Herreshoff #187702es Gleam

"My Own Boats. Except a few that will be mentioned as half-owner. ...
4
1876 GLEAM - (Not for pleasure) 25' c.b. catboat built to beat the fastest boat in Narragansett Bay, which she did, and sold to Gower Brothers." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. "My Own Boats. Except a few that Will be Mentioned as Half-Owner." Bristol, (originally compiled 1892 with additions in) 1929. In: Pinheiro, Carlton J. (ed.). Recollections and Other Writings by Nathanael G. Herreshoff. Bristol, 1998, p. 113.)

"At this time [1875/1876], WANDERER, built by Charles Davis for Harvey Flint, a twenty-five foot catboat, was beating everything in the Bay, and it was given out that 'Bristol boats' were no longer winners. To this, I took exception, and as a private venture, I agreed with George and Fred Gower to build them a twenty-five foot catboat [GLEAM] and they need not take her if she did not beat WANDERER and the Bay fleet in two regattas. This she did do and also in another regatta at Newport that summer. I had been making a study of the possibilities of catamarans and after about two weeks in Philadelphia about [the] first of May to start up the great Corliss engine at [the] beginning of the Centennial Exhibition, I obtained a furlough and came to Bristol and rigged and tried out AMARYLLIS, the first catamaran, which I had built by John the past winter, and also GLEAM, Gower's twenty-five foot catboat." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. "Some of the Boats I Have Sailed In. " Written 1934. In: Pinheiro, Carlton J. (ed.). Recollections and Other Writings by Nathanael G. Herreshoff. Bristol, 1998, p. 50.)

"August 31 1935
Dear Mr. Stephens -
... There is another amusing thing that occurred while I was at Corliss's; Benjamin Davis of Providence built for Harvey Flint, also of Providence and a most worthy young man, a 25 ft. cat-boat that was very fast and in 1875 and 1876 was winning every race about the Bay. It got to be given out in boating circles, 'The Bristol boats were no longer in first place and Providence had it.' Being in Providence, I heard this remark too often. There were a couple of bright young men of Providence who were much interested in boat sailing George & Frederick Gower. In the fall of 1876 I made an agreement with them that I would build a 25 ft. Cat-boat and they were to take her after she had won in the first general regatta of the Providence Yacht Club in 1877 or had won 2 out of 3 match races with WANDERER of Harvey Flint. I designed and John built for me the GLEAM, and, incidentally, this was the first craft to be built on the system I had worked out --- of making a complete mould for each timber over which they were steam-bent and floor timbers attached. The upper end of each mould carried up to a base-line and knee-clips attached to secure to a leveled up floor and bottom up and after bevel fairing the planking is screwed on --- thus having the form very exact to design; which is far from the case in the ordinary method. This method has been used by the H.M.Co for all craft under about 75 ft. x 15 ft. o.a., nearly 59 years. The N.Y.Y.C. 50 footers were planked bottom up. This system was expensive for unit construction but it was carried out.
The first meeting of GLEAM with WANDERER was the early general Regatta of the Providence Yacht Club. There was great excitement in yachting circles and there was a large gathering of people & boats at Rocky Point to see the contests. The day was with very fresh southerly wind & light rain, course windward & leeward fully 15 miles. GLEAM beat WANDERER 8 min. and WANDERER was 8 min. ahead of the next boat, so Gowers became owners. Later, the Providence Y.C. held another Regatta over same course in a fine clear day S.S.W. mod. breeze and the Gowers asked me to sail GLEAM. The result was same - 8 min. and WANDERER 9 or 10 min. ahead of the next. Fred Gower later became interested in telephones with Bell & others, and went to England, and had GLEAM shipped there --- where he lost his life in ballooning, and it is very interesting that GLEAM became property of Geo. A. Cormack later and now Secretary of New York Yacht Club but then a young man in England. ...
Very truly yours,
Nathanael Greene Herreshoff
Sept. 15 1935." (Source: Letter 13. From N. G. Herreshoff to W. P. Stephens, dated August 31, 1935 to September 15, 1935. In: Herreshoff, Nathanael Greene and William Picard Stephens. "Their Last Letters 1930-1938." Annotated by John W. Streeter. Bristol, R. I., ca. 1999, p. 67-80.)

