HMCo #489s Omega

Particulars

Construction_Record_Title.jpgName: Omega
Type: Catboat
Designed by: NGH
Contract: 1897-10-13
Launch: 1898 ?
Construction: Wood
LOA: 16' 6" (5.03m)
LWL: 14' (4.27m)
Beam: 6' 6" (1.98m)
Draft: 1' 3" (0.38m)
Rig: Cat
Centerboard: yes
Ballast: Lead outside
Built for: King, Samuel A.
Amount: $325.00

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 #300Model number: 300
Model location: H.M.M. Model Room South Wall Right

Vessels from this model:
2 built, modeled by NGH
#488s Alpha (1898)
#489s Omega (1898)

Original text on model:
"Nos. 488 and 489 Length 32/33 of model Oct 1897 ALPHA and OMEGA" (Source: Original handwritten annotation on model. Undated.)

Model Description:
"14' lwl Alpha and Omega, centerboard catboats of 1897." (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.4.106

Offset booklet contents:
#488, #489 [14' w.l. centerboard catboats Alpha & Omega].


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

Drawings

Main drawing Dwg 075-049 (HH.5.05446) Explore all drawings relating to this boat.

List of drawings:
   Drawings believed to have been first drawn for, or being first referenced to
   HMCo #489s Omega are listed in bold.
   Click on Dwg number for preview, on HH number to see at M.I.T. Museum.
  1. Dwg 130-001 (HH.5.10303): Sails > Racing Cat Boat for Wm. Peet Jr. 18 1/2' on Deck, 16' W.L. (1890-04-10)
  2. Dwg 130-050 (HH.5.10353): Sails > # 488 and 489 Omega and Alpha (1897-11-09)
  3. Dwg 127-050 (HH.5.09918): Sails > # 488 and 489 (1897-11-10)
  4. Dwg 075-049 (HH.5.05446); Construction Dwg > No. 488 Omega, No. 489 Alpha (1897-11-16)
  5. Dwg 091-052 (HH.5.07322): Blocks, Metal Work # 488, 489 (ca. 1897-12)
  6. Dwg 080-057 (HH.5.05969): Spars for 485 - 489 (1897-12-17)
  7. Dwg 068-077 (HH.5.04883): Hand Steering Gear # 264 (1908-02-07)
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

Other Contemporary Text Source(s)

"Two new boats were launched this week [between May 16 and May 19, 1898] from the Herreshoff shops. One is a 21-feet water line keel knockabout, built for a yachtsman in Buzzard's Bay. Her name is Sintram [#494s], and she is a duplicate of Jilt [#493s], that was launched and taken to Cohassett, Mass., not long ago. The other boat launched was a small catboat [either #488s Alpha or #489s Omega] of 15 feet water line length, without a cabin. Her name and destination are not known." (Source: Anon. "New Boats Launched." Bristol Phoenix, May 20, 1898, p. 1.)

Archival Documents

"[Item Transcription:] Handwritten (in ink) memorandum stamped 'Feb[ruary] 25 1899:] Memo.
Sails ordered.
1898 Oct[ober] 25. Mainsail. [For yacht] CORNELIA.
1899 Jan[uary] 21. Mainsail. [For yacht] 15ft boat built for C.M. Baker [#488s ALPHA] or King [#489s OMEGA].
1899 Feb[ruar]y 3. Mainsail. Racing Staysail. Racing jib. [For yacht] DEFENDER. [#452s]
1899 Feb[ruar]y 3. Mainsail. # 1 Staysail. # 1 Jib. # 2 Jib topsail. # 3 jib topsail. Making topsail ? [For yacht] #499 [COLUMBIA]
1899 Feb[ruar]y 25. Mainsail. Jib. [For yacht] JILT [#493s]." (Source: Hereshoff, N.G. (?) (creator). Memorandum. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDW02_01310. Folder [no #]. 1899-02-25.)


Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #489s Omega even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.


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: Omega
Type: Cat
Length: 14'
Owner: King, S. A.

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: Omega
Type: 14' cat
Owner: S. A. King
Row No.: 493

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

Month: Oct
Day: 13
Year: 1897
E/P/S: S
No.: 0489
Name: Omega
LW: 14'
B: 5' 3"
D: 9 1/2"
Rig: Cat
CB: y
Ballast: Lead (o)
Amount: 325.00
Last Name: King
First Name: S. G.

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.

Research Note(s)

"[Sail number 77 (5th Class Catboat).]" (Source: Beverly Yacht Club. 1898 Yearbook. Boston, 1898, p. 91.)

"Omega was bought for sailing at Chapoquoit / Falmouth on Buzzard's Bay by Samuel G. King, the son of Chapoquoit's developer Franklin King. Note that #488s Alpha had been contracted for by another summer resident of Chapoquoit, Charles M. Baker.
For more information on the Kings see Jenkins, Candace. The Development of Falmouth as a Summer Resort. 1850 - 1900. In: Woods Hole Historical Collection (Publisher). Spritsail, Volume 6, Number 1, Winter 1992, p. 23-24. www.woodsholemuseum.org/woodspages/sprtsl/v6n1-SummerRes.pdf, retrieved February 13, 2011. For more information on sailing at Wood's Hole see Littell, Browne. Early Days of Racing in Woods Hole. In: Woods Hole Historical Collection (Publisher). Spritsail, Volume 10, Number 2, Summer 1996, p. 23-24. http://www.woodsholemuseum.org/woodspages/sprtsl/v10n2-EarlyRace.pdf, retrieved February 10, 2011.)" (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 13, 2011.)

"Dimensions from Beverly Yacht Club Yearbook 1898." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. June 2, 2011.)

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

Note

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