HMCo #689s Hyepus

"[1909-05-17] Mon 17: ... Set up #689 [Jamestown Aux. Cruiser Hyepus]." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1909. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

"Nos. 688 - 689.
(Jamestown Class).
25ft w.l. cruising jib & mainsail.
Frame spaces 12".
Keel plank 2 3/4" --- 3/4" below rabbate.
Timbers moulded 1 3/16", sided 1 3/16" at head, and increasing in siding 3/32" per foot for 6ft, then parallel.
Planking & deck 15/16" (or full[?] 7/8").
Sheer height given is to top of deck." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. [Penciled note in Offset Booklet HH.4.166.] Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

"BRISTOL, R. I., May 22 [1909] --- ... Progress marks the work of building the two new 25-footers for Jamestown yachtsmen to be raced in the P class of the Narragansett Bay Y. R. A. this summer. The boats are about half completed at the Herreshoff shops, and are referred to as cruisers by the members of the firm. They are going to have speed nevertheless and Nat Herreshoff feels that though they show stubby, short overhangs as compared with other lank flyers of the season, they will be fast. ..." (Source: Anon. "Bristol Notes." Boston Globe, May 23, 1909, p. 41.)

"During the past summer two new boats have been tried out in waters about Jamestown, and extending to New London to the west and Buzzard's Bay on the east. They are the Senta [#688s], Mr. James Whitall [spelling?], and the Hyepus [#689s], Mr. Heckscher Wetherill, and they are called the Jamestown 25-footers by their designer and builder, Herreshoff. The picture of the Senta shows how these little craft look sailing. It will be noted that they differ from anything else in these waters, or in any other waters for that matter, for they are the first boats built under the 'universal' rating rule [of 1909] to take full advantage of that rule. They show what Herreshoff can do when given a free hand under the new rule.
Most people will say at first sight that he has produced the ugliest looking craft they ever saw, regular tubs, and when they sail they say they are slow. But all things are comparative. The owners of the two little cruisers are better pleased with them at the end of the season than they were at the start. They understood that they would not have racers, but cruisers, and cruisers were what they wanted. The only surprise, to quote Mr. Whitall, was that the boats proved to be so fast on the wind, and especially with a heavy sea. Under those conditions they proved wonders. At running and reaching they were not much, and a glance at the big, chunky hull with its short overhangs will explain that.
At Jamestown, where the old rule still prevails, as does elsewhere, the Senta and Hyepus, raced in class P, with a rating of 20.7 feet. Under the universal rule, as figured by Mr. Herreshoff, they would rate in class R, under 20 feet. It can readily be seen that if give the allowance which the universal rule gives to full-bodied, able cruisers, as against the long, slick [?] racers, the heavy Jamestown 25-footers would be invincible. No boat could give them the allowance to which they are entitled under the new rule.
The boats are 32 feet 3 inches over all, 25 feet on the water line, 8 feet 7 inches beam, and 5 feet 3 1/2 inches draft, according to the builder's figures. They carry 711 square feet of sail.
Like the New York 30-footers, these are little ships, all complete and ready for cruising. There is a mahogany deckhouse, about 8 1/2 feet long, affording 7 feet of headroom in the cabin, where [sic] in white and providing two Pullman folding berths with a capacity for two each. Forward is a pipe berth for the professional. There is a sink, stove, cupboard, toilet, and all other necessities of a little ship for a cruise. The boats have unusual freeboard, about 3 feet forward, and unusually short overhangs, about 4 feet forward and 3 feet 3 inches at. This short overhang and high freeboard with their beam give the chunky effect.
In speaking of these boats Mr. Herreshoff said they were the first he had really designed in 20 years. One must go back in yachting history to see just what he meant by this, and this search backward was aided recently, when on the cradle at the Newport Shipyard three generations of Herreshoff creations were shown, the Gannet, yawl of 1890 [#409s], the Gossip of 1905 [#630s ex Pintail, a New York 30 then owned by E. D. Morgan], and the Senta, of 1909. It could readily be seen that Herreshoff went back to the Gannet for his starting lines for the new class. Since the Gannet came out all his boats have been apparently designed on certain modifications of her lines. The Gloriana of 1991 and the Wasp of 1892 seemed to be radical departures but the came from the Gannet class and lines: then everything has been a continuation or modification of the Gloriana idea. When that famous craft first appeared about every one said she was homely, but she did not act homely and now hers is the accepted line of beauty.
The universal rule, designed to encourage the building of safe, reliable and heavier boats, suitable for cruising and general knockabout work, and to penalize the long overhangs and slight bodies of the modern racers, has been built on to some extent, but not as Herreshoff has done in the case of those two boats. They show what the legitimate carrying out of the universal rule will bring about, a slower boat but one, which with the handicaps placed on the light boats can win against the present style of racer. The difference between 20.7 and about 19.5 tells the tale." (Source: Anon. "A New Type Of Craft. First Built by Herreshoff Under Universal Rating Rule. Senta and Hyepus of Jamestown Reliable for Cruising and Fast on the Wind." The News, Newport, Rhode Island. September 17, 1909, p. 10.)

