HMCo #472s Gnome

"[1896-04-03] Fri 3: Set up frames of no 472 [#472s Gnome], 15-footer.
[1896-05-05] Tue 5: Launched #472 Gnome.
[1896-05-08] Fri 8: Mr. Hoyt [owner of #472s Gnome ] here in Norota.
[1896-05-09] Sat 9: Delivered Gnome #472 to Mr. Hoyt." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1896. Manuscript (excerpts). Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection.)

"No. 472.
M[ar]ch 2, 1896.
Light draft 15ft w.l. c[enter] b[oar]d racing boat.
Frame spaces 10".
To be light intermediate timbers.
Deduct for timbers 19/32".
Deduct for planking 9/32".
[Deduct] total 7/8" [when making moulds].
Stem sided 1 1/2"." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. [Penciled note in Offset Booklet HH.4.098.] Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

"The Stamford Yacht Club will have three new fifteen-footers under its flag this season. One is a Herreshoff boat [#472s Gnome] for F. M. Hoyt, owner of the cutter Norota. ..." (Source: Anon. "More Fifteen-Footers." New York Times, May 3, 1896, p. 3.)

"The sloop Nerota [sic, i.e. Norota], built by Gardiner [sic] of New York and owned by Mr. Hoyt of Stamford, Conn., came to Bristol last Friday [May 8, 1896].
She remained in the harbor while the new half-rater, recently launched from Horreshoff's, was given a trial, and when she left in the afternoon, the Nerota had in tow the new half-rater, which had proved herself to be all that was expected." (Source: Anon. "Yachting Notes." Bristol Phoenix, May 12, 1896, p. 1.)

"BRISTOL, R I, May 17 [1896] --- ... During the past week a small half-rater named Gnome, built for Mr Hoyt, owner of the sloop yacht Nerota of Stamford, Conn, was taken away by Mr Hoyt, who came here in his sloop after her. She was rigged with a lateen mainsail and had a centerboard of bronze. ..." (Source: Anon. "From Bristol Shops. New York 30-Footers Being Delivered to Their Owners." Boston Globe, May 18, 1896, p. 7.)

"... The boats of the Herreshoff centerboard type, of which Olita [#455s] and Gnome are the only representatives, are very fast off the wind, but are not a success to windward. ...
The Gnome is an apparently unsuccessful attempt to improve the model of Olita. She is practically of the same shape but with apparently more beam and depth. Her deck arrangement, however, is entirely different she being decked completely over, with only a narrow, oblong cockpit, apparently about two feet in width and a foot in depth, the floor being above the water-line. Her mainsail, which is jib-headed, is fitted with two horizontal battens nearly as long as the boom, so that the sail resembles a canoe-sail in appearance.
Gnome is owned and sailed bv F. M. Hoyt, the owner of the beautiful Gardner fin-keel Norota. ... (Source: Burchard, R. B. "The Half-Raters." Outing, August 1896, p. 355-356.)

"[Gnome (Sail, C B) owned by H. M. Hoyt, Port: Stamford, Conn; LOA 20ft; LWL 15.4ft; Beam 5.6ft; Draft .6ft; designed by N. G. Herreshoff and built by Herreshoff Manufact'g Co in 1896.]" (Source: Stebbins 1896 Yachtsmen's Album, p. 59.)

"Harold B. Faxon of Quincy has bought F. M. Hoyt's half-rater Gnome. He will put a larger rig on the boat and race her next year in the Yacht Racing Association's fourth-class, 15 to 18 feet sailing length. The Gnome is a Herreshoff boat. She is 23 feet over all, 15 feet waterline, 6 feet beam, and 6 inches draught. She has a square stern, and all her overhang is forward. She has a metal dagger and a balanced rudder of tobin bronze. She is of extremely light construction, but is a fine piece of work for strength and beauty of finish." (Source: Anon. "The Gnome Goes to Boston." New York Times, October 9, 1896, p. 6.)

"N/A"

"[Item Description:] Two sets of penciled pantograph hull sections from different models, marked 'May 31' and 'June 3rd [1895]', respectively. With calculations marked '15ft w.l. model made May 31 [18]95 [Model 1313]' arriving at a displacement of 16.95cuft =1090lbs and marked 'June 3 [1895]. 16ft w.l. model [Model 223]' arriving at a displacement of 16.592cuft = 1065[lbs]. With five displacement curves marked '1/2 area. .78. 19ft w.l. #472 [GNOME from 1896]', '1/2 area. 1.98. 21 1/2ft w.l. #473 [ALFRIDA from 1896]', 1/2 area. 1.05', '1090lbs [Model 1313]', '1065lbs [Model 223]. Dotted line', respectively. Also an unrelated penciled lead section marked 'Trial 89ft [i.e. #452s DEFENDER and not OLITA]. Jun 5 [1895]'. (Note that these sections are dated later than OLITA's construction plan and that overlaying them with those on the construction plan did not result in a definitive match. Furthermore, the Construction Record states that OLITA was 15ft lwl while the Model 223 from which OLITA is said to have been built was for a 16ft boat.)" (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Pantograph Hull Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_06350. Folder [no #]. 1895-05-31.)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled pantograph hull sections titled 'No. 472 [#472s GNOME].15ft Corrected Length Class'. With calculations arriving at a displacement of 12.6cuft = 810lbs. Marked '1896' in upper margin (GNOME was contracted for on January 14, 1896." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Pantograph Hull Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_05740. Folder [no #]. Ca 1896-01-14.)
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"[Item Description:] I send you some photographs of the 30 footers [NP30s], the sails are interesting to me, especially the jib on #468s VAQUERO III that Ratsey sent me, I had one with low clew on #453s VAQUERO II in England, have made up my mind your jibs are better although they certainly don't look it, even if you can't get Mr. Morgan's boat [#465s PUCK], I would like you to come down & try all the sails, [Havemeyer's Half-Rater for the 1896 Seawanhaka Cup] IDEAL is not a good boat, was much disappointed in your little boat [#472s GNOME], undated but penciled NGH note 'ans[wered] July 9'" (Source: Duryea, Herrman B. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_19090. Correspondence, Folder 52, formerly 48, 49. No date (1896-07-08 ?).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #472s Gnome even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Gnome (HMCo-made index card)
• Gnome (MIT Museum-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.

Name: Gnome
Type: J & M
Length: 15'
Owner: Hoyt, F.M

Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. "A Partial List of Herreshoff Clients." In: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Herreshoff Yachts. Bristol, Rhode Island, ca. 1931.

• Gnome
• 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.

Name: Gnome
Type: Half-rater
Owner: F. M. Hoyt
Row No.: 254

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.

Month: Jan
Day: 14
Year: 1896
E/P/S: S
No.: 0472
Name: Gnome
LW: 15'
B: 6'
D: 6 1/2'
Rig: J & M
CB: y
Ballast: wghd board
Amount: $900.00
Last Name: Hoyt
First Name: F. M.

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.

"Gnome had a 40lb centerboard that was weighted down at the bottom with a 60lb piece of lead. See drawing 060-032 (HH.5.04255). She could be lifted out of the water by using the forward deck cleat and a flange eye on top of her rudderstock as hoisting points. See drawing 075-043 1/2 (HH.5.05438)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. August 29, 2020.)

"Built in 112 days (contract to launch; equivalent to $8/day, 7 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

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