HMCo #53p Republica

"After this, they began building so-called 'spar torpedo' boats for several governments. They were about fifty-six feet long and only six feet six inches beam. They were nearly perfect double-enders and intended to run either end first just as well and at about the same speed. Previous spar torpedo boats had only carried one spar with its bomb in place over the bow, but these double-enders were, you might say, repeaters. For those who are not familiar with the spar torpedo, I will say this weapon was developed just at the close of the Civil War when many of the fighting ships had armor plate which extended only a little below the water line. These early torpedo boats were intended to sneak up quietly to a ship at anchor and thrust the spar with the bomb on its end against the wooden underbody of the ship below the armor plate, when the resulting explosion right against the ship's side, and backed up by the incompressible surrounding water, caused a terrific local concussion.
These little torpedo boats were painted gray and could run very smoothly and quietly up to around twenty-one miles per hour. One of the most remarkable things about them was that they could slow down or stop quickly; this was because the boats were very light and because they had relatively large propellers connected to engines which could be instantly reversed with the throttle wide open, and, of course, the engine developed the same power running either way. The propellers, being quite near the middle of the boats, did not cavitate. It is said that these craft could stop within a few lengths when running at full speed, and a few seconds later would be going some twenty miles per hour astern which, of course, was a most valuable accomplishment in the life and death feat of launching a spar torpedo.
Another unusual feature of these craft was that the propeller shaft was run on a slight curve so that the engine, which was forward of the boiler, was on quite an angle, while the shaft at the propeller was more horizontal. The shaft, which was of steel or iron, ran in a snug-fitting brass tube its full length, and as the tube was well lubricated, you might say the shaft ran in a continuous bearing. This shaft ran very smoothly and with little friction. The long strut which supported this curved propeller shaft was made up of brass or bronze plates which acted as a stream-lined keel condenser. These little vessels were light enough to hoist aboard a man-of-war. They were very reliable when kept in good condition, and good sea boats when slowed down. Incidentally, with these coil or flash boilers they could get up steam from a cold boiler in about three minutes with a specially built fire of split hard pine saturated with oil, and I believe in about five minutes had a full head of steam." (Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. The Wizard of Bristol. The Life and Achievements of Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, together with An Account of Some of the Yachts he Designed. New York, 1953, p. 97-98.)

"An instance of [John B. Herreshoff's] remarkable powers was given in the late [eighteen] eighties, when the Consul of a South American republic, then on the brink of one of its periodical wars, sent for him to come to his office here. Mr. Herreshoff arrived at the appointed hour. The South Americans wanted three torpedo boats of a novel design built in sections so that they could be shipped in pieces and then assembled at their destination. They also wanted other innovations. Mr. Herreshoff listened intently and then said: 'I must have time to think it over.'
'How long a time?' they asked.
'Oh, about twenty minutes.' the 'Blind Boatbuilder' answered, and, true to his word, he made the intricate mental calculations necessary, and at the end of the time submitted his bid and obtained the contract." (Source: Anon. "John B. Herreshoff Dies. Blind Designer, with His Brother 'Nat,' of Cup Defenders, Expires at 74." New York Times, July 21, 1915, p. 11.)

"Hull Nos. 53, 55, and 60.
Herreshoff Hull No. 53 was completed in June 1879 for the government of Peru. Hull No. 55 was completed in August that year and Hull No. 60 in December. These double-enders were similar to Hull No. 44, but without the sheet steel superstructure. The boat was 59 feet long and 7 feet abeam, with a 5-foot draft. The machinery was aft, and the 33.5-inch-diameter driving screw was forward of amidships. These craft were built in prefabricated sections for final construction on the West Coast. Hull No. 60 was never delivered to Peru. She was left in the Herreshoffs' hands at the end of the 1879-1881 Peruvian-Chilean War and never found a buyer. Hull No. 60 was stored in the open on the Herreshoff family farm, Point Pleasant at Poppasquash, where she remained a local curiosity, slowly deteriorating. She lasted until c. 1910." (Source: Simpson, Richard V. Building the Mosquito Fleet: The U.S. Navy's First Torpedo Boats. Charleston, S.C., 2001, p. 141, p. 34.)

