HMCo #250p Tuza [Seashell]

P00250_Tuza_Seashell_HMM_Album_16185_16_c.jpg

Particulars

Construction_Record_Title.jpgName: Tuza [Seashell]
Type: Power Launch
Designed by: NGH
Contract: 1905-12
Launch: 1906-3-5
LOA: 40' 3" (12.27m)
Beam: 8' 9" (2.67m)
Draft: 2' 7.5" (0.80m)
Propulsion: Gasoline, Standard, 25 h.p.
Propeller: #3
Built for: Maxwell, Henry L. [Harry]
Note(s) in HMCo Construction Record: Moulds of #128. for H. Maxwell

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.


Model

Model #27Model number: 27
Model location: H.M.M. Model Room East Wall

Vessels from this model:
6 built, modeled by NGH
#128p [Launch for U.S.S. Chicago] (1885)
#183p Item (1896)
#250p Tuza [Seashell] (1906)
#252p Waneche [Waneeche. Tender for #631s Dahinda] (1906)
#253p Tautog (1906)
#258p Idle Hour (1907)

Original text on model:
"No. 128 USS CHICAGO launch
No. 183 ITEM 1896 stern built out
No. 250 1905 SEASHELL
No. 252 1906 WANEECHE
No. 253 1906 TATAUG No. 258 1906 IDLE HOUR" (Source: Original handwritten annotation on model. Undated.)

Model Description:
"#128 39'6" steam launch for USS Chicago. Also, with modifications, #183 Item, 45'6" steamer of 1895, #252 Waneeche and #253 Tautog, 40'3" gasoline launches of 1906, and #258 Idle Hour, 41'3" gasoline launch of 1906." (Source: Bray, Maynard. 2004.)

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.


Offsets

Offset booklet number(s): HH.4.016

Offset booklet contents:
#128, #250, #252, #253, #258, overhanging stern built on to #18[3] [#183p, canoe [#188601es] for G. G. King [various launches].


Offset Booklet(s) in Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection. Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass. (Restricted access --- see curator.)

Drawings

Main drawing Dwg 002-039 (HH.5.00039) Explore all drawings relating to this boat.

List of drawings:
   Drawings believed to have been first drawn for, or being first referenced to
   HMCo #250p Tuza [Seashell] are listed in bold.
   Click on Dwg number for preview, on HH number to see at M.I.T. Museum.
  1. Dwg 065-013 (HH.5.04609): Rudder Head & Tiller (1884-11-24)
  2. Dwg 067-019 (HH.5.04746); Hand Wheel for Pilot House Steering Gear (1885-05-25)
  3. Dwg 065-017 (HH.5.04613): Rudder Braces and Pintles (1886-11-03)
  4. Dwg 008-029 (HH.5.00727): Shaft for Gasoline Launch 1 7/8" Steel (1902-09-03)
  5. Dwg 068-051 (HH.5.04858): Steering Gear and Details of Stand (1902-09-05)
  6. Dwg 058-028 (HH.5.04099): Outboard Shaft Bearing (1903-01-10)
  7. Dwg 011-037 (HH.5.00963): Stern Tube and Stuffing Box # 242 (1903-12-09)
  8. Dwg 068-059 (HH.5.04955): Steering Gear # 243 (1904-02-18)
  9. Dwg 005-071 (HH.5.00302): General Arrangement > Arr'g't, Launch - IC, 40' O.A., 8'-8" Beam, 2'-9" Draft (1905-10-06)
  10. Dwg 093-052 (HH.5.07657): Cabin Table (1905-10-14)
  11. Dwg 025-059 (HH.5.01810): Metal List (1905-12 ?)
  12. Dwg 058-036 (HH.5.04107): Strut for Propeller Shaft # 250 (1905-12-19 ?)
  13. Dwg 025-037 (HH.5.01786): Construction List (1905-12-27)
  14. Dwg 002-039 (HH.5.00039); Construction Dwg > # 250 - 40 ft. Gasoline Launch, Moulds of # 128 (1905-12-29)
  15. Dwg 002-040 (N/A): [No Title on Plan Index Card] (1906-02-03 ?)
  16. Dwg 082-059 (HH.5.06332): Awning Details (1906-02-27)
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

Nathanael G. Herreshoff

"[1906-03-05] Mon 5: Launched gasoline launch #250 [Tuza] for Maxwell." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1906. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

L. Francis Herreshoff

"Soon after this the plumb bow and square stern launches 'Waneeche,' for Butler Duncan, and 'Seashell' for H. L. Maxwell, were built so that the Herreshoff Company began building launches of most every size powered with engines of various makes." (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. 248.)