"In 1876 Captain Nat designed the racing catboat 'Gleam,' and worked out a rather new construction for her for she was the first boat built upside down and fastened with screw fastenings, a construction that the Herreshoffs used on all later small craft: in fact they later built steamers upside down up to ninety feet long. While Captain Nat did not originate the use of screw fastenings for the planking he did introduce it in this country. Screws for planking fastenings had been used in France before this." (Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. The Wizard of Bristol. The Life and Achievements of Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, together with An Account of Some of the Yachts he Designed. New York, 1953, p. 87.)

"Bristol sent quite a delegation to the great cat-boat race at Newport on Thursday [July 25, 1878] of this week. Among the boats hailing from this place were the Hartford, Julia [#187004es Julia IV], Gleam [#187702es], Witch [#187807es], Spring Green, Grade and the new Custom House boat. A party also accompanied Mr. Herreshoff in his fine new steamer '41' [#41p Kittatinny] --- the one which acted as Judges' boat at the Yale-Harvard race at New London this summer. All the boats, however, might as well have stayed at home for any satisfaction they got by going. None of them were allowed to enter the race. This ruling was founded upon one of the regulations governing the race, namely, that the entries should be made before 12 o'clock, M., of the day previous, but what the Bristol folks complain of is that no notice was given them that such was the regulation. In fact they say that it is proverbial that Bristol has never been afforded a fair show in a race gotten up by Newport parties. The Grinnell race of last season is not an exception for that was a race not gotten up by Newport parties, but by Mr. Irving Grinnell of West Hamburg, N. Y., who offered the prize himself and arranged the race. Proper and courteous notice was sent to Bristol by him, and Bristol responded by producing a boat, the Gleam, which carried off the prize --- one of the handsomest ever offered for a race in Newport waters. For the race this week no notice was sent to Bristol. The fact that such a race was in prospect was learned by verbal report, and the representative of the Gleam visited Newport to find out about it. He learned a few meagre particulars by diligent inquiry, and entered his boat in good faith by mail from Bristol on the day previous to the date fixed for the closing of the entries. As it was not taken from the post office in Newport until after the hour of 12 M. he was ruled out, although he had no official notice of that fact until a few moments before the starting gun was fired. The Newport boatmen, a number of them at least, were loud voiced in their indignation at a prospect of the Gleam being allowed to sail, and the ultimate decision of the managers was very pleasant to them. How well their apprehensions were founded the result of the day shows. Although run into by a small boat and so crippled in her rigging that she was obliged to reef in what was only a fair whole-sail breeze and that, too, just, as the starting gun was fired, so that the boats of her class had nearly three miles the start of her, the Gleam sailed the whole race strictly according to the published conditions, actually overtaking and passing all the fleet of forty sail, with the exception of some half-dozen of the foremost ones, and beating the sailing time of those some minutes. ... If any other part of the bay can produce a team to outrun the Gleam and the Witch, Bristol will be only too ready to test the question." (Source: Anon. "Are Newporters Afraid Of Bristol Boats?" Providence Evening Press, July 26, 1878. Reprinted in: Bristol Phoenix, August 3, 1878, p. 2.)

"On Plate XXVII. are the lines of the large Una boat Mocking Bird, built by Messrs. Stockham and Pickett, of West Quay, Southampton, for Mr. Prescott Westcar, from a design by the author in 1882. A lead keel as shown was, however, fitted instead of the centre-board, but the limited draught which had to be observed did not admit of the keel being deep enough for good weatherly qualities.
The Mocking Bird sailed a match against the American cat boat Gleam in a strong wind, and beat her by twelve and a half minutes; but it was about two-thirds reaching, and by the wind the Gleam showed herself to be the more weatherly craft; the case, however, might have been different had Mocking Bird been fitted with a centre-board. The Gleam usually had several hundredweight of shifting ballast, or a crew of a dozen to sit to windward in strong winds; otherwise she could not carry her large sail. The lines of Gleam are given on Plate XXVIII.
The following table gives the dimensions, &c. ... :
Length on load-water line 25ft. 2 1/2in
Breadth, extreme 11ft. 1in.
Draught of water 2ft. 3 1/2in.
Length of centre-board 8ft.
Board pinned from stem 11ft.
Displacement 3.5 tons.
Lead on keel 2 1/2 cwt. iron
Lead inside 16 cwt.
Mast deck to hounds 27ft. 6in.
Boom, mast to pin of sheave 35ft. 4in.
Gaff, mast to lacing hole 19ft.
Luff of mainsail 23ft. 6in.
Mast from fore-side of stem 1ft. 7 1/2in.
Area of sail 760 sq. ft.
Y.R.A. tons 8.6 ..." (Source: Kemp, Dixon. A Manual of Yacht & Boat Sailing. Seventh Edition. London, 1891, p. 315.)