"In the American Civil War, a young Union naval engineeer named John Louis Lay made what is known as a spar torpedo, an explosive charge on the end of a pole twenty or thirty feet long. After the war, Lay became a torpedo manufacturer and developed a new torpedo that could be sent against a target a mile away. The United States Torpedo Co. manufactured a somewhat similar instrument. To use with the torpedos, Navy officers preferred a small boat made by the shipbuilding firm of Herreshoff of Bristol, Rhode Island. [W. R.] Grace took a ride on one in Long Island Sound and bought it for $18,500, billing the craft to the Compania Cargadora del Peru, guano dealers of Callao.
The boat being 50 foot long, it was difficult to disguise and there was difficulty with its delivery to Peru. It is implied that the purchase of two steamers by the Peruvian government from the Pacific Steam Navigation Co. was required to effect the delivery of this boat and five others.
Thus, Grace, acting as an agent of Peru, sent several torpedoes and torpedo boats to Peru, along with experts from the two companies, with the first one being shipped in April of 1879. W.W. Rowley of the Lay company went down to direct the proposed plan, travelling under the name of H. J. Patchen.
Flint decided that by shipping through Colombia, they would avoid having to cross Panama, where there was likelihood that the munitions would fall into the hands of the Chileans. Ten dirigible torpedos from Pratt and Whitney were slipped into the center of ten cases of oil-cloth. Flint had determined that the oilcloth shipped by itself weighed about the same as two layers of oilcloth with a torpedo inside. 'Peru did a surprisingly large business in oilcloth during those days.' Cartridges surrounded by lard were sent in lard barrels. Herreshoff boats were shipped in sections as 'carriages' all ready to bolt and put back together. (Flint, 1923)
An American adventurer, Griffin (a merchant captain and Civil War veteran) was contacted. He agreed to sink the Almirante Cochrane or the Blanco Encalada for one million dollars. With Griffin not willing to lower his price, Grace said he would contact men of the Navy or on the Confederate side, suggesting that Michael contact American torpedo men in Peru and William H. Cilley, who was at some point superintendent of the Oroya railroad and later technical head of the Compania de Obras Publicas y Fomento del Peru and a former acquaintance of Charley Flint in Maine. Cilley was still in Peru trying to salvage the Meigg's fortunes. Grace was persuaded that the only thing to save Peru was torpedo launches.
Grace contacted Charles W. Read of the Confederate navy who claimed to have been in charge of the Confederate torpedo squadrons on the Mississippi. Read agreed to take on the mission, needing only one other man, an engineer for the torpedo boat. Flint went with Read to Bristol, Rhode Island, and put him in charge of the torpedo boats. He followed their tests in Narragansett Bay, and then across the Isthmus, and into war. On August 29, 1879, he sailed for Peru with John H. Smith, who claimed to be the chief engineer in the U.S. Navy.
Before Read arrived, an employee of the Lay company, Stephen Chester, attempted a trial from Grau's Huascar. The torpedo turned back in the water and headed back toward the Huascar, the ship barely escaping being blown up. On arrival, Read was commissioned a commander in the Peruvian navy. A dispute arose amongst the Peruvian officers, when they heard that a prize would be awarded to Read for sinking the Chilean ships. There were three sets of American torpedo men on the scene, the Lay, the U.S. Torpedo Co., and the Herreshoff men. They were a 'rowdy, hard-drinking lot', drawing their pay in gold, and consorting with ladies at the Callao waterfront. Ford Snyder, a U.S. torpedo man called Read and Smith 'the biggest blockheads since Rowley & Chester'. ... Sources: Merchant Adventurer: the story of W. R. Grace / by Marquis James. Wilmington, Delaware: SR Books, 1993. 385 pages. Memories of an active life: men and ships and sealing wax / Charles R. Flint. Putnam, 1923? 349 pages." (Source: http://www.jacobsarts.com/KieferBoytonPeru/Peru/grace.htm, last accessed April 5, 2007.)

"The [Peruvian] fleet was completed by the gunboats Arno, Urcos, Capitania, Resguardo and Tumbes, which were armed with one 40-pounder, one 32-pounder and machine-guns, as well as several Torpedo boats such as the Republica, Alianza and Independencia. The Republica and the Alianza were Herreshoff-class torpedo boats built in the United States, armed with Lay torpedoes. Those torpedoes could reach a speed of 12.5 knots and had a 36-kilos warhead of TNT." (Source: del Campo, Juan. "The War With Chile - The Naval Campaign." http://members.lycos.co.uk/Juan39/WAR_WITH_CHILE.html, last accessed March 19, 2009.)

