HMCo #17p Fleché [Fleche]

"[1875-02-28] Sun 28: ... At home and at [brother] John's all day. He has commenced [building] hull [#17p Fleché] for a steamer 42 f[oot] x 6 f[oot] for the Anemone [#4p] pattern[?] engine.
[1875-03-06] Sat 6: ... Went to Bristol by the R[ichard] Borden. ... [Brother] John at work on machine of the Savannah steamer [#15p Gem], the 42 f[oot] [#17p Fleché] [is] nearly timbered[?]. ..." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1875. Manuscript (excerpts). Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection.)

"A steam yacht called Flechee of very fine model and built in the best manner, was launched from the Messrs. Herreshoff's boat building yard on Saturday last [July 17, 1875]. The yacht is forty two feet in length and is furnished with one of Herreshoff's new patent coiled pipe boilers. The Flechee, on her trial trip, Tuesday, sailed at the rate of thirteen miles an hour." (Source: Anon. "Locals." Bristol Phoenix, July 24, 1875, p. 2.)

"... Mr. John Herreshoff, the boat builder, placed his new steamer Fleche (a boat of the same model as the 'Vision' [#14p] but larger) at the disposal of Gen. Burnside during the day [of the visit of President Grant in Bristol], and sundry newspaper men also feel under great obligation to him for the use of his steamer in getting over the long distance from Gen. Burnside's residence to the telegraph office, which distance the little craft made in less than eight minutes. ...
The President, with Attorney General Pierrepont and Secretary Bristow, lelt the residence of Gen. Burnside at twenty minutes before six o'clock, and rode to Herreshoff's wharf, where the steamer Fleche was waiting to take the party on board the steamer U. S, Grant, at anchor opposite. As the boat left the wharf three hearty cheers were given for the President, by the large crowd which had assembled to witness his departure. ..." (Source: Anon. "President Grant. The President's Visit to Bristol." Bristol Phoenix, August 25, 1875, p. 1.)

"The Centennial International regatta comes off at New York on Thursday and Friday of next week, and quite a fleet of Bristol craft will be present to represent the town. Mr. C. F. Herreshoff and Dr. Brownell in the 'Julia,' [#187004es] and the brothers Herreshoff, N. G. and Lewis, in the new double boat 'Amaryllis,' [#187601es] expect to start to day. On Monday Mr. John B. Herreshoff and a Providence gentleman will start with three of the little Herreshoff steamers, viz the 'Fleche' [#17p], 'Vision,' and a new pleasure launch [#22p] last completed for a Mr. Lawrence, of New York. The first and last mentioned steamers are to be delivered to their purchasers in New York, and the 'Vision,' after the regatta, will go direct to Springfield, Mass., where she is engaged as referee's boat for the great Harvard Yale eight-oared race. ..." (Source: Anon. "Bristol." Providence Evening Press, June 17, 1876, p. 3.)

"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 [won by N.G. Herreshoff's new catamaran #187601es Amaryllis], 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 [#22p] thirty-three feet long and five wide, built for Mr. E. A. Lawrence, of Bayside, Long Island. 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. ... QUILL." (Source: Anon. "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.)

"Newport, April 26. ... Returned --- Sch[ooner]r T P Abell, Hogan, hence for New York, with Herreshoff's steam yacht Fleche, from Bristol for Middletown, Ct, in tow, she having lost her propeller off Beaver Tail. The T P Abell sailed again, after leaving the yacht here." (Source: Herreshoff, John B. "Shipping News. American Ports." New York Herald, April 28, 1877, p. 10.)

"Dear Sir: --- The gentleman's name who wants the 'Fleche' [#17p] is Conners, I told him what I thought to be the truth about the boat, that there cannot be a boat built better than the 'Fleche.' For speed there was nothing around here could beat her of her size, the last time I used her, we went from Flushing to New York in 45 minutes. I like the 'Viola' [#25p] better, because she has cabins that are comfortable, either in cold or warm weather, and she works like a charm; we have made better time with her than we expected we could from your statement. You promised that I could get about 10 to 12 miles out of her. Last Thanksgiving-day I left Elizabethport at 5 P. M., arrived at Flushing at 7 P.M. which was equivalent to 15 miles per hour. I have taken the machinery all out for the purpose of nickle-plating all the bright parts. I found that the bearings were all smooth and in good condition.
I have had the management of fine machinery for over thirty years, and never saw any better work in the fitting of machinery than is in the 'Viola.' I think your patent boiler is a great improvement over the tube-boilers; I am satisfied there is no such thing as exploding them; they are much more economical in the way of fuel and will outlast three of the old style, and are easily managed.
Yours respectfully,
VIRGIL PRICE." (Source: Appleton, George L. Letter to J. B. Herreshoff. In: Herreshoff, Jeannette Brown. The Early Founding and Devevelopment of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Tampa, Florida, 1949.)

"... In August 1875 President U.S. Grant visited General Amos Burnside at his residence in Bristol. J[ohn] B[rown Herreshoff] placed his just completed 42-foot steam yacht FLECHÉ (HMCo 17) at Burnside’s disposal to shuttle Grant from and to his steamer anchored in the harbor. 'Sundry newspaper men' were also placed 'under great obligation to (J[ohn] B[rown Herreshoff])' for the use of the same steamer to get from Burnside’s residence to the telegraph office to file their stories. [Cuttings of incidents connected to Pres. U.S. Grant’s Aug. 1875 visit to Bristol pasted into the Sadie L. Herreshoff March 1875 Newspaper Cuttings Book in the Louise DeWolf Collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum archives.] ..." (Source: Palmieri, John. "Advertising the Herreshoff Way." Curator’s Log - October 2013. http://www.herreshoff.org/news/newsletter3.html, accessed October 21, 2013.)

"[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:] Printed advertising leaflet 'Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, Bristol, R.I., Builders of The Herreshoff Patent Safety Coil Boilers, Portable and Yacht Engines, Steam Yachts and Launches, Propeller Screws, Pumps, &c.', coil boiler drawing and description, steam engine sizes, steam yachts and list of stock launch sizes, propeller sizes, testimonials, #15p GEM, #17p FLECHE (8 pages)." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. (creator). Leaflet. Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection Acc. 86.44. HMM Library Rare Books Room (Box 1), Folder [no #]. No date (ca1877 ?).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #17p Fleché [Fleche] even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Fleche (HMCo-made index card)
• Fleche (MIT Museum-made index card)
• Note: The vessel index cards comprise two sets of a total of some 3200 cards about vessels built by HMCo, with dimensions and information regarding drawings, later or former vessel names, and owners. They were compiled from HMCo's early days until 1920 and added to in later decades, apparently by Hart Nautical curator William A. Baker and his successors. While HMCo seems to have used only one set of index cards, all sorted by name and, where no name was available, by number, later users at MIT apparently divided them into two sets of cards, one sorted by vessel name, the other by vessel number and greatly expanded the number of cards. Original HMCo cards are usually lined and almost always punched with a hole at bottom center while later cards usually have no hole, are unlined, and often carry substantially less information. All cards are held by the Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections of the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Mass.

Year: 1875
E/P/S: P
No.: 017
Name: Fleche'
OA: 42'

Source: Vermilya, Peter and Maynard Bray. "Transcription of the HMCo. Construction Record." Unpublished database, ca. 2000.

Note: The transcription of the HMCo Construction Record by Peter Vermilya and Maynard Bray was performed independently (and earlier) than that by Claas van der Linde. A comparison of the two transcriptions can be particularly useful in those many cases where the handwriting in the Construction Record is difficult to decipher.

"Built in 141 days (setup to launch)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

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