"GLEAM
Name GLEAM
Type catboat
Material wood
Date 1877
L.O.A. 25' 6 1/2"
L.W.L. 25' 2"
Mast 33' 3"
Designer Nathanael Greene Herreshoff
From where Bristol
Builder Herreshoff Mgf. Co.
Beam 11' 1"
Draft 2' 3 1/2"
Boom 35'
Where built Bristol
Launched 1877
Sailmaker Herreshoff [sic]
Displacement 2.64 T
Inside ballast 0.80 T
Gaff 18' 6"
Owners George and Frederik Allen Gower
From where Great Britain [sic]
Keel ballast 0.28 T
Tonnage 8.60 T
Total sail area 763 sq. ft." (Source: Chevalier, Francois and Jacques Taglang. American and British Yacht Designs 1870-1887. Paris, 1991. Vol. I, p. 161.)

"[Item Transcription:] [Newspaper clipping that can be shown to be Anon. ('Quill' [George or Frederick Allen Gower]). 'A Yachting Letter. Our Special Correspondent at the Centennial Regatta. A Rhode Island Boy Whips the Fleet.' Providence Evening Press, June 26, 1876, p. 2:]
Williamsburg, L. I., June 24, 1876.
To The Editor of the Press: By good fortune and the courtesy of Mr. J.B. Herreshoff, the yacht builder of Bristol, your correspondent has been afforded the pleasure, not only of a unique excursion but of unusual facilities for witnessing the Centennial Regatta in New York harbor during the two days just past, and as the results of the second day's racing have been to give remarkable prominence and notoriety to a Rhode Island boat, invented, built and sailed by a Rhode Island man, your readers may be pleased to know some particulars of the affair, more than are furnished by the usual telegraphic channels.
In the first place the unique excursion to which I have referred was a voyage from Bristol to New York in one of the little Herreshoff steamers, the 'FLECHE [#17p],' forty-two feet long by six wide, carrying a party of four and towing another little steamer thirty-three feet long and five wide, built for Mr. E. A. Lawrence, of Bayside, Long Island [#22p Open Yacht with her machinery in the midlle]. This trip consumed two days --- from Bristol to Niantic, Conn., the first, and thence to the Navy Yard, Brooklyn, the second day, and may be called extraordinary running when one considers that it was all done by daylight, except the run from College Point through Hell Gate to the Navy Yard, which was made Wednesday evening before 10:30 o'clock. These little craft are fine sea boats, riding the heavy 'old swell' off Point Judith like corks and going along very dry.
The first day's regatta we were not particularly interested in, although it was a fine one, and some of the speediest boats in the country were among the contestants. Still, the New Yorkers were disappointed, because at least a round dozen of the smartest flyers of the yacht fleet did not put in an appearance. To the stranger, however, who only knew, or thought of, the boats which did enter, the sight was very interesting, some twenty-five of the beautiful craft starting, and with a fine, wholesail breeze, making a very pretty race. A dozen or more steamers, carrying large parties of excursionists (including the LONG BRANCH, WYOMING, MAGENTA, NEVERSINK and others) with brass bands aboard, accompanied the fleet, and the screeching of steam whistles as each of the early arrivals crossed the line at the finish was tremendous. The DREADNAUGHT carried off the prize for first-class schooners, the winner in the second class I have forgotten. The ARROW and the ORION [#186903es] were the winners respectively in the first and second class sloops; the ARROW, a peculiarly graceful and beautiful vessel, being the first of the fleet to arrive home.
The second day's race was for boats under fifteen tons, divided into four classes: First, large sloops which crowded the limit of fifteen tons very closely; second, sloops of a smaller size; third, sloops not over twenty-five feet, or thereabouts; and fourth, cat-rigged boats, carrying working sails. The 'AMARYLLIS,' which by a single leap has sprung into fame, was entered in the third class, and at the start was the last but two in a fleet of over thirty sail. The course was from the New York Club house on Staten Island to a stake-boat off Coney Island, thence back to a stake-boat off Bay Ridge, L. I., thence across the harbor to a stake-boat near Robbins Reef, and thence back to the start, and this course was to be sailed over twice. Our party, in the little Lawrence steamer [#22p], was late in leaving Brooklyn, so that we did not see the start, out we met the fleet just after the foremost boats had rounded the Coney Island stake-boat the first time. From that point until the finish, we kept pace with the fleet, running about from boat to boat, now ahead, watching the leaders, and then dropping back to see how the others were doing. In order to be able to do this, it is hardly necessary to say that the little launch which carried us was remarkably speedy. As a matter of fact, however, she behaved finely, and gave us the opportunity of seeing every point of an unusually interesting and well sailed race.