"Since the outbreak of the war in 1879, Peru was at naval inferiority and sought ways to increase her power by the acquisition of naval torpedo boats. Accordingly, on May 14 [1879] Colonel Enrique Lara was commissioned to purchase torpedo boats.
The Herreshoff & Co. was a company that was engaged in the construction of steam yachts and sailboats, but in July 1878 had launched a torpedo boat prototype [apparently #44p Herreshoff] that was used for demonstrations. Based on this prototype the company built 5 torpedo boats of which 3 were bought by Peru [#53p, #55p, and #60p], one by Russia [#64p] and one by the United States [#44p]. The boats for Peru were assigned the shipyard numbers 53, 55 and 60.
Due to the economic crisis in Peru, no money was sent to Colonel Lara and he bought 2 torpedo boats on credit with the help of W.R. Grace & Co., a company that was responsible for supplying water to the guano works of Tarapacá. Lara traveled to Europe to obtain donations from wealthy Peruvians living in Paris and pay the construction of the 6 torpedo boat he desired. He only received £3000 from businessman Carlos Candamo but needed £24,000. Lara returned to the United States and in collaboration with the W.R. Grace & Co. managed to get 2 boats finished that were sent to Panama.
The first Herreshoff boat arrived in the transport ship Limeña at Callao [a city of west-central Peru on the Pacific Ocean near Lima] on August 9, 1879. The boat had been disassembled in five sections and was forwared to the Guano works under the command of Captain Manuel Palacios of the Section of Torpedoes and War Machines to be assembled and armed by mechanics employed by W.R. Grace & Co., who started work on August 19. The second Herreshoff boat arrived at Callao in the transport ship Oroya on September 30, 1879.
On September 17 orders were given to proceed with the construction of the remaining 4 boats. The third boat [#60p] was ready for Peru in December 1879, but could not leave because it was seized by the U.S. government for reasons of neutrality.
Due to economic problems, the boats were armed slowly. On September 9 the first boat was afloat and the second on November 5. Testing began on November 10, 1879. The boats were originally named as No. 1 and No. 2.
General Characteristics: The wooden hull was lined with steel plates to protect the crew. The engine was in the forward center and equipped with a steam boiler with a spiral coil. Theoretically the boats should have developped a theoretical maximum speed of 16 knots, but in practice they did not reach 12.
Armament: The boats had two poles or tilting outriggers of 11.5 meters in length whose end was a torpedo or explosive of 100 pounds of gunpowder.
Military Operations: 1st Engagement.
The boats No. 1 and No. 2 were renamed República and Alianza respectively, the first under the command of 2nd Lieutenant Carrasco Barnabas and the second in command of Lieutenant Manuel Carrasco. They formed a division under the command of Colonel Federico Larrañaga, who embarked in the República. Both boats sailed from Callao on November 12 at 7:30 a.m., escorted by the transport Talisman, which was in command of Frigate Captain Leopoldo Sanchez.
Between 8 and 9:15 a.m. on this same day the 12th, the República's machinery was damaged, and the Talisman had to tow her while she was repaired, which was completed at 2:45 p.m. At 7 p.m the República had another problem and had to be towed again by the Talisman until 9 a.m. on November 13th. With repairs completed she arrived under her own power in Pisco at 3:30 p.m. On the 13th at 1 p.m., the Alianza caught a towing line in her propeller and could not be repaired. She was towed by the Talisman and arrived in Pisco at 4 p.m.
As the poor condition of the boats made it impossible to continue south, the convoy returned to Callao on November 14, arriving on the 15th.
...
The Torpedo Boat República: The República torpedo boat had problems with her engine that could not be solved and she was never commissioned. In late 1880, her speed was only 9 knots and on December 26 she was placed under the command of the foreigner Stephen Heaton, who was going to be paid a large amount of money if he could sink the Cochrane or the Blanco Encalada. Accordingly, the República was carried by railroad to Ancón.
On the morning of January 3, 1881, the República departed for the Cochrane, but the attack failed and she lost a Lay torpedo. On the morning of January 4, the República stranded in Ancón when she was attacked by two Chilean ships ... To prevent her from being taken by the enemy the crew of the República destroyed her, thus ending the last Herreshoff torpedo boat in Peru.
Bibliography:
* Carvajal Pareja, Melitón. Historia Marítima del Perú, Tomo XI, volumen 2. Lima. Instituto de Estudios Histórico Marítimos del Perú. ISBN 9972-633-05-5. 2006.
* Elías, Julio. La Lancha Torpedera 'Alianza' en la Epopeya de Arica (17 marzo - 7 junio 1880). Lima, 1962.
* Rodríguez Asti, John (1998). 'Las torpederas Herreshoff en la Guerra del Pacífico'.'Revista de Marina. Lima Julio - Agosto - Setiembre, 1962, p. 145-151.
* Yábar Acuña, Francisco. Las Fuerzas Sútiles y la defensa de costa en la Guerra del Pacífico. Lima. Fondo de Publicaciones Dirección de Intereses Marítimos. 2001." (Source: Very rough, incomplete and possibly inaccurate translation by Claas van der Lnde from the Spanish from http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alianza_(torpedera), last accessed March 19, 2009.)

