Herreshoff #187703es John Gilpin (No 2)

"Coconut Grove - N. G. Herreshoff Bristol, R.I. May 7 - 1929. {1929/05/07} Dear Francis, ... It is quite refreshing to know you are interested in catamarans, and I assure you they are very much more practical than a proa such as Com Munroe is building and now in advanced stage. The difficulty you speak of about steering is of course more accentuated in a catamaran than a proa but with two good rudders and the big jib with jib sheet always handy to let go. I had no great trouble from it. Com. M. steers with an oar and from what I can gather it is hard work, and really necessary to have sheet handy to let fly if any obstruction is ahead. With all my sailing I never plugged into anything but once, and that was in the dark, and not my fault. I was taking one of the catamarans I built [John Gilpin], to New York to deliver, and was going down East River in the dark [p4] in a moderate breeze abeam and going, perhaps about 10 knots. There was a water-logged scow adrift right in the middle of the river about off 26th street, and was floating only a few inches out of water. We struck it with the lee boat and it jumped up over it, and ran over the deck of scow and into the water. The damage [Drawing] was, our stern outside of rabbate was sideswiped as also was the centreboard and rudder, but the hull did not leak. So we continued our trip to South Brooklyn without trouble, with one good c.b. [centerboard] & rudder. I am inclosing sketches of catamaran I made a while ago, that I mentioned. It is to your disposal as well as all of the old drawings I have at home of those I built in 1876 - to `81. The inclosed sketch is for a craft a little smaller than those I built except the first one, and about the proper size for 2, or not more than 4. Those I built had plumb masts, and gaff sails, I think this better. I got leave of absence from Corliss Steam Engine Co. for 3 months in summer of 1877, and started a trial business of building four, at contract price of $750. apiece. I gave my time and there was no shop rent or overhead, and so came out just even. They should have been $1100 or $1200, which at the present time w'ld be $4000 or $4500. ... Your affect -
Father -" (Source: Mystic Seaport Museum, L. Francis Herreshoff Collection, Box 17, Folder 5: Letter from N. G. Herreshoff to L. F. Herreshoff.)

"N. G. Herreshoff Coconut Grove, Fla. Bristol, R.I. May 22 1929. {1929/05/22} Dear Francis, ... The first catamarans I built after [p2] the 'Amaryllis', had somewhat fuller bows, - on deck and also w.l. The lee boat when depressed into the water w'ld generate a beautiful great wave [Drawing] quite high up and roll of into two divergent breaking [Drawing] lines of waves - After the 3rd boat of this model I lengthened the hulls a little forward and fined the whole bow, with marked improvment, apparently under all conditions." (Source: Mystic Seaport Museum, L. Francis Herreshoff Collection, Box 17, Folder 5: Letter from N. G. Herreshoff to L. F. Herreshoff.)

"The following year, 1877, I got a furlough from the Corliss Steam Engine Company for the purpose of testing the advisability of making a business of building [catamarans], and I built four of them, hiring men and working in the 'Old Tannery.' These were upon orders and [the] fourth for myself. The first one, JOHN GILPIN, [was] for George A. Thayer [sic, i.e. Latham A. Fish] of [the] Brooklyn and Atlantic Yacht Clubs. I delivered her to South Brooklyn.
This craft had quite a raking stem, which was unusual in that period, but its advantage was demonstrated in [the] first trip, for sailing down [the] East River in a dark evening, I ran into a waterlogged scow that was in mid channel and floating only two or three inches. The windward (starboard) hull went clear, but [the] leeward boat struck a little glancing blow and ran up over and into the water again after crossing the deck near one end some twenty-five or thirty feet. Upon testing [the] pumps, it was found the hull did not leak, but the stem outside the woodends, the centerboard, and rudder were broken off. The trip to Gowanus Bay was continued and with but little delay." (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. 51.)

