HMCo #1117s R. I. Red [Rhode Island Red]

"A 12 1/2 Come Back Story
By Frank Fulton
... In December of 1914, my grand mother, Edith Howe, received a letter from the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, telling of a new class of small sailing boats they were building. This was the birth of the 12 1/2 class, and they were selling for a modest $475. It was, of course some years later, when my mother, Mary Howe DeWolf, was old enough, and had proven herself able enough as well, that her mother gave her the original Rhode Island Red. She sailed and raced the 'Red' [#1117s] regularly for several years, and just as we have all so done with our boats today, she quite fell in love with her dear little boat and the times they had together.
Sadly, however, the Hurricane of 1938 brought this all to an abrupt end, and the Rhode Island Red was lost without a trace. ..." [For the entire story see #1476s R.I. Red II.] (Source: Fulton, Frank. "A 12 1/2 Come Back Story." NBH12 Newsletter. The Narragansett Bay Herreshoff 121/2 Footer Association. August 8, 2007. http://members.cox.net/nbh12/2007/welcome2007.pdf, last visti October 28, 2008.)

• Bray, Maynard. "Restoration of 12 1/2 Footers. Part I." Wooden Boat #56, January/February 1984, p. 93-101. (1,293 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission. Copyright holder: Maynard Bray (text). Detailed Buzzards Bay 12 1/2 restoration step by step as performed by the Ballentine shop. Part I. Stem restoration, transom and frame replacement.
• Bray, Maynard. "Restoration of 12 1/2 Footers. Part II." Wooden Boat #57, March/April 1984, p. 93-100. (1,036 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission. Copyright holder: Maynard Bray (text). Detailed Buzzards Bay 12 1/2 restoration step by step as performed by the Ballentine shop. Part II. Keel timber and coamings replacement.
• Bray, Maynard (with photos by Benjamin Mendlowitz). "12 1/2 Footers." Nautical Quarterly, no. 37, Spring 1987, p. 47. (608 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission. Copyright holder: Maynard Bray (text), Benjamin Mendlowitz (photos). Short class portrait. Part of the larger article "Herreshoff Legacies."
• Nagy, Steve. "The Herreshoff 12 1/2 Footer. Evolution Of The Class." In: Herreshoff Marine Museum (publ.). Proceedings. The 6th Classic Yacht Symposium. May 2-3, 2014. Bristol, RI, 2014, p. 1-23. (4,425 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Copyright holder: Steve Nagy / Herreshoff Marine Museum. Short class history of the 12 1/2 as built by HMCo, Quincy Adams, Cape Cod Shipbuilding and others. Different models: Gaff, marconi, wishboom, Fishers Island. Detailed description of changes in configuration and equipment as boats were built over time. Identification guide for 12 1/2s missing their builder's plate. Photos. Original promotional material.

• R I Red (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: R. I. Red
Type: Leg-O-Mutton
Length: 12'6"
Owner: Dewolf, Mrs. Dr.

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

Name: R. I. Red
Type: 12 1/2-footer
Owner: Mrs. H. DeWoIfe
Row No.: 963

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.

Year: 1929
E/P/S: S
No.: 1117
Name: R.I. Red
OA: 15'
LW: 12 1/2'
D: 2 1/2'
Rig: J & M
K: y
Ballast: Lead
Amount: 1100.00
Notes Constr. Record: Leg-o-mutton B.B 12 1/2 footer.
Notes Bray: Date and dimensions are blank.
Last Name: DeWolf
First Name: Mrs. W.

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.

Hull No.: 1117
Contract Date: 1929-04-04
Org. Name: R.I. Red
Org. Owner: Mrs. H. DeWolf
Current Rig: Marconi
Home Port: DESTROYED
Current Name: Rhode Island Red
Sheer-strake: Oak
Note: This boat was owned by Dr. Halsey DeWolf of Bristol, RI. when she was lost in the 1938 Hurricane. She had planked fore and aft decks that were canvas covered.

Source: Nagy, Steve. "The Herreshoff 12 1/2 Footer Registry." Version 2.0. August 2007. (http://h12.orrsford.com/H12_Registry_Ver_2-0.pdf, last visit May 23, 2008.)

"The builder's plate of this boat is in the collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. September 20, 2012.)

"Sail area approximately 140 square feet by rule." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Yachts by Herreshoff. The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company: Designers and Builders of Sailing and Power Craft since 1861. Bristol, Rhode Island, 1937.)

"Displacement to waterline 24.6 cuft. = 1575 lbs." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. [Design notes.] October 27, 1914.)

"Displacement 24.6 cu.ft. [= 1575 lbs] from untitled two-page rating-rule-related table handwritten (in ink) by N. G. Herreshoff with multiple dimensions for the most important Herreshoff-designed yachts. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum. MRDE15, Folder [no #]. Undated (the most recent boat dates 1914/1915 and the table was probably prepared in preparation for NGH's sail area rating rule of 1914/1915)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. September 16, 2020.)

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