HMCo #30p Kanawa

"The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, of this town, have received from the United States government an order for the construction of a shoal draft, side-wheel steamboat, for the purpose of surveying on the Great Kanawah river in Western Virginia. The steamer will be about forty-five feet in length, and will be propelled by one of Herreshoff's improved yacht engines and the Herreshoff coil boiler. Her speed will be guaranteed at the rate of twelve miles per hour. This makes the eighth order for this Company, from the government, during the present year." (Source: Anon. "Locals." Bristol Phoenix, December 23, 1876, p. 2.)

"No. 30 [Kanawa], steam yacht, of Bristol.
Built at Bristol, RI, by Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., 1877.
5 15/100 tons; 42.9 ft. x 7 ft. x 3.2 ft. [Register length x breadth x depth.]
Plain head, round stern.
Surveyed and measured, April 27, 1878.
Master: Edward A. Hopkins." (Source: U.S. Customs Department, Bristol, R.I. Custom House Record Book, 1870s to 1904 (Collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum), s.v. No. 30.)

"[Item Description:] Penciled technical drawing on brown paper titled '5 x 10in. April 1877'. With notes 'Eccentric rod head same as ordinary', 'Case hardened', 'Shaft 2 3/8 dia[meter', 'Eccentric strop[?] and rod same as ordinary', 'plan of pall', 'w[rou]gt iron', 'hard spring' and 'backing notch'. (A simple expansion high pressure 5" bore x 10" stroke engine was used in 1877 for both #30p KANAWA and #31p River Steamer but it is not clear what exactly this drawing shows)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Technical Drawing. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE11_02280. Folder [no #]. 1877-04.)
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"N/A"

Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #30p Kanawa even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Kanawa (