Herreshoff #187201es Bluebell

"[In 1866 the] Company also built several small catboats, from John's own model, that went to the Burgess boys, Charles F. Adams, and others. These were very successful, and were followed by several more in the succeeding three or four years, so that the growing generation of North Shore men were brought up in Bristol built catboats, all modeled by John." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. "The Old Tannery and My Brother John." Written July 28, 1933. In: Pinheiro, Carlton J. (ed.). Recollections and Other Writings by Nathanael G. Herreshoff. Bristol, 1998, p. 22.)

"February 13, 1937
Dear Mr. Stephens -
... I saw quite a bit of the Burgess family by my brother John building all the boats for the Burgess boys. ...
With kindest regards,
Sincerely,
Nathanael G. Herreshoff" (Source: Letter 25. From N. G. Herreshoff to W. P. Stephens, dated February 13, 1937. In: Herreshoff, Nathanael Greene and William Picard Stephens. "Their Last Letters 1930-1938." Annotated by John W. Streeter. Bristol, R. I., ca. 1999, p. 155-159.)

"The Bluebell is a centre-board cat boat, built for E. Burgess, Esq., Commodore of the Beverly Yacht Club. Her compartments are air-tight and heavily sparred. Her dimensions are: --- Length on water line 15ft., beam 6ft. 6in., draught without board 1ft. 1in." (Source: Anon. "Intercommunication." Hunt's Yachting Magazine, September 1872, p. 500.)

"When he mentions '... all the boats for the Burgess boys' N.G.H. is making one of the rare references to a little-known chapter of yachting history. It is the period prior to 1878, when John Brown Herreshoff was building what may have been the fastest miniature racing catboats in North America or abroad. The Burgess family alone bought about a half a dozen. These and many others sailed in the Boston area won against all comers in races for craft in the UNA tradition." (Source: Streeter, John W., editorial note. In: Herreshoff, Nathanael Greene and William Picard Stephens. "Their Last Letters 1930-1938." Annotated by John W. Streeter. Bristol, R. I., ca. 1999, p. 159.)

• Grayson, Stan. Herreshoff Catboats. The Roots of a Boatbuilding Dynasty." Wooden Boat #289, November/December 2022, p. 58-67. (1,855 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Detailed, well-written story about Herreshoff catboats, from early boats such as Sprite and the four Julias which were all built before the founding off the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company to the numerous small catboats like Dandelion and Bluebell, many of which were delivered to Boston yachtsmen and most of which were also built before the founding of HMCo to the later, often very extreme and rule-beating catboats such as Wanda. With some minor errors, not all Julias were keelboats, Dexter Stone was from Philadelphia and not just a local yachtsman, Peri was not built for W. Starling Burgess, and Bluebell was built for Ed. Burgess with no proof that this was Edward Burgess.

• Bluebell
• 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: Bluebell
Type: 16' 6" cat
Owner: F. Stoddard [sic, Stoddard was owner in 1891 as per 1890/1891 American Yacht List]
Year: 1872
Row No.: 86

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.

"If Edward Burgess (1848-1891) was the first owner of Bluebell, this would have been one year after his graduation from Harvard in 1871." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 2, 2008.)

"Bluebell was later owned by Walter Lloyd Jeffries (Nov 26, 1854 - Aug 30, 1898), a small boat sailor and very important and totally underappreciated recorder of yachting history. He compiled a set of scrapbooks of newspaper clippings and apparently also photos which today are held by the Beverly Yacht Club. Jeffries corresponded with C. P. Kunhardt at Forest & Stream, was a member of the New York Yacht Club (since May 21, 1885) and the Eastern Yacht Club (from Feb 10, 1873 - 1898), and was very active in the Beverly Yacht Club where at various times he occupied positions as measurer, secretary, and vice-president." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 6, 2014.)

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