"Feb. 3, 1936
Dear Mr. Stephens -
... Yes, - AMARYLLIS was my first catamaran, and [I] contrived it while I was with Corliss Steam Engine Co. I had charge of starting up the great (at that time) Corliss Engine at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 76 and after being there for about a fortnight to instruct the regular engineers, I took a furlough and came home to try out the double-boat that John had nearly completed for me. The next year I made many improvements that I patented and got another leave of absence from Mr. Corliss to try building catamarans, and built JOHN GILPIN, TEAZER & (?) [ORION] on orders at $750 each and TARANTELLA for myself. I hired my own men and worked hard myself turning all out in less than 3 months; but it was a losing job and I went back to Corliss' in the fall. I sold TARANTELLA, and built LODOLA in 1879 and used her several years with great pleasure.
Yours sincerely,
Nathl. G. Herreshoff" (Source: Letter 19. From N. G. Herreshoff to W. P. Stephens, dated February 3, 1936. In: Herreshoff, Nathanael Greene and William Picard Stephens. "Their Last Letters 1930-1938." Annotated by John W. Streeter. Bristol, R. I., ca. 1999, p. 133-134.)

"... the success of the 'Amarylis' induced Captain Nat to build other catamarans, so that in the year 1877 he again got leave from the Corliss Company and went to Bristol where, working in J. B.'s shop with the help of workmen, he built the four catamarans, 'John Gilpin,' 'Teaser,' 'Tarantula,' and one whose name I do not know. They were all thirty-one feet long and I believe all quite similar." (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. 78.)

"... The new catamaran built by Mr. Herreshoff for Mr. Latham Fish, the owner of the schooner yacht Agnes, is named the John Gilpin, and is enrolled in the Atlantic Yacht Club. She will arrive here today, and will go over the course with the yachts tomorrow [June 11, 1877], for the annual regatta of the Atlantic Yacht Club." (Source: Anon. (R. F. Coffin?). "Yachting Notes." The World, June 10, 1877, p. 6.)

"Summary: John Gilpin [USA, 1877]
Designer/Builder: Herreshoff, N.G.
Type: Catamaran
Centerboard/Keel: CB
Built when: 1877
Built where: Bristol, Rhode Island, United States
LOA: 31' 10"
LWL: ?
Beam: 18' 2"
Width of Hulls: 2' 4" (on deck)
Depth of Hulls: 2' 5" (at ends)
Draft of Hulls: 1' / 1' 9" (loaded, at each end / amidships)
Draft: 4' (boards down)
Platform: 14' 10" (length)
Bowsprit: 22' 8"
Boom: 31' 4"
Displ.: 3300lbs
Owners:
Latham A. Fish, Atlantic Y.C., from 1883 on also New York Yacht Club (1877-Aug. 1878)
Adolph Panick, (sometimes also spelled Panicke, Panich, or Panicht), Williamsburg Y.C., Stapleton (Aug. 1878-1895)
Sailed by "Captain Suydam", (possibly Walter L. Suydam), a Seawanhaka Y. C. member in 1881
[George A. Thayer (1877 acc. to N. G. Herreshoff), and F. Roosevelt from Sayville, New York (acc. to 1885 Am. Yacht List) were also mentioned as owners by various sources, but this appears to unlikely and incorrect.]
John Gilpin was part of a series of four catamarans built by N. G. Herreshoff's "catamaran company" in 1877, i.e. the year before Herreshoff joined forces with his blind brother J. B. Herreshoff to form the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Besides her sistership Tarantella, John Gilpin was probably the best-known of the Herreshoff catamarans. But unlike the Tarantella, whose reputation was mainly a result of her excellent racing under Fred. Hughes' ownership, John Gilpin became well-known primarily due to a highly detailed perspective woodcut prepared of her in 1877 by the anonymous draftsman "Paddlefast". First published in January 1878 in the Scientific American Supplement, this drawing subsequently appeared in many other publications, including Le Yacht in France, many editions of Dixon Kemp's Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing in England, as well as Muchall-Viebrook's Segler's Handbuch in Germany.
Throughout her career John Gilpin remained in New York waters. She was initially owned by Latham Fish, a wealthy member of the Atlantic Yacht Club, who later became that club's commodore. However, Fish soon realized that not only was he unable to beat Fred. Hughes and his Tarantella, but also that catamarans began to be shunned by New York's well-to-do yachtsmen after a brief period of intense interest. Aspiring to be accepted by New York's yachting elite, Fish sold John Gilpin in the summer of 1878 after one year of well-publicized ownership to Adolph Panick.
Said to wear glasses and being secretive, Panick was the partner of Jake Schmidt, one of New York Bay's best known small-boatmen who had established in the late 1870s a boatshop and a saloon called the "Good Success Anchorage" in Tompkinsville, Staten Island after the ever-increasing industrialization had displaced small-boat sailing and -building from Brooklyn's Gowanus Bay and Williamsburgh.
Not much is known of John Gilpin under Panick's ownership, although she was steadily listed in the American Yacht List throughout the years. In 1881 she was enrolled for a regatta of the Seawanhaka Yacht Club, but failed to make it to the start in time and in the summer of 1885 she was reported to have been badly damaged in a storm while at home in Tompkinsville. After 1895 she ceased to be listed in the American Yacht List." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. Multihull History Pages. Unpublished Work in Progress. Last updated, March 7, 2014.)

