HMCo #931s Nassau

S00931_Nassau_4.jpg

Particulars

Construction_Record_Title.jpgName: Nassau
Type: S-Boat
Designed by: Alden, John
Contract: 1925-2-7
Construction: Wood
LOA: 31' 4" (9.55m)
LWL: 21' 0" (6.40m)
Beam: 6' 9" (2.06m)
Draft: 5' 1.25" (1.56m)
Rig: Sloop
Sail Area: 433sq ft (40.2sq m)
Displ.: 6,540 lbs (2,966 kg)
Keel: yes
Built for: Wilson, John P.
Amount: $4,250.00
Note(s) in HMCo Construction Record: Alden design "S" boat
Current owner: Private Owner, Charlevoix, MI (last reported 2014 at age 89)

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.


Drawings

Explore all drawings relating to this boat.

List of drawings:
   Drawings believed to have been first drawn for, or being first referenced to
   HMCo #931s Nassau are listed in bold.
   Click on Dwg number for preview, on HH number to see at M.I.T. Museum.
  1. Dwg 081-153 (HH.5.06244): Lengthened Mast for Larchmont "O" Boat with Leg O' Mutton Rig (Drawing Above) (1924-03-29)
  2. Dwg 091-168 (HH.5.07445): Rigging List S-Boat # 931 (1925-05-06)
Source: Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass. Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection. Together with: Hasselbalch, Kurt with Frances Overcash and Angela Reddin. Guide to The Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection. Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass., 1997. Together with: Numerous additions and corrections by Claas van der Linde.
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

Other Modern Text Source(s)

"1925. ... Herreshoff's had all the firm could handle. By the end of March the seven [sic, i.e. five?] S boats for Bar Harbor [#909s Mab, #910s Albatross, #911s Elinor, #912s Emily II, #913s Spray] were nearly finished, they were building two of the Herreshoff 15-footers to be used at Newport [probably #997s Nabob II and #998s Nancy]; the Alden designed S boat [#931s Nassau] for a Chicago yachtsman was planked and ready to be turned over and set on her keel; twelve 14-foot sailing skiffs [#924s-#929s, #935s-#938s, #946s, #947s, #950s, #951s], the same as N. G. Herreshoff had taken to Florida the year before but with centerboards instead of fin keels, had been shipped to the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, and they had orders for two 50-foot auxiliary schooners, Harlequin [#934s] and Rofa [#933s], for New Bedford men. ..." (Source: Davis, Jeff. Yachting in Narragansett Bay. Providence, 1946, p. 25.)

"Nassau, S class
Alden Design No. 254
Sloop/Cutter, Full Keel
Principal Dimensions (Imp.; Metric)
Length on Deck: ft/m 31'4; 9.55
Designed Waterline Length:ft/m 21'0; 6.40
Beam: ft/m 6'9; 2.06
Draft: ft/m 5'1; 1.55
Displacement: lbs/kg 6,540; 2,966
Type: Rating Class
Year Designed: 1925
Construction Material: Wood
Number Built: 1
Specifications: Yes
Original Name: Nassau, S class
Owner: John P. Wilson, Chicago, IL
Builder: Herreshoff Mfg. Co. Bristol, RI." (Source: http://www.aldendesigns.com/99years/detail.php?ID=313&s=1, retrieved October 18, 2011.)

Archival Documents

"[Item Description:] Handwritten notebook titled on outer cover 'Droughting Room. Blue Prints Record' providing a list of drawings with information in columns titled 'Issued To', 'For Job', 'Date', 'Date Returned', '[Date] Destroyed', and 'Remarks'. Vessels mentioned are #1266s BELISARIUS, #1267 FROSTFISH, #395p Owner Launch for St.Y. VIKING, #1265s NITRAMON, #1204s SILVERHEELS, #1233s RAINBOW, #1276s PRIM, #1275s MITENA, #907s PLEASURE, #931s NASSAU, #711s VENTURA, #900s IRIS, #982s WATER LILY, #891s WILDFIRE, #1147s WEETAMOE, #954s MARY ROSE, #880s JOSEPHINE, #788s MANATEE, #1146s ENTERPRISE, #1212s TRONDA, #1282s 12 1/2 for H. V. Reed, #1302s Amphicraft for N. F. Ayer, #1304s Amphicraft for Charles A. Welch, #1286s 12 1/2 for Mr. Maitland Alexander, #1311s Amphicraft for Dr. Seth M. Milliken, #1313s Dinghy for #663s RAMALLAH ex-ISTALENA, #1314s HMCo Yard Skiff, #408s PELICAN, #1315s BRENDA, #396p Power Tender for FONTINALIS, #397p Power Tender for FONTINALIS, #329p CAROLA, #1318s Sailing Dinghy for Henry S. Morgan; #1316s NOVA, #1319s Tech Dinghy, #1317s MANDOO II, #405p Surfboat, #1379s Fish Class for H. M. Lautmann (MERRY HELL), #1385s TINKER TOO, and #1384s AVANTI. 23 pages were used. Undated, the dates range from October 1934 to September 1936." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. (creator). Notebook. MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.106. Box HAFH.6.3B, Folder Blue Print Record Book. No date (1934-10 to 1936-09).)


Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #931s Nassau even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.


Images

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.
From the 1931 HMCo-published Owner's List

Name: Nassau
Type: J & M
Length: 21'
Owner: Wilson, John P.

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

From the 1930s L. Francis Herreshoff Index Cards at the Herreshoff Marine Museum
  • 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.
From the 1953 HMCo Owner's List by L. Francis Herreshoff

Name: Nassau
Type: 21' J & M
Owner: John P. Wilson
Row No.: 460

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.

From the 2000 (ca.) Transcription of the HMCo Construction Record by Vermilya/Bray

Month: Feb.
Day: 07
Year: 1925
E/P/S: S
No.: 0931
Name: Nassau
K: y
Amount: 4250.00
Notes Constr. Record: Alden design "S" boat.
Last Name: Wilson
First Name: John P.

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)

"Alden design no. 254." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 2, 2008.)

"Universal Rule Class S." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 7, 2009.)

Sail area from http://www.aldendesigns.com/raters/d0254.html, last visit September 29, 2009.

Displacement from "Yachts Designed By John Alden - Alden Designs", www.aldendesigns.com/99years/downloads/designdatabase.xls, retrieved October 18, 2011.

"Ownership info from Steve Nagy's Herreshoff Registry." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 8, 2014.)

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

Note

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Citation: HMCo #931s Nassau. Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné. https://herreshoff.info/Docs/S00931_Nassau.htm.