Model No. 418: Steam Cutter

Model by: NGH
Made when: June 1876 (?)
Stated model scale: 1/12
Model length (ca.): 22.3" (56.5cm)
Implied vessel LOA at 1/12 (ca.): 22' 3" (6.8m)
Power/Sail: P
Vessel Type: Steam Cutter
Model location: H.M.M. Model Room West Wall Left

Vessels from this model:
1 built, modeled by NGH

Original text on model:
"Scale 1" = 1' 1876" (Source: Original handwritten annotation on model. Undated.)

Model description:
"22' loa steam cutter of 1876, built by JBH." (Source: Bray, Maynard. 2004.)

Model discussion:
"Some of these early launches were built for the U.S. Navy, some for the Ordnance Department, the U.S. Coast Survey, and the U.S. Fish Commission. One of these early models was twenty-two feet long, five feet three inches beam. This model, which was built between 1876 and 1878, is very interesting as it represents, I believe, the first attempt at the modern powerboat model. The greatest draft was a little aft of the forefoot, and greatest beam near the stern which was flat, the underwater shape being a gradual twist from bow to stern. These launches were said to be quite satisfactory and drove very easily into a moderate head sea. But as Captain Nat abandoned the model after 1878, it is probable that the sharp-bowed launches with the wide flat sterns were not good sea boats under all conditions, a bit of knowledge most designers at the present time have not yet learned." (P. 88; 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.)

Related model(s):
Model 0418 by NGH (1876?); #24p
Model 1508 by NGH??? (1876?); power? Model 3004 (1876?); power, 2 built from