HMCo #381p [Launch for St. Y. Corsair III]

"... In the north shop, where the Resolute was built, the Herreshoffs constructed last fall a 20-foot [sic, i.e. 30-foot] tender of mahogany with a teak stern for the Corsair. She was ... given a Packard engine. ..." (Source: Swan, William Upham. "Busy Days at Bristol." Yachting, January 1926, p. 56-57.)

"[Item Description:] am pleased the S boat half models were satisfactory, hope to receive orders for #381p CORSAIR launch and for #725s RESOLUTE change over" (Source: Haffenreffer (Herreshoff Manufacturing Co.). Letter to Morgan, Junius S. Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection Acc. 98.78. Correspondence, Folder 30, formerly 179. 1925-07-25.)
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"[Item Description:] Specifications for #381p, the 30ft tender for the steam yacht CORSAIR." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. (creator). Specifications. MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.005. Box HAFH.6.1B, Folder Hull No. 381p. 1925-09-10.)
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"[Item Transcription:] I am very glad to receive your letter regarding
'CAROLINA' [#721s].
As there does not seem to be much chance of racing, I incline to try the short mast which will certainly be better for general sailing. Later, if racing should develop, 'CAROLINA' can return to Bristol and the long mast can be put in and stayed under your personal supervision.
Enclosed cutting describes Saturday's Larchmont race as well as I can. I have the impression that 'GRAYLING' [#966s] is going to prove a slightly better boat than 'GAME COCK' [#932s], but it is too early to say much definitely. 'GRAYLING's' mast is somewhat more limber than 'GAME COCK's', and the difficulty from the point of view of the set of the sail seems to be that it does not bend in a true curve so that in a breeze there is a hard line cross the sail from the point where the fore-stay is attached to the end of the boom. Also, of course, the mast-head goes to leeward as well as back so that we lose the driving power to some extent.
Last week, a mast which [Rufus] Murray made last year for 'SECRET' and which weighs 105 pounds came into the market. As it has not had a step cut and I found that it would fit either 'GRAYLING' or 'GAME COCK', I bought it, thinking that in our informal trials between the two boats, you might think it worth while to put it into one or the other of them to see what happens.
Junius sailed for home on Saturday and I feel sure will be greatly pleased with 'GRAYLING' and the launch [#381p?]." (Source: Nichols, George. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_29790. Subject Files, Folder 26, formerly 10-15. 1926-05-17.)
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"[Item Description:] Spreadsheet listing original contracts (from 1923 to 1940) by HMCo in the collection of HMM (apparently from the gift of Everett Pearson). Listed boats are: #380p, #381p, #388p, #389p, #391p, #392p, #393p, #395p, #886s, #933s, #934s, #954s, #955s, #962s, #983s, #999s, #1002s, #1017s, #1054s, #1055s, #1057s, #1074s, #1078s, #1122s, #1125s, #1130s, #1131s, #1147s, #1152s, #1153s, #1154s, #1156s, #1157s, #1164s, #1170s, #1173s, #1174s, #1175s, #1175s, #1176s, #1177s, #1179s, #1180s, #1191s, #1192s, #1193s, #1195s, #1196s, #1198s, #1199s, #1200s, #1201s, #1202s, #1203s, #1206s, #1207s, #1208s, #1209s, #1210s, #1211s, #1212s, #1213s, #1214s, #1215s, #1216s, #1217s, #1218s, #1219s, #1220s, #1222s, #1224s, #1236s, #1226s, #1227s, #1228s, #1230s, #1232s, #1234s, #1237s, #1238s, #1240s, #1241s, #1243s, #1244s, #1245s, #1246s, #1247s, #1248s, #1249s, #1250s, #1251s, #1252s, #1253s, #1254s, #1255s, #1256s, #1257s, #1258s, #1259s, #1260s, #1261s, #1262s, #1263s, #1264s, #1265s, #1274s, #1275s, #1277s, #1279s, #1280s, #1281s, #1282s, #1283s, #1284s, #1285s, #1286s, #1287s, #1302s, #1303s, #1315s, #1508s." (Source: Rickson, Norene (creator). Table. Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection Item LIB_4220. HMM Library Rare Books Room (HMCo Contracts), Folder [no #]. No date (2010s ?).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #381p [Launch for St. Y. Corsair III] even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Hagen, Seth. "The Restoration of the Motor Launch Corsair. HMC# 381." With introductory comments by longtime owner Fred Bisset. In: Herreshoff Marine Museum (publ.). Proceedings. The 2nd Classic Yacht Symposium. March 31 - April 2, 2006. Bristol, RI, 2006, p. 149-171. (7,246 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Copyright holder: Seth Hagen / Herreshoff Marine Museum. Short history and vessel appreciation by owner. Detailed restoration report with emphasis on which forces andchanges had caused the boat to loose its form and what was done to restore it. Discussion of advantages and disadvantages of shellac between layers of double planking.
• Hagen, Seth. "The Restoration of the Motor Launch Corsair. HMC# 381." In: Restoration Quarterly. International Yacht Restoration School: Newport, Summer 2006, p. 12-15. (233 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Short history and restoration report.
• Titus, Jim (as interviewed by John Palmieri). "Corsair: Alive for Another 80 Years." With postscript by longtime owner Fred Bisset. In: Herreshoff Marine Museum (publ.). Proceedings. The 3rd Classic Yacht Symposium. April 4 6, 2008. Bristol, RI, 2008, p. 157-163. (2,720 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Copyright holder: Jim Titus / Herreshoff Marine Museum. Short history and vessel appreciation by owner. Detailed restoration report with emphasis on which forces andchanges had caused the boat to loose its form and what was done to restore it. Discussion of advantages and disadvantages of shellac between layers of double planking.