But I want to devote a paragraph or two specially to the performances of the 'AMARYLLIS' and her victory. As I said, she was almost the last boat off, the first starters being then nearly two miles ahead and running out for Coney Island, with a fair wind, rather light and puffy. When we came up with the fleet, the 'AMARYLLIS' had only passed a half-dozen or so of her nearest neighbors, thus bringing her well along towards the the centre of the fleet. But the wind freshened and she pulled down and passed one after another, until at the home stakeboat the first time, there were only nine or ten ahead of her. Of these, five were together in a bunch not over 500 feet ahead; then there was a gap of one-third to one-half a mile, and then the others were strung out, one behind the other over the next half mile. In less than ten minutes from passing the home stake, the AMARYLLIS had pushed by the bunch just ahead of her, and was leaping along by herself, steadily drawing up with the string of leaders. In half an hour more, Capt. Nat. had the pleasure of looking over his stern at all the fleet save one, the SUSIE S. of Brooklyn, and she was not over a quarter of a mile ahead.
But the breeze had increased to such an extent that the SUSIE S. in common with all the others, except one, couldn't carry it all, and they had to beg along with mainsail shaking a little to keep from turning wrong side up. That one was the AMARYLLIS, and it was amusing to notice the contrast. The other boats had racing crews of ten or fifteen men each, and a regular stone wall of sand bags piled up on the weather rail. The AMARYLLIS had no ballast of any sort, and only two men on board --- one of them a man almost totally blind --- and they sat there as comfortably as though taking a cruise for pleasure. Talk about her not being a pleasure boat! Why to watch the activity and excitement on the other boats every time they came about or changed their course one would have thought Mr. Herreshoff and his brother were the only men in the fleet who were taking any sort of pleasure or comfort whatever.
Before reaching the Bay Ridge stake boat the second time the SUSIE S. dropped into second place, and the AMARYLLIS, as though she had been playing before, but was determined to show now what she could do, flew along like a race horse, opening the gap astern of her at the rate of about one foot in four. For the remainder of the race she had the course to herself, and crossed the line a little over five minutes ahead of the second boat, and ten minutes ahead of the third, while the balance of the fleet occupied the rest of an hour in coming in.
This result caused the utmost astonishment among the yachtsmen. During the early part of the race, they were inclined to smile gently when they looked toward their comical from a yachtsman's point of view neighbor. But as he passed successively from the position of neighbor to that of leader, smiles gave way to looks of disgust, and as soon as they could get in, the captains of several of the other boats in the third class, entered protests, which were referred to the Regatta Committee for decision. The ground of the protest is that 'she is neither a yacht nor a boat.' Oh lame and important conclusion! They all had abundant chance to see her the day before, but not a protest was heard till she had beaten them all. They may deny her the bit of parchment, which would be a lasting memento of her victory, but the victory itself they cannot deny her. The New York dailies published full reports of that, and one of them, the World, extends its editorial commiseration to the defeated fleet.
A curious, and somewhat amusing feature of the whole affair, is the surprise elicited on all hands. Even the yachting reporters of the N. Y. press hardly knew how to write about it, much less describe the boat accurately; and they were obliged to draw largely on their imagination for terms and names. I was amused at the names they called her --- Catamaran, Bolsa, Proa of the Ladrone Islands, and then dropping into Webster, nondescript, racing machine, monstrosity, yachting wonder, sea monster, mysterious stranger, ice boat, life raft and cigar boat, are a few of them, and one imaginative reporter was reminded of a circus rider flying along on two horses.
Altogether, there has probably been no event in yachting annals, of late years at any rate, that has excited so much comment and astonishment, and there is also a practical element in it. Several applications have been made to buy the AMARYLLIS, and one gentleman from New York is already negotiating with Mr. H.
for the building of a larger size craft of the same description.
Mr. H. started from Brooklyn, this morning, to sail his nondescript craft home again, in the same manner that he took her to New York, and with the reputation she has now acquired, I doubt not that a visit to Providence with her would gratify the curiosity of many of your citizens, and, by the way, as bringing the credit of the victory a little nearer home, let me say that Mr. H. is a member of the Providence Yacht Club, and the AMARYLLIS is enrolled on the books of the club fleet. [This anonymous letter is signed only 'Quill', but an original copy of this newspaper article in the Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Museum shows the name 'Gower' added in ink besides 'Quill', suggesting that it was written by George or Frederick Allen Gower for whom N. G. Herreshoff would subsequently design and build the very successful catboat #187702es GLEAM.]" (Source: Providence Evening Press (creator). Newspaper Clipping. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE14_01230. Folder [no #]. 1876-06-26.)
