Model No. 930: Sonder Boat (Study Model)

Model by: NGH
Made when: May 1910 (?)
Stated model scale: 1/12
Model length (ca.): 35.8" (90.9cm)
Implied vessel LOA at 1/12 (ca.): 35' 10" (10.9m)
Power/Sail: S
Vessel Type: Sonder Boat
Hull Configuration: Keel
Model location: H.M.M. Workshop South Wall Left

Vessels from this model:
0 built, modeled by NGH

Original text on model:
"Study for Sonder Class, if WL is not limited
Scale 1/12 (NGH about 1912 [sic, apparently May 1910])." (Source: Original handwritten annotation on model. Undated.)

Model discussion:
"[1910-05-11] Wed 11: ... I am working on model for an improved Sonder class boat." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1910. Manuscript (excerpts). Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection.)

Comment:
"Even though it is annotated (at a much later date?) as having been made in 'about 1912', this model is believed to have been carved ca. May 11, 1910 as per NGH's diary entry for that day and pantograph hull sections created the same day and on May 16, 1910. The model does not conform to the Sonder class rules but apparently to NGH's proposed improved Sonder class rules as discussed in a draft letter be him to Mr. Hodges[?] of May 13, 1910 and a letter from C.F. Adams III from September 26, 1910. Compare with Sidney Herreshoff's Model 316 'Study model for Sonder class with w.l. not limited scale 1/12 (Sidney about 1912 [sic, apparently July 1910])'. Both Sonder boat models have comparably short overhangs and high freeboards and do not conform to the German Sonder Class rule. Quite certainly they were the results of experiencing the extreme characteristics of Toboggan and Bibelot which had been just launched and tried. It appears after NGH had carved his improved Sonder boat in May 1910, Sidney had followed suit with another improved Sonder boat in July 1910, " (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 19, 2019.)

Model identification:
"Note also penciled pantograph hull sections titled 'Improved Sonder as altered M[ar]ch 31 1914. 27ft w.l. scale 1in' in the Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum. It appears as if four years after having originally made this model, NGH revisited it and his improved Sonder class rules and allowed some more overhangs by glueing on an extended stern. Extrapolating from the marked waterline on this model and assuming it to be 27ft as per the title of the pantograph hull sections, this design would now have an overall length of 36ft 7in, suggesting that it had been lengthened by 1ft 8in. For a Sonder boat this was still a moderate overhang. Bibelot, NGH's best Sonder boat, had a waterline length of just 19ft 4in on an overall length of 38ft." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 19, 2019.)

Related model(s):
Model 0316 by ASdeWH (1910?); sail, not built Model 0930 by NGH (1910?); sail, not built


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.