HMCo #259p Neith Jr.
Particulars
Type: Columbia Power Tender
Designed by: NGH
Contract: 1907-2-18
Finished: 1907-5-25
Construction: Wood
LOA: 12' 7" (3.84m)
Beam: 3' 11" (1.19m)
Displ.: 354 lbs (161 kg)
Propulsion: Gasoline, Lackawanna, 3 h.p. ; 2 cycl.
Propeller: Diameter 12", 2 bl. #9286 R. H.
Built for: Hoe, Richard M.
Note(s) in HMCo Construction Record: Tender for #665 [Neith] for R. M. Hoe.
See also: Note: Particulars are primarily but not exclusively from the HMCo Construction Record. Supplementary information not from the Construction Record appears elsewhere in this record with a complete citation.
Model
Model number: 706
Vessels from this model:
Original text on model:
"Original COLUMBIA lifeboat for 499 14' [long] scale 1/12 Nov. 1899 gig for #503 506, 507 [unreadable] (cut dinghy 520 16x14 7 1/2" frames dinghy for 624 scale 10 3.4 over 16 * 10-8 [unreadable] / 529, 532, 533, 534 16x14 add-on bow changed and shear raised remeasured Dec. 4, 1909. Boats for 692 and later" (Source: Original handwritten annotation on model. Undated.)
Model Description:
"14' lifeboat of 1899 for the cutter Columbia. Also used, with alterations to scale, mold spacing, freeboard, and with sailing rig added, for many other rowboats, sailing dinghies, and tenders. This shape became HMCo's standard for decades to follow." (Source: Bray, Maynard. 2004.)
Note: Vessels that appear in the records as not built, a cancelled contract, a study model, or as a model sailboat are listed but not counted in the list of vessels built from a model.
Drawings
List of drawings:
Drawings believed to have been first drawn for, or being first referenced to
HMCo #259p Neith Jr. are listed in bold.
Click on Dwg number for preview, on HH number to see at M.I.T. Museum.
- Dwg 058-026 (HH.5.04097): Shaft Strut for 5/8" Shaft, 217 and 218 (1901-12-12)
- Dwg 011-025 (HH.5.00951): Stern Bearing x Stuffing Box 3/4" Shaft. Bearing & Coupling (1902-03-17)
- Dwg 076-075 (HH.5.05530); General Arrangement > Cruising Sloop # 665, 52'-10" O.A., 38'-7 1/2" W.L., 10'-6 1/2" Beam, 7'-6 1/2" Draft (1907-02-04)
- Dwg 002-047 (HH.5.00046); Construction Dwg > Launch - IC, 12'-6" O.A., 3'-11" [B], Gasoline (1907-04-06)
- Dwg 134-031 (HH.5.10869): Exhaust Expansion Chamber and Gasoline Tank (1907-04-10)
Note: The Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection is copyrighted by the Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections of the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Mass. Permission to incorporate information from it in the Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné is gratefully acknowledged. The use of this information is permitted solely for research purposes. No part of it is to be published in any form whatsoever.
Documents
Nathanael G. Herreshoff
"May 25, [19]07. Trial of small launch for #665 Neith. 12' x 4' x [blank]. 3hp 2-cyl[inder] Lackawanna motor (2 cycle). 12" propeller, 12" pitch, 2 bl[ades]. W[ei]g[h]t complete without gasoline 354lbs. Speed, 1 on board, 6.8 miles. Standing pull by spring scale 90lbs. June 12 [1907] on [trial] course towed Neith at rate of 3 3/4 miles." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. Handwritten (in ink) notes in Design Book No. 4, p. 80. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum. May 25, 1907 and June 12, 1907.)
"June 12 [19]07 On trial course, nearly calm, [#665s Neith's] launch [#259p] which is 12' x 4 with 3hp Lackawana motor, total w[ei]g[h]t 354lbs, without fuel or crew, towed her at rate of 3 3/4 miles, and exerted a pull (when standing) of 90lbs.