"RECENT SALES MADE BY RIGG & WETHERILL, YACHT BROKERS, PHILADELPHIA, PA.. ... 32-ft. cruising sloop 'Hyepus,' sold for A. H. Wetherill, to C. S. Randall, Portland, Me." (Source: Anon. "Recent Sales Made By Rigg & Wetherill, Yacht Brokers, Philadelphia, Pa." Rudder, November 1921, p. 49.)

"No. 10 --- For Sale --- Herreshoff sloop, 33 ft. by 25 ft. by 9 ft. by 6 ft. Strongly built, double planking, 9,000 lbs. lead outside. Comfortable cabin, sleeps five. Full headroom. Toilet, electric lighting. Only a few of this most desirable type ever built, and this affords an unusual opportunity to get a most excellent up to date craft. Apply to Hollis Burgess Yacht Agency, 15 Exchange St., Boston, Mass. [With photo. An identical ad but with a different photo appeared in Rudder May 1925, p. 110. Though not identified by name, her dimensions identify her as one of the two Jamestown Cruisers of 1909, either #688s Senta or #689s Hyepus. Senta had been fitted with an engine by the time this advertisement appeared, a fact which probably would have been mentioned in the description. Hyepus, on the other hand, received an engine only in 1925 and thus it is probably that the photo and advertisement related to her." (Source: Anon. "For Sale." Rudder, March 1925, p. 72.)

"New London, Conn., July 8 --- A different kind of yacht race, one involving old boats and those not so old, but all using the wind for power, came to a soggy conclusion here today after an overnight run of 80 miles up Long Island Sound from Larchmont, N.Y.
It was soggy because the rains came and the wind dropped to next to zero in the afternoon after the arrival of half the fleet of more than 40 vessels that had begun the first New York-New London Invitational Sail Regatta.
Most of the finishers nested at the City Pier afterward and began to participate in the New London Sail Festival, a mini-Operation Sail featuring music, chowder and a lot of beer.
Because there was competition there had to be winners, and there were four, one in each class. This quartet symbolized yachting history over the last half century. ... The three other class winners were old crocks, great old crocks: Gleam, a magnificent 12-Meter sloop of 1937 vintage; Hyepus, a 32-foot sloop that the most prolific of American naval architects, Nathaniel Herreshoff, launched in Bristol, R.I., in 1910, and Bounding Home, ...
As for perseverence in maintaining old yachts, that prize would have to belong to James Brown, who nurses along Hyepus, the 67-year-old Herreshoff creation.
'She's wet,' said the damp skipper, from Northport, L.I., 'but she's good.' ..." (Source: Wallace, William N. "A Soggy Ending for a Different Regatta" New York Times, July 9, 1977, p. 29.)

"1910 Hershoff [sic] Jamestown 10 in need of some serious love. Her renovation was started, but did not get too far. Have many of the fixtures, anchor, rigging to go along with her.
Boat type: Sail
Location: Maryland
Length: 18'–30'
Condition: Bad, On land
Address: 5451 Chicamuxen Road, Indian Head, MD 20640
Phone: 301-275-9403
Email: 4khartmann@gmail.com." (Source: Anon. "Free Boat Listings. 1910 Jamestown Ten." Wooden Boat Rescue Foundation advertisement, posted July 18th, 2014. http://woodenboatrescue.org/?p=131928, retrieved April 5, 2015.)

