Model No. 121: Albatross Rowboat

Model by: NGH
Made when: April 1882 (?)
Estimated model scale: 1/16
Model length (ca.): 18.0" (45.8cm)
Implied vessel LOA at 1/16 (ca.): 24' 0" (7.3m)
Power/Sail: S/P
Vessel Type: Albatross Rowboat (18); Albatross Sailboat (2); Steam Launch (1); Steam Cutter (2)
Hull Configuration: No centerboard (20); Unknown (3)
Model location: H.M.M. Model Room South Wall Left

Vessels from this model:
23 built, modeled by NGH

Original text on model:
"No. 94 rowboat 1882-83 and many more 1887-88-89-90 and more
ALBATROSS JR." (Source: Original handwritten annotation on model. Undated.)

Model discussion:
"A good small sailing dinghy to be used for a yacht's tender should have the following features:
1. She should row easily both when light and loaded.
2. Be light enough to hoist aboard easily.
3. Be stiff enough to get into and out of easily.
4. Be so constructed that she will not leak and still will be able to stand some abuse.
5. Last, but not least, she should tow steadily, always holding back on her painter and never yawing around.
... the dinghy which has a well rounded-off forefoot, together with a small nicely tucked-up transom, will tow through almost anything. Her quick lines aft will make her stand right up on her stern and hold back steadily on the painter. Perhaps if I give you a slight review of some of the types of rowboats my father designed it will explain the development of the American yacht tender, for his tenders were copied by most of the best boat builders.
Before about 1890 he used a model like Figure 359. This of course was descended from the English Whitehall type rowboat, and while it was a very easy rowing boat when loaded it was a poor tower and only a fair sea boat." (Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. The Common Sense of Yacht Design. Vol. II. New York, 1948, p. 139-140.)

Model identification:
"This model formed the basis for many small tenders built at HMCo between 1882 and 1898. Overlaying a photo of this model with the rowboats on plan 28-1 (Yacht's Yawl Boats from 1882), suitably stretched or shrunk along the x-axis to account for different frame spacing, shows an almost perfect match in outlines and leads to the conclusion that all boats on plan 28-1 (and on plan 28-7 which refers to it) were built from model 121. Furthermore, the cutters #106p and #107p were also based on this model because #106p is referenced in the offset book for #94p Launch for U.S.S. Albatross (which is explicitly noted on the back of this model) and because as per a note in the Construction Record #107p was to be built like #106p." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 19, 2009.)