"N/A"

"[Item Description:] Newspaper clipping titled 'Swiftest Boats Afloat. English Builders Astonished by the Herreshoffs' about the tests of #74p and #75p, two Herreshoff-built 48ft Vedette boats, by the Bristish Navy in England, the article contains a detailed early history of HMCo with many quotes by JBH, much early history detail (including a JBH quote that about 2000 non-steam boats had been built up to date), many early boats mentioned, including torpedo boat for Peru [#53p, #55p or #60p] built in 19 days, mention of bringing home to Bristol the order for two Vedette boats for the French Navy (#85p, #86p), detailed employment statistics, all suggesting it may have been written by Lewis Herreshoff, undated, but research shows this to be from The New York Sun of December 18, 1881, p. 6." (Source: New York Sun (creator). Newspaper Clipping. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_28820. Subject Files, Folder 18, formerly 126. 1881-12-18.)
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"[Item Transcription:] [Advertisement by HMCo titled 'From An Old Plate Found in a Loft at Herreshoff Mfg. Co., Dec. 1931. Explanations by N.G. Herreshoff, Esq.' and showing 10 woodcuts with the following explanations:] 1 Represents the early Navy Launches that started in 1879-80. Commodore Isherwood of the U. S. Navy carried on an extensive program of tests and experiments with two of them, No. 62 [#62p] and 63 [#63p], and a Navy launch built in the Washington Navy Yard, in the summer of 1880, lasting over two months. The Board consisted of Com. B. P. Isherwood, Com. T. Zeller and 3 or 4 assistants from the School of Marine Engineers of U. S. N. The Herreshoff launches proved superior to the Navy built and designed launch in every way. Illustration does not do justice to the launch.
2 Represents a class of cabin launches, between 55 and 68 ft long-built in the 80's. JAVELIN, No. 52 [#52p] , was the original (1879).
3 Steam yacht GLEAM, No. 65 [#65p], built for Mr. William Graham of Baltimore in 1880. Length on deck about 115 ft; w. l. 105 ft.
4-5 The general type of steam engines, 1878 to 1885. No. 4 is a marine type compound engine with cut-off valves riding on back of main slide valves. No. 5 stations-type such as used in small shops, as our own machine shop and another for wood working machinery. This type was given up in 1885. Replaced by triple expansion engines with valves worked from side shaft.
6-7 Early coil boilers, given up in 1881 or '82. The vertical drum at side is a steam separator and a good one, but it is not correctly represented.
8 A poor representation of 4 or 5 torpedo boats in 1879 and 1880. One was built for the British Admiralty [#44p HERRESHOFF], two for Chili [sic, i.e. Peru #53p REPUBLICA, #55p ALIANZA (a third boat, #60p, was never delivered)], one for Russia [#64p].
9 Typical cabin arrangement of early steam yachts 80 to 90 ft long.
10 Steam yacht STILETTO [#118p] rated in her time as one of the fastest yachts in the world." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Advertisement Broadside. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE14_01240. Folder [no #]. 1931-12.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #53p Republica even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Simpson, Richard V. Building the Mosquito Fleet: The U.S. Navy's First Torpedo Boats. Charleston, S.C., 2001.
  Description of the first American torpedo boats, with strong emphasis on Herreshoff-built vessels. Unfortunately, numerous small factual inaccuracies.

• Republica Torpedo Boat (HMCo-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.

Year: 1879
E/P/S: P
No.: 053
OA: 59'

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.

"Exported to Peru." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 2, 2008.)

"See also:
Grant, I. A. "The Herreshoff Spar Torpedo Boats of 1878-1880". Warship International #3, 1977, p. 253.
"The Herreshoff Spar Torpedo Boats of 1878-1880". Comments/ Letter: Warship International #1, 1980, p. 8.
"The Herreshoff Spar Torpedo Boats of 1878-1880". Comments/ Letter: Warship International #1, 1981, p. 8.
"The Herreshoff Spar Torpedo Boats of 1878-1880". Comments/ Letter: Warship International #4, 1981, p. 312." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. December 20, 2012.)

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