"For years, I'd been trying to turn up one of the pair of 32ft 3in gaff cruising sloops known as Jamestown 25s. Why? Because the legendary N.G. Herreshoff had created so few small cruising boats, yet he'd gained vast cruising experience as a lad. I wanted to see for myself how, at midlife, he had handled the challenge. Finally, in 1992, all the way from Florida, Hyepus came sailing into my old hometown of Rockland, Maine, and dropped her hook at the end of my old street. Coincidence or destiny, the boat ultimately had found me!
But I have to say that seeing Hyepus was a bit of a letdown. Her sheer had flattened out, her hull was stuffed with liveaboard cruising gear, and her deck cluttered with the overflow. She still had much of her hardware and joinery, however, including the 'matchbox,' New York 30-type trunk cabin. Herreshoff's had converted her from gaff to marconi in 1937 (when her name for a time became Bagatelle), and I believe this was the rig she still carried. Owner David Roberts, whose parents were my Mom's new neighbors, invited me aboard --- and my longtime quest was fully realized. As I suspected from studying her plans, she was far more cruiser than racer, with nearly the New York 30's accommodations in a hull some ten feet shorter. I took photos (mostly interior; the flat sheer was just too much), thinking that I might never again lay eyes on Hyepus; but she hung around, wintering that year in nearby Camden, then gradually working her way to the West'ard. In 1995, flat sheer and aging hull notwithstanding, Bob DeWitt took over, sailing Hyepus on the Chesapeake and thrilling at how wonderfully well she sailed --- until her hull leakage became more than this distant owner could responsibly handle.
Hyepus is now on the bank near Annapolis, Maryland, beginning to dry out and in desperate need of an owner who has the will and the means to undertake (and properly complete!) a full restoration. She'll need her deck peeled off, the interior stripped out, some molds stuffed in and her sheerline pushed back where it belongs. She should have all new frames and floor timbers, a new or repaired backbone, and, no doubt, considerable new cedar planking. I expect the deck and much of the cockpit and trunk cabin will require renewal as well. That's the bad news; the good news is that the skills and experience are available these days to faithfully restore Hyepus, and that the Haffenreffer-Herreshoff collection at MIT has a complete set of drawings --- not only for the original boats, but for a couple of proposed wishboom rigs, sloop or yawl, and an alternate interior layout that includes a forward-placed auxiliary engine.
To my eye, Hyepus looks like a baby Neith which is a larger, flush-decked sloop of the same pedigree and era that's been beautifully restored. Maintained to the nines and sailed from Mystic, Connecticut, Neith graces countless New England harbors as she cruises the coast each summer. Hyepus has Neith's slack bilges, short overhangs, steep deadrise, soft bilges, and narrow transom --- lovely indeed, but an entirely different shape from the familiar, hollow-bowed Newport 29s or Buzzards Bay 25s. How fine it would be if Hyepus could end up like Neith. (I'll let you in on a secret: Neith wins lots of races, in spite of her having been created primarily for cruising.) Even Herreshoff guessed that Hyepus and her sister Senta might get into an occasional skirmish with their Universal Rule contemporaries, so he calculated their 19.95' rating right on his original sailplan. No sluggards for this designer's cruisers!
Particulars:
LOA 32ft 3in
LWL 25ft 0in
Beam 8ft 7in
Draft 5ft 4in
Sail area (original gaff rig) 711 sq. ft.
Sail area (present marc. rig) 598 sq. ft.
Designed by N.G. Herreshoff (Hull No. 689)
Built by Herreshoff Mfg. Co., Bristol, RI, 1909. [Note: Hyepus was sold before this article could be published.]" (Source: Bray, Maynard. "Save a Classic. Hyepus, a Herreshoff Jamestown 25 Class Cruising Sloop." Unpublished article, originally intended for Wooden Boat 161, July 2001.)

"N/A"