Other Contemporary Text Source(s)

"Six new boats are under construction at the Herreshoff shops at Bristol, R. I. The largest is the schooner [#657s Queen] for Mr. J. Rogers Maxwell. This boat is quite unlike Ingomar and she is a remarkably beautiful and clean vessel. She is a centerboard boat and has an unusually large amount of room below.
The boat [#658s Irolita II] building for Commodore E. Walter Clark, Philadelphia Corinthian Y. C, is to be rigged as a sloop and not as a schooner, as was originally announced. She is a keel boat with a waterline length of 65ft.
A high speed steamer [#249p] 95ft. long of the Mermaid, Mirage and Scout type, is building for Mr. Nathan Strauss, of New York, for use on the St. Lawrence River. She will have a guaranteed speed of 23 miles for a one hour run.
The other three boats are being built from the same moulds. They are launches about 40ft. long intended for day use on Long Island Sound. One of these boats [#252p Waneeche] is for Mr. W. Butler Duncan, Jr., and the other [#250p Tuza] is for Mr. Maxwell. The third boat [#253p Tautog] was built on speculation.
These six boats include all the work now in hand at the Herreshoff shops. The report that this firm was building a schooner [#190401es] for the German Emperor was erroneous." (Source: Anon. "New Boats Building at Bristol." Forest and Stream, February 17, 1906, p. 274.)

"[License issued to vessel under 20 tons. Pos. 247:]
Sea Shell, gas screw yacht, of Bristol.
Built at Bristol, 1906.
6 tons; 38 ft. x 8.7 ft. x 5 ft. [Register length x breadth x depth.]
No specifications shown.
Lic[ensed] ([as] yacht) May 7, 1906. Owner: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company of Bristol. Master: N. G. Herreshoff, Bristol.
Surrendered [license] Apr. 30, 1907 at New York. ([Record at:] C[ustom] H[ouse, Providence])." (Source: Survey of Federal Archives, Work Projects Administration. Ships Documents of Rhode Island. Bristol. Ship Registers and Enrollments of the Port of Bristol - Warren Rhode Island, 1941, s.v. Sea Shell.)

Archival Documents

"[Item Description:] Four handwritten (in ink) pages with tabulated data listing 'Shop No', 'Name', '[Tons] Gross' and '[Tons] Net' for a total of 100 HMCo-built boats and classes. Tonnage data is usually precise to two digits behind the decimal. Random comparisons suggest source of tonnage data to be official Custom House data. Boats mentioned are: #664s, #663s, #625s, #665s, #634s, #658s, #657s, #646s, #641s, #617s, #626s Class, #624s, #621s, #616s, #619s, #590s, #591s, #586s, #592 Class, #618s, #605s, #578s, #560s Class, #580s, #553s, #551s, #552s, #546s, #541s, #545s, #538s, #534s, #533s, #532s, #529s, #534s, #530s, #531s, #435s, #437s, #452s, #499s, #429s, #426s, #424s, #481s, #422s, #417s, #414s, #451s, #215p, #213p, #222p, #235p, #230p, #229p, #236p, #224p, #244p, #247p, #249p, #231p, #232p, #228p, #252p, #250p, #251p, #248p, #168p, #164p, #118p, #142p, #174p, #173p, #194p, #189p, #193p, #183p, #178p, #179p, #181p, #182p, #175p, #163p, #148p, #149p, #172p, #155p, #170p, #186p, #188p, #206p, #207p, #205p, #208p, #209p, #210p, #211p, #212p, #216p. Undated (the latest boat listed, WINSOME, was launched in 1907)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (?) (creator). Handwritten List. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE06_00220. Folder [no #]. No date (1907 or later).)


Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #250p Tuza [Seashell] 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: Tuza
Type: Gasoline
Length: 40'3"
Owner: Herreshoff Mfg. Co.

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: Tuza
Type: 40' 3" gasoline
Owner: Herreshoff Company
Row No.: 698

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

Year: 1905
E/P/S: P
No.: 250
Name: Tuza
OA: 40' 3"

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.

Note

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Citation: HMCo #250p Tuza [Seashell]. Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné. https://herreshoff.info/Docs/P00250_Tuza_Seashell.htm.