• Tender for Corsair III (MIT Museum-made index card)
• 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.

Name: Corsair
Type: Tender
Length: 30'6"
Owner: Morgan, J. Pierpont

Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. "A Partial List of Herreshoff Clients." In: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Herreshoff Yachts. Bristol, Rhode Island, ca. 1931.

• Tender for Corsair III
• Note: The L. Francis Herreshoff index cards comprise a set of some 1200 cards about vessels built by HMCo, with dimensions and / or ownership information. Apparently compiled in the early 1930s, for later HMCo-built boats like the Fishers Island 23s or the Northeast Harbor 30s are not included. Added to in later decades, apparently by L. F. Herreshoff as well as his long-time secretary Muriel Vaughn and others. Also 46 cards of L. F. Herreshoff-designed vessels. The original set of index cards is held by the Herreshoff Marine Museum and permission to display is gratefully acknowledged.

Name: Corsair
Type: 30' 6" launch for steam yacht "Corsair"
Owner: J. P. Morgan
Row No.: 133

Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. "Partial List of Herreshoff-Built Boats." In: Herreshoff, L. Francis. Capt. Nat Herreshoff. The Wizard of Bristol. New York, 1953, p. 325-343.

Year: 1925
E/P/S: P
No.: 381
Name: Corsair tender
OA: 30' 6"
Amount: [sic, i.e. 10350]

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.

"Frames spaced 9 1/2", use moulds of #277 in book for #276 but with sheer raised as above." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. [Note on plan 2-105 for #381p.] Bristol, September 21, 1925.)

"[See also:] Specifications for the 30' tender for the steam yacht Corsair (9/10/1925). In: Technical and Business Records pertaining to the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, Series VI, Folder HH.6.5 (Hull No. 381), Box HAFH.6.1B." (Source: Hasselbalch, Kurt and Frances Overcash and Angela Reddin: Guide to The Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection. Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass., 1997, p. 63-79.)

"Restored in 2006 by Jim Titus of Mount Hope Boatworks in Bristol, R.I." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 18, 2009.)

"LWL 29ft from 1967 Lloyd's Register." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 12, 2011.)

"Note, that the construction record shows that a 35-44 h.p. 4 cyl. 4 1/2" x 5 1/2" Speedway engine was installed, but also shows the pencilled-in word Packard besides this information. The construction plan 2-105, on the other hand, clearly shows that a 8 cyl. 3 3/8" x 5" Packard Junior engine was to be installed and Yachting Magazine of January 1926 also reported that a Packard engine had been installed." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 11, 2014.)

"All four launches built by HMCo for various Corsairs (#282p, #367p, #381p, #409p) were owner's launches as indicated by their elaborate curved glass deckhouses which were not fitted to crew launches." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. November 30, 2014.)

"Date of contract estimated to be September 10, 1925, which was the date of the Specifications for this boat (held by the MIT Museum). Date of delivery December 1, 1925 also as per these Specifications. Note, that the Construction Record lists a contract date of December 1, 1925 which appears to be wrong given that the same date was specified as delivery date in the Specifications." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. September 8, 2018.)

"Built in 82 days (contract to delivered; equivalent to $126/day, 48 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

"Displacement (3913lbs) from note on construction plan 2-105." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 10, 2014.)

Note: Research notes contain information about a vessel that is often random and unedited but has been deemed useful for future research.