only recently gone public.
Herreshoff.info is easy to use, but since it is so comprehensive, I’ve included a few suggestions below on how you can explore the information to it’s fullest. If you’re at all interested in Herreshoff boats, you’ll be swept away by the site’s organized presentation of images, stories, and other documents and data.
Start with the checkerboard montage on site’s homepage and pass your cursor over any boat you find appealing. The boat’s hull number, its name, date of build, and a short description including its overall length will pop up. For more, give the image a click, and your screen fills with the boat’s homepage that includes its photo, the complete partculars, and a series of clickable categories such as “Model,” “Text,” “Images,” and “Registers.” The first provides a photograph of the boat’s half model, a list of all the boats built from it, and a description that Nat Herreshoff himself wrote on its back surface.
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Jos Verbaken says:
I have built a 1:5 scale model of the Biscayne Bay 14 with the intention of building the full scale boat with fixed keel. As far as I could find all builds thus far used the centreboard but this site tells me that the original had a fixed keel. Great to have access to definitive data.
Claas van der Linde says:
Hi Jos,
you are right, the prototype was designed and built with fixed ballast, while the remaining boats were built with centerboards. The story is well described in our recent “Herreshoff-American Masterpieces” book, from which I quote the pertinent section:
In October 1924, plans were drawn and a 14′ “sailing skiff,” as NGH called it, was built at HMCo from a multichine NGH half model. It became the BB-14 prototype. This boat had a fixed cast-iron keel and was depicted in a colored promotional rendering drawn by HMCo, apparently to garner interest for the new class at the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club and from other nearby yachtsmen.
It appears Munroe was not really happy when he saw the plans, for he complained to NGH that “a 2ft iron keel would be unpopular down here” and that the boats should be unsinkable. NGH responded and created the shallow draft by altering the original keel version that drew 24½” to a centerboarder that floated in only 12 inches of water.
A normal approach for a boat of this type (think Comets, Snipes, and Lightnings) might be to go without fixed ballast, but evidence suggests that NGH preferred ballast in some form, even in small centerboarders, in order to enhance their stability. Because NGH’s original design called for an outside fin keel weighing about 300 lbs, it was logical for him to reconfigure the ballast keel with a slot for the centerboard, rather than eliminate it. Commodore Munroe’s concern that permanent ballast can sink a capsized boat was addressed by calling for flotation chambers, created by underdeck bulkheads in both bow and stern.
A fleet of fourteen skiffs was subsequently built in Bristol during the early months of 1925. All were shipped to Florida, as Pleasure had been a few weeks earlier.
Jos Verbaken says:
Thanks for the explanation I will have to get that book, “Herreshoff-American Masterpieces”. My preference is for an open cockpit without a centreboard impeding mobility. Luckily here in southern Tasmania the water is deep and I have a boat ramp about half a mile away from home.
George Kruzynski says:
Does this include L.F. Herreshoff’s designs as well ?
Maynard Bray says:
Hi George,
Herreshoff.info covers the boats built in Bristol by the Herreshoff family. L. Francis Herreshoff’s designs were mostly built elsewhere (Mitena and Istalena being exceptions) and are listed in the book Boat Plans at Mystic Seaport that you can view and download from the OCH “Library.”
George Kruzynski says:
Thanks Maynard.. but no Rozinante there do I see :(
Maynard Bray says:
Rozinante is listed on page 34 as design #98. Her profile drawing is pictured on page 41.
George Kruzynski says:
Thanks Maynard,
I first scanned the Index of the Catalogue…saw no Rozinante, then did a Search, still nothing so that’s when I wrote to you. The link you provided had just minimal information on the Roz..I was hoping for something like you have in you “Magnum Opus” :)
Be that as it may, a hearty congratulations ! to all who worked on that monumental project.
Charles Flanagan says:
Outstanding effort/resource and thanks for sharing. Grew up just around the corner on Mount Hope Bay and always aspired to an S boat.
David Tew says:
Wow. Enough said.
Chris Methot says:
According to the video with Halsey Herreshoff the side to model was chosen based on the “piece of wood”. He goes on to mention that the models of the port side won more America’s Cups.
William McCaffrey says:
Thanks to all for making this treasure trove available. I know that I will spend many hours here.
Chris Methot says:
I have a dumb question about boat half models. On what basis did they decide which side to model? Most are port side but a few are starboard.
Maynard Bray says:
Hi Chris,
Good question. We assume the grain of the wood had something to do with the choice of which way the Herreshoff models faced. As you can see, NGH favored the right-facing orientation. Historically, the starboard side is the favored one, so I suspect the convention stemmed from there.
Maynard
Claas van der Linde says:
I have always been fascinated by NGH’s seeming lack of preference for model orientation. Go to Herreshoff.Info and have a look at Models 1418 and 1420. They are both for the same boat (a torpedo boat), but one faces left, the other right. I wouldn’t be able to compare two models if they were facing into different directions! Same thing with Models 221 and 1231 and several others. It really did not matter.
Robin Van Auken says:
Amazing repository. Enjoying the back stories in the Research Notes. Thank you for sharing the site.