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Herreshoff #190301es Ventus [Windmill Model Yacht]


Particulars

Name: Ventus [Windmill Model Yacht]
Type: Model Yacht
Designed by: NGH
Not built, not assigned, cancelled, etc.: 1903 ?
Construction: Wood
Rig: Windmill
Built for: Herreshoff, N. G. [?]
Current owner: Herreshoff Marine Museum, Bristol, RI (last reported 2025 at age 122)
Note: Particulars are primarily but not exclusively from the HMCo Construction Record. Supplementary information not from the Construction Record appears elsewhere in this record with a complete citation.

Images

Explore the table of photos which may include this boat.

  • Herreshoff, Agnes M. "Ventus [Windmill Model Yacht] [#190301es.]" Photograph, 1903.
    Further Image Information

    Created by: Herreshoff, Agnes M.
    Image Caption: "Nat's wind-mill boat. Mar. 29, 1903." [Photo of a photo in Agnes M. Herreshoff album, HMM No. 16181. Inscribed on recto in white ink by Agnes Muller Herreshoff. Nat is a reference to Nathanel G. Herreshoff, Jr,. one of the photographer's elder brothers. The windmill boat on this blurry photo is not identical with the one in today's collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum. The photo does confirm however, that windmill boats were experimented with in 1903 by the Herreshoff family.]
    Image Date: 1903-3-29
    Collection: Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection, acc. no. 16181.
    Image is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission
    Copyright holder: Herreshoff Marine Museum, Bristol, Rhode Island, www.herreshoff.org.

  • Herreshoff, L. Francis. "Ventus [Windmill Model Yacht] [#190301es.]" Line drawing, ca. 1953.
    Further Image Information

    Created by: Herreshoff, L. Francis.
    Image Caption: "Windmill propelled model boat developed by James Brown Herreshoff in his youth, about 1850."
    Image Date: 1953 ?
    Published in: 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. 48.
    Image is copyrighted: No known restrictions

  • van der Linde, Claas. "Ventus [Windmill Model Yacht] [#190301es.]" Photograph, 2008.
    Further Image Information

    Created by: van der Linde, Claas.
    Image Caption: [Ventus, the windmill propelled model boat in the collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum. It was built by Halsey Herreshoff with help from his father A. Sidney deW. Herreshoff.]
    Image Date: 2008-10-7
    Image is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission
    Copyright holder: Claas van der Linde.

Documents

Explore diaries and logs of the Herreshoff family which may include this boat.

L. Francis Herreshoff

"The eldest child of Charles Frederick Herreshoff and Julia Lewis Herreshoff was named James Brown Herreshoff, born in 1834. In his youth James showed a strong inclination to experiment and invent, and one biographer, at least, has called him an inventor. ... He experimented with windmills quite a lot and developed a boat with a windmill connected to a propeller. When the size and pitch of both the windmill and the propeller are correct this type of craft will go to windward faster than a model yacht of its size, but it only performs well in strong winds, and for some reason or other a large one will not go materially faster than a small one." (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. 47-48.)

Other Modern Text Source(s)

"... Malin Burnham, skipper of ENTERPRISE, was fascinated by the 'windmill boat' model [#190301es Ventus] that sails directly into the wind. He caused a successful demonstration to be conducted then and there in Bristol Harbor. ..." (Source: Anon. "Freedom Visits the Museum." Herreshoff Marine Museum Chronicle, Fall 1980, p. 1.)


Supplement

Research Note(s)

"This model boat is in the collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum. It has a large air propeller that drives a much smaller water propeller and enables the boat to sail directly into the wind. According to L. F. Herreshoff the windmill boat was invented in about 1850 by N. G. Herreshoff's elder brother James Brown Herreshoff. The model in the museum's collection was built by Halsey Herreshoff with help by his father A. Sidney in response to a teacher's questioning the viability of the windmill concept. A photo taken by Agnes M. Herreshoff in 1903 shows another windmill boat model which appears to be about the same size. Note, that the next year, in 1904, the Herreshoff children also experimented with a large windmill boat based on an old skiff, a photo of which appears in Bray and Pinheiro, Herreshoff of Bristol, Brooklin, Maine, 1989, p. 142." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 14, 2009.)

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


Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné.
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Citation: Herreshoff #190301es Ventus [Windmill Model Yacht]. Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné. https://herreshoff.info/Docs/ES190301_Windmill_Model_Yacht.htm.