"[Item Description:] Penciled construction detail plan on smudged and creased paper titled 'N.G. Herreshoff. Bristol. Bolts for arms. Nos. 2 [#187703es JOHN GILPIN (No 2)] - 3 [#187705es TEASER (No 3)] - 4 [#187701es ARION (No 4)] - 5 [#187704es TARANTELLA (No 5)] - 6 [#187801es DUPLEX (No 6)] - 7 [#187805es ZARIFA (No 7)] - Hunkers[?] - 8 [#187903es LODOLA (No 8)]'. With notes '8 - 5/8in bolts (4 - 12 3/4in long, 4 - 15 1/4in long' and 'bolts bent to this angle' and 'short ones straight. All drilled for 7/32in bolts' and '1/4in for #1232' [indicating that this plan was also used in 1933 to build AMARYLLIS II]. On verso more unidentified penciled sketches and calculations. Undated (1877, with additions in 1878, 1879 and 1933)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Detail Plan. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item WRDT03_00120. Folder [no #]. No date (between 1877-04 and 1877-07 with additions in 1878, 1879 and 1933).)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled construction detail plan on smudged and creased paper titled 'Centreboard hanging for TARANTELLA. [In blue pencil:] Nos. 2 [#187703es JOHN GILPIN (No 2)] - 3 [#187705es TEASER (No 3)] - 4 [#187701es ARION (No 4)] - 5 [#187704es TARANTELLA (No 5)] - [in red pencil:] 6 [#187801es DUPLEX (No 6)] - 7 [#187805es ZARIFA (No 7)]'. With burnt hole --- probably when the plan came too close to the forge when making these parts. Undated (1877, with additions in 1878)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Detail Plan. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item WRDT03_00150. Folder [no #]. No date (between 1877-04 and 1877-07 with additions in 1878).)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled construction detail plan on smudged and creased paper titled 'Tillerstick TARANTELLA [#187704es]'. With notes 'Hickory tiller' and '[in blue pencil:] # 2 [#187703es JOHN GILPIN (No 2)] - 3 [#187705es TEASER (No 3)] - 4 [#187701es ARION (No 4)] - 5 [#187704es TARANTELLA (No 5)] - [In red pencil:] 6 [#187801es DUPLEX (No 6)] - 7 [#187805es ZARIFA (No 7)] - 8 [#187903es LODOLA (No 8)]'. With further notes in red pencil '15in long for # 8 [LODOLA]' and '15in for # 8. The two made together 120deg apart'." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Detail Plan. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item WRDT03_00190. Folder [no #]. No date (between 1877-04 and 1877-07 with additions in 1878 and 1879).)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled construction detail plan on smudged and creased paper titled 'TARANTELLA [#187704es]. Ap[ril] 1877'. With notes 'Mast' and 'Back bone. Spruce 2in x 4in' and 'Iron 2in wide 1/4in thick 15in long' and 'One of this to be made into A' and '[in blue pencil:] # 2 [#187703es JOHN GILPIN (No 2)] - 3 [#187705es TEASER (No 3)] - 4 [#187701es ARION (No 4)] - 5 [#187704es TARANTELLA (No 5)] - [In red pencil:] 6 [#187801es DUPLEX (No 6)] - 7 [#187805es ZARIFA (No 7)] - 8 [#187903es LODOLA (No 8)]'. With further notes in red pencil 'Without eyes and strops for # 8 [LODOLA]'." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Detail Plan. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item WRDT03_00250. Folder [no #]. 1877-04 (with additions in 1878 and 1879).)
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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 Description:] Penciled construction detail plan on smudged and creased paper titled 'Mast. TARANTELLA [#187704es]. Apr[il] 1877. Mast heel step'. With note '[In blue pencil:] Nos. 2 [#187703es JOHN GILPIN (No 2)] - 3 [#187705es TEASER (No 3)] - 4 [#187701es ARION (No 4)] - 5 [#187704es TARANTELLA (No 5)] - [In red pencil:] 6 [#187801es DUPLEX (No 6)] - 7 [#187805es ZARIFA (No 7)] - [In pencil:] Hunkers[?] [In red and black pencil:] - 8 [#187903es LODOLA (No 8)]'. With further notes in pencil ''3/8in steel. 