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"[Item Description:] Two dimensioned sailplans on one smudged sheet of paper with folding creases. One sailplan titled 'Nos 2 [#187703es JOHN GILPIN] & 3 [#187705es TEASER]. 30ft. Double Boat. --- N.G. Herreshoff' and 'To be returned. N.G. Herreshoff. Bristol, R.I. Scale 1/4in = one foot. April 7, 188'. With sail areas noted as 525sqft (mainsail), 90sqft (jib) and 312sqft (outer jib). With sketched midship hull sections, one ordinary as believed to have been used for NGH's catamarans of 1877, the other with rounded deck as believed to have been used for #187601es AMARYLLIS. The other sailplan (rotated counterclockwise by 90deg) is titled '25ft Sail Boat. GLEAM [#187702es]. Herreshoff Manfg. Co.' and shows a total sail area of 690sqft. With note 'Sail shortened on the luff by cutting off the head. Done by J. Alger. July [1877]. The following measurements were taken in the loft. [sail sketch]'." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Sailplan. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Acc. 2004.0001.0451. WRDT08, Folder 36, formerly MRDE09. 1877-04-07.)
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"[Item Transcription:] [Penciled comparative notes:] Model Oct[ober] 1881; Length 40f; Sail Base 76f; Sail Perp. 76f Large sail; Sail Perp. 61f Small sail; S[ailing]-L[ength] 42 1/2 [large]; 40 1/2 [small]
MADGE [English cutter]; Length 40f; Sail Base 71f; Sail Perp. 75f Large sail; Sail Perp. 56f Small sail; S[ailing]-L[ength] 42 [large]; 39 [small]
Schooner design; Length 76f; Sail Base 133f; Sail Perp. 102f Large sail; Sail Perp. 84f Small sail; S[ailing]-L[ength] 73 [large]; 70 1/2 [small]
Phil[?] race boat; Length 15f 3in; Base 22f; Perp. 27f; S[ailing]-L[ength] 15
DARE DEVIL [sandbagger]; Length 27f; Base 73f; Perp. 45; S[ailing]-L[ength] 31.2
SADIE Sch[ooner] [#186704es]; Length 48f; Base 87f; Perp. 67f; S[ailing]-L[ength] 47
ARROW; Length 63; Base 112; Perp. 110; S[ailing]-L[ength] 65
SAPPHO [Poillon, New York, 1867]; Length 126f; Base 208f; Perp. 140f Large s[ail]; Perp. 118f Small s[ail]; S[ailing]-L[ength] 112
GUINEVERE; L 126f; B 200f; P 132f Large s[ail]; P 114f Small s[ail]
FLYING CLOUD; L 74f; B 118f; P 94f Large s[ail]; P 72f Small s[ail]
MOSQUITO; L 64; B 114; P 82 Small sail
Design in 1875. Sliding gunter sail [#187505es ?]; L 16f; B 114; P 82 Small sail
SPRING GREEN [#186709es]; Length 16f; Base 22f; P 24f
NORA [#187802es ?]; L 16; B 19; P 21
AMARYLLIS [#187601es]; L 25; B 41; P 26
JULIA [#187004es]; L 22; B 27; P 33
GLEAM [#187702es]; L 25; B 33; P 38
J[OHN] GILPIN [#187703es]; L 29; B 57; P 33.
RIVIERA [#187406es]; L 16 1/2; B 15 1/2; P 21.
Pentagonal[sp?] Design; L 25f; B 32; P 37. [On verso half-sections and displacement calculations arriving at 97.3 tons]. [Undated (the latest design listed appears to be from 1881]." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. (creator). Comparative Notes and Half-Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Acc. 2004.0001.0571. WRDT08, Folder 44. 1881 ?.)
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"[Item Description:] Letter from E. Southsea, England, have been busy this week, educating Engineers and Stokers, one sided manoevering trial & heat for stiffness that White was to have made to bring out weak points in our boats [#74p and #75p] was vetoed by me, this brought out a little school-boy article in the [London] Times of the 11th [July 1881], our boats are handier, faster & in nearly all points superior to Whites', Fred[erick Allen] Gower was with us to-day, he had just come from Southampton in the [#187702es] GLEAM & passing close by recognized me, the GLEAM is in fine condition & beats everything under 30 or 40ft, all we now have to do here is to make the contract runs, shall probably leave on next Thursday's boat for France, [Charles L.?] Seabury & Gray have done all here that could be desired, I was glad to hear about the regatta in the paper you sent, tell Albert [S. Almy?] he is getting the [#188001es?] NORA into good habits, tell Nat [NGH] double boilers should be put in the 33ft launches [#80p and #81p] as they are such an improvement over the single coils" (Source: Herreshoff, J.B. Letter to Herreshoff, Lewis. Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection Item LIB_6770. HMM Library Rare Books Room (Box 5), Folder 179A. (1881)-08-01.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #187702es Gleam even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• 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.

