Model No. 716: Buzzards Bay 12 1/2
Model by: NGH
Made when: October 1914 (ca.)
Stated model scale: 1/10
Model length (ca.): 18.6" (47.2cm)
Implied vessel LOA at 1/10 (ca.): 15' 6" (4.7m)
Power/Sail: S
Vessel Type: Buzzards Bay 12 1/2 Footer (100); Seawanhaka Fish Class (26); 12 1/2 Footer (211); Fish Class (Mattapoisett) (1); Warwick Fish Class (10); Fish Class Marconi (4); Larchmont 12 1/2 Footer (7); Bulls Eye 12 1/2 Footer (15); Fishers Island 12 1/2 Footer (8); Marlin Cruiser (4); 12 1/2 Footer (North Haven Foxeye) (16); Fishers Island 12 1/2 Footer (Improved Model) (5); 12 1/2 Footer (Improved Model?) (2)
Hull Configuration: Keel
Model location: H.M.M. Model Room North Wall Right
Vessels from this model:
409 built, modeled by NGH
Original text on model:
"12 1/2' Buzzards Bay boy class 24 boats 1915 scale 1/10 size three [sic, i.e. four? #806, #813, #815, #817?] boats 1916
16' w.l. Oyster Bay "Fish Class" 23 boats 1916 scale 1/12 size sections 1/13 lengths 3 1/2 added at bow on deck" (Source: Original handwritten annotation on model. Undated.)
Model description:
"12'-1/2' lwl Buzzards Bay 12 1/2-class of 1915, HMCo's most popular creation with some 360 boats produced. Also, with change in scale and proportionally longer bow, the Fish class sloops of 1916 and beyond." (Source: Bray, Maynard. 2004.)
Model discussion:
"Bristol, R.I.
Oct. 10, 1914
Dear Bob,
I have your interesting letter of yesterday. I was to write you yesterday but somehow missed it.
I have made a model for the little boats, in which I got quite interested. But you are not 'in it' as to beam! [Apparently Bob Emmons had suggested a different, probably wider, beam.] After I got at it I decided there would be an advantage in having considerable flare to topsides, and have kept the extreme breadth at six feet.
The model looks very nice and I am well pleased with it, and think you will be. I have taken more draft, however, 30in, and I don’t think it any too much. Of course it can be reduced if really necessary, but it would take away from the weatherliness of the boat.
I have made another design [Model 210] for Mr. Tod [#742s Katoura Jr], [of] much lighter displacement to be better carried on his davits.
I will get the thing sketched out in a few days.
George Nichols was here Thursday talking about a class for his club. [These were precursory talks about what would become the Seawanhaka Coringthian Yacht Club's Fish Class that was eventually built in 1916.]
...
Yours sincerely,
Nath’l G. Herreshoff." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. Letter to Emmons, Robert W. Herreshoff Marine Museum Correspondence, Folder 36 (new), 191 (old). Access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff. October 10, 1914.)
Comment:
"... restricted. The original plans/offsets for [the] Buzzards Bay 12 1/2 foot-class (#744) ... were purchased in 1948 by Cape Cod Shipbuilding Co., of Wareham, MA." (Source: Hasselbalch, Kurt and Frances Overcash and Angela Reddin: Guide to The Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection. Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass., 1997, p. 21.)
Model identification:
"See also model in M.I.T. Hart Nautical Collection: Buzzards Bay 12 1/2 foot-class, #744, Painted model; Size: 5"x16"; Acc. No.: XA2-1(1)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. 2008.)
Related model(s):
Model 0716 by NGH (1914?); sail, 409 built from
Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné.
All rights reserved. No reproduction, adaptation, or distribution of any part of this document or any information contained herein by any means whatsoever is permitted without prior written permission. For the full terms of copyright for this document please click here. Last revision 2024-01-16.
© 2024,
Citation: Herreshoff Model 716 Buzzards Bay 12 1/2. Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné. https://herreshoff.info/Docs/Model_0716.htm.