Pull = 90 - wetted surface x V^2 x K. K = 90 / (WS[?] x V^2) = .0135." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. Penciled notes in Design Book No. 4, p. 84. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum. November 8, 1906 to June 12, 1907.)
Other Contemporary Text Source(s)
"Richard H. Hoe of the famous Hoe perfecting printing press, New York City, is having a 40-foot motor boat constructed at the Herreshoff boat shops. ... [Note: This is a curious and possibly incorrect news item. Richard M. Hoe, the famous inventor of the rotary printing press, was dead since 1888. Was this vessel (and thus also #665s Neith and #646s Kotic, ordered by his son or a relative who continued to lead the printing press company in New York? Note also that HMCo records describe this vessel as a 12ft 7in power boat, not a 40-foot motor boat.]" (Source: Anon. "Bristol and Vicinity." Bristol Phoenix, January 29, 1907, p. 2.)
Archival Documents
"[Item Transcription:] Handwritten (in ink and pencil) design book titled 'Notes & Memoranda. Dec[ember] 1899 to Jan[uary] 1908. Relevant contents:
§198: #665s NEITH Model 0716 Dimensions, est. weights table, C.G. %s, moments, actual weights; also trial note for #259p NEITH Jr. (1906-11-08 to 1907-06-12)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Design Book No 4. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item DsBk4. Model Room, Folder [no #]. 1899-12 to 1908-01.)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150
151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200
201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240
Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #259p Neith Jr. even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.
Supplement
From the 1920 and earlier HMCo Index Cards at the MIT Museum
- Note: The vessel index cards comprise two sets of a total of some 3200 cards about vessels built by HMCo, with dimensions and information regarding drawings, later or former vessel names, and owners. They were compiled from HMCo's early days until 1920 and added to in later decades, apparently by Hart Nautical curator William A. Baker and his successors. While HMCo seems to have used only one set of index cards, all sorted by name and, where no name was available, by number, later users at MIT apparently divided them into two sets of cards, one sorted by vessel name, the other by vessel number and greatly expanded the number of cards. Original HMCo cards are usually lined and almost always punched with a hole at bottom center while later cards usually have no hole, are unlined, and often carry substantially less information. All cards are held by the Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections of the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Mass. and permission to display is gratefully acknowledged.
From the 2000 (ca.) Transcription of the HMCo Construction Record by Vermilya/Bray
Year: 1907
E/P/S: P
No.: 259
OA: 12' 7"
Source: Vermilya, Peter and Maynard Bray. "Transcription of the HMCo. Construction Record." Unpublished database, ca. 2000.
Note: The transcription of the HMCo Construction Record by Peter Vermilya and Maynard Bray was performed independently (and earlier) than that by Claas van der Linde. A comparison of the two transcriptions can be particularly useful in those many cases where the handwriting in the Construction Record is difficult to decipher.
Research Note(s)
"12'-6" x 3'-11" Gasoline Launch used as tender for #665 [Neith]. Reduced to 10/12 scale for 14' boat #499 [Columbia] mold. 4 3/4 (Common rule= is added to sheer from figures in book. Frame space 6 1/2" for 12'-6" Boat. Planking 1/4" cedar lapped in narrow strakes. Watertight bulkheads Mahogany + Cedar. Deck 5/32" Mahogany + 5/32" Cedar. Lackawanna valveless Motor 3 HP. 12" dia righthand propeller 2 blades [as per notes on plan 2-47]." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 26, 2009.)
"Plan 2-47 from which this boat was built was drawn 1907-04-06. #665s Neith (for which this vessel was built) was contracted for 1906-10-25. This boat's contract or building date is 116 days after #665s Neith was contracted for." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 26, 2009.)
"Built in 96 days (contract to finished; equivalent to 4 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 11, 2026.)
"Displacement '354 lbs complete' from pencilled note on construction plan 2-47." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G.? Penciled note on construction plan 002-047 (HH.5.00046). Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)
Note: Research notes contain information about a vessel that is often random and unedited but has been deemed useful for future research.
Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné.
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