• Gleam
• 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: Gleam
Type: 25' 6" cat
Owner: F. A. Gower
Year: 1877
Row No.: 250

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.

"Exported to England in May 1881 by its owner F. A Gower. Fitted with a ton of lead ballast in England to comply with English racing rules." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 2, 2008.)

"F[rederick] A. Gower, Gleam's later owner, was presumed lost in July 1885 when he went up in a balloon from Cherbourg, France and was never heard of again. Previously, he had successfully crossed the English channel with his balloon. Gower, an American newspaper man who had graduated from Brown University in Rhode Island, had become wealthy by introducing the Bell telephone to Europe. His expensive marriage to the famous American opera singer Lillian Norton, known as Nordica, was just ending in a court battle and his disappearance was accompanied by speculation that it was due to his wife's exorbitant financial demands." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. November 18, 2012.)

"[Sail area 690sqft.] (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. Note on penciled sailplan dated April 7, 1877. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum, item 2004.0001.0451."

"[Sail area 763sqft.]" (Source: Chevalier, Francois and Jacques Taglang. American and British Yacht Designs 1870-1887. Paris, 1991. Vol. I, p. 161."

"In the absence of better available data displacement was estimated by using the figure for Old Measurement Tons (9) from the 1883 Hunts Yacht List and converting to lbs by dividing through 2000 (short tons). Note that this figure can only be a rough estimate because register tons as reported in Yacht Registers correlate only loosely with actual displacement figures." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 17, 2015.)

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