Model No. 718: S-Class

Model by: NGH
Made when: November 1919
Stated model scale: 1/12
Model length (ca.): 27.3" (69.4cm)
Implied vessel LOA at 1/12 (ca.): 27' 4" (8.3m)
Power/Sail: S
Vessel Type: S-Class (68); S-Class Peconic Bay (8); S-Class Bar Harbor (17); S-Class Marblehead (2); S-Class Cruiser (2)
Hull Configuration: Keel
Model location: H.M.M. Model Room North Wall Right

Vessels from this model:
93 built, modeled by NGH

Original text on model:
"828 class 20' 1/2" w.l. to rate in S class Nov. 1919 Scale [1"]" (Source: Original handwritten annotation on model. Undated.)

Model description:
"20'6" lwl S-class sloops of 1919 and beyond. One of the boats, named Coquina, is in the Herreshoff Marine Museum's collection, and The S-class Association is still very much alive." (Source: Bray, Maynard. 2004.)

Comment:
"... restricted. The original plans/offsets for [the] S-class (#828) ... were purchased in 1948 by Cape Cod Shipbuilding Co., of Wareham, MA." (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. 21.)

"Note the forward protruding lead shoe added to the underside of the keel. Its forward edge marks the forward edge of the entire keel. This is a subsequent alteration by N. G. Herreshoff. In the model he only changed the lead shoe, but not the entire keel whose forward edge is further forward as can be seen by overlaying the construction plan and a photo of the model." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 4, 2009.)

"The lead keels on the S Boats underwent a series of changes over the years. When the first S Boat was launched and sailed, in late December 1919, it was found that she was a bit heavy by the stern. It is likely that an attempt was made at that time to correct this problem. There is some evidence to suggest that the pattern for the lead keel was refaired in such a way as to reduce the amount of lead in the aft end of the casting. In all of the first thirty boats the lead was positioned on the hull in such a way that the upper aft corner of the casting, the point where the lead leaves the keel and starts its long aft slope to the stern post, was 8-1/2" aft of the aft edge of frame eighteen. On all of these boats the lead keel extended all the way to the rudder, with the aft edge hollowed out to take the round rudder stock. The lower rudder gudgeon was mounted on the upper corner of the lead and there was a solid plug of lead filling the hollowed aft edge of the lead under the rudder, which stopped about five inches above the bottom of the keel. The wooden sternpost landed on top of the lead casting, its aft edge hollowed out to be flush with the aft edge of the lead and to take the rudder. The position of the lead casting on the hulls remained the same for all of the first thirty boats.
In the Peconic Bay Class, there was a further attempt made to lighten the aft end of the keel casting. They did this by removing the solid plug of lead under the rudder, causing the hollow for the rudder stock to extend all the way to the bottom of the casting. Another change was that the upper corner of the lead under the stern post was cut off so the end of the stem post could be square." (Source: Zachorne, Jr, George W. "Construction Details." In: Upham, Kenneth B. History and Register of the S-Boat. No place, 1994, p. 48.)

Model identification:
"See also model in M.I.T. Hart Nautical Collection: S-class, #828, Painted model; Size: 7"x28"; Acc. No.: XA2-1(4)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. 2008.)

Related model(s):
Model 0718 by NGH (1919); sail, 93 built from
Model XA2-1_04 by NGH (1919?); sail

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.