"[Item Description:] HMCo Plan HH.5.02136 (029-041). Blueprint deckplan and inboard profile titled 'Preliminary Drawing of 25ft Cruising Yacht. March 5-1909' and marked in pencil 'Nos 688 - 689 [#688s SENTA and #689s HYEPUS]'." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. (creator). Blueprint. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Acc. 2004.0001.0012. WRDT08, Folder 2, formerly MRDE08. 1909-03-05.)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled pantograph hull sections titled 'From finished model. Nos 688 - 689 [#688s SENTA and #689s HYEPUS] Jamestown 26ft Class. M[ar]ch 20 [19]09. 25ft lwl. Frame spaces 12[n]. Scale 3/4in. qbl 20ft 10 1/2in = .83 lwl'. With list of particulars 'O.a. 32.o[ft]. Lwl 25.0[ft]. qbl 20.87[ft]. ... Mean length 25.94[ft]'. With calculations arriving at a total displacement of 217.3cuft or 13920lbs and a wetted surface of 243sqft." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Pantograph Hull Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_01320. Folder [no #]. 1909-03-20.)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled midship section sketch on sans-serif 'Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, Bristol, R.I.' stationery titled '1909 Jamestown 25ft Cruising Class. Nos 688-89 [#688s SENTA and #689s HYEPUS]'. With list of particulars 'Approx. O.A. 32[ft. lwl 25[ft]. qbl 23.7[ft]. Beam 8.5[ft]. B 8.0[ft]. d 5.33[ft]. …' and list of scantlings 'Frame spaces 1.1 [apparently from Herreshoff Rules for Wooden Yachts] 12in. Keel plank 2.85 2 7/8[in] ...'. " (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Midship Section. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_01350. Folder [no #]. 1909-03-20.)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled pantograph lead sections titled 'Nos. 688 [#688s SENTA] - 689 [#689s HYEPUS]. Scale 3in & 1 1/2 per ft. M[ar]ch 21 1909'. With calculations and note 'Nos. 688 & 689. Frame spaces 12in. ... Required 7220lbs lead with c.g. at .552 of l.w.l. 7220cuin = 17570lbs ...' and concluding with note 'Result. 17320cuin at 17.335 frame space = 7115lbs at .553 of l.w.l.'." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Pantograph Lead Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_08730. Folder [no #]. 1909-03-21.)
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"[Item Transcription:] Order book with carbon copy duplicates of instructions given by NGH titled 'Herreshoff Mfg. Co. Orders from N.G. Herreshoff'. Relevant contents:
§109: Work Order [For] #688s, #689s. [When wanted] May. Rigging [3 pages] (1909-03-29 & 1909-03-30)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Order Book. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE08_03460. Folder [no #]. 1900-02 to 1909-10.)
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"[Item Description:] Brokerage listing (File No. 1390) for #689s BAGATELLE III ex-HYEPUS. Dimensions, particulars (Rig: Gaff Aux Sloop, Location: Cleveland Ohio, Engine: 4 cyl., 35HP, Lathrop from 1936, Price: 4000). With remarks: 'New coal stove being installed 1936. New icebox. New canvas deck. 1936 Hull burned off. 1936'. With penciled note, apparently by Hart Nautical Collections curator 'WINDSONG 1964'. Undated, a penciled note in the upper right corner suggests 'Sept 1937' (although this may also be a reference to the date she was sold)." (Source: Belknap & Paine, Yacht Brokers (creator). Broker Listing. MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.111. Box HAFH.6.3B, Folder Brokers Listings. No date (1937-09 ?).)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled offsets table titled 'Jamestown 25 Footer. No 688 [#688s] SENTA. No 689 [#689s] HYEPUS. 10-28-64'. On verso offsets for Bow and Stern." (Source: Herreshoff, A. Sidney deW. (?) (creator). Penciled Offsets. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_02300. Folder [no #]. 1964-10-28.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #689s Hyepus even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Hyepus (HMCo-made index card)
• Hyepus (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: Hyepus
Type: J & M
Length: 25'
Owner: Whitherill, J. B.

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

• Hyepus
• 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: Hyepus
Type: 33' aux. sloop
Owner: J. B. Whitherill
Year: 1910
Row No.: 288

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: Mar
Day: 5
Year: 1909
E/P/S: S
No.: 0689
Name: Hyepus
OA: 32' 3"
LW: 25'
B: 8' 7"
D: 5' 3.5"
Rig: J & M
K: y
Ballast: Lead O.
Amount: 3150.00
Notes Constr. Record: 1937 "Bagatelle". W. Lawrence James÷.
Last Name: Whitehall
First Name: J. P.

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.

"Owned in 1968 by Bertram LeShay of Baldwin, NY, and in 1995 by Bob DeWitt of Buffalo Mills, PA as per notes on plan index card for Hyepus in the Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection at the MIT Museum." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. November 7, 2019.)

"Launched and delivered June 28, 1909 as per N. G. Herreshoff Design Notebook held at the Herreshoff Marine Museum." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 12, 2012.)

"Built in 115 days (contract to launch; equivalent to $27/day, 121 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

"[Sail area 711 sq ft.]" (Source: Anon. "A New Type Of Craft. First Built by Herreshoff Under Universal Rating Rule. Senta and Hyepus of Jamestown Reliable for Cruising and Fast on the Wind." The News, Newport, Rhode Island. September 17, 1909, p. 10.)

"[Displacement (217.3 cubic feet).]" (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. [Design Notebook.] Bristol, R.I., March 20, 1909. Original handwritten document held at the Herreshoff Marine Museum, Bristol, R.I.)

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