7/16 iron. 1/2 for nos 6 and 7 [and] 8]' and Bobstay' and 'One of this' and 'Norway iron'. With a burned hole which looks like a forged part was held too close to the drawing to see if the correct angle had been forged. " (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Detail Plan. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item WRDT03_00170. Folder [no #]. 1877-04 ( with additions in 1878 and 1879).)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled construction detail plan on smudged, rolled and creased paper titled 'Ironwork, Catamarans 2 [#187703es JOHN GILPIN], 3 [#187705es TEASER], 4 [#187701es ARION], 5 [#187704es TARANTELLA]'. Shown are forged bales and other fittings, also two metal pulley blocks. Part of a roll of seven 1870s catamaran drawings on very brittle brown paper that was too fragile to unroll and inspect. Undated, JOHN GILPIN is believed to have been was launched in June 1877." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G.. (creator). Penciled Drawing. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item WRDT03_00082. Folder [no #]. No date (before 1877-06).)
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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:] boat request for a catamaran of #187703es JOHN GILPIN type from Bilbao, Spain" (Source: Martinez, S. (President Bilbao Sporting Club). Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_00480. Correspondence, Folder 1_14, formerly (84). 1905-09-11.)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled construction detail plan on brown paper titled 'Amidships joint. Catamarans nos. 2 [#187703es JOHN GILPIN (No 2)] - 3 [#187705es TEASER (No 3)] - 4 [#187701es ARION (No 4)] - 5 [#187704es TARANTELLA (No 5)] in 1877 - 6 [#187801es DUPLEX (No 6)] - 7 [#187805es ZARIFA (No 7)] - Hunkers[?] in 1878 - 8 [#187903es LODOLA (No 8)] [in] 1879'. (Undated, filed with other plans from 1877 for TARANTELLA, but style and condition of this plan plus reference to modern ball joint pattern 12252 from August 1933 indicate that NGH created this plan in 1933 for #1232s AMARYLLIS 2)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Detail Plan. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item WRDT03_00200. Folder [no #]. No date (1933-08 ?).)
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"[Item Description:] I have kept every map and chart which has ever come into my hands, I have recently found a scrapbook of 1876, with details of 'A Revolutionary Yacht,' 'A Yachting Wonder, Sudden Development of the Fastest Craft in the World,' 'A Mysterious Stranger That Whipped the Whole Fleet,' 'The Life Raft Amaryllis Protested.' As nearly as I can remember, #187601es AMARYLLIS was the first of your catamarans, followed by #187704es TARANTELLA and #187703es JOHN GILPIN; in her first races she met SUSIE S., MARY EMMA, and the other fast sandbaggers, The Seawanhaka history is taking all of my time but is growing slowly: I am unearthing much interesting yachting history, long since forgotten, and am working it into the main story. It seems a pity that after I have thus retrieved material of this kind it should be dropped and forgotten forever; as only some one as old and as well informed as you or I could piece it together; [This letter published as 'Letter Eighteen' in Herreshoff, Stephens. Their Last Letters 1930-1938. Annotated by John W. Streeter. Bristol, RI, 1988, p. 131.]" (Source: Stephens, William P. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_20710. Correspondence, Folder 59. 1936-01-01.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #187703es John Gilpin (No 2) even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• John Gilpin
• 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: John Gilpin
Type: 31' catamaran
Owner: A. Panich
Year: 1878
Row No.: 322

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.

[Sail areas noted as 525sqft (mainsail), 90sqft (jib) and 312sqft (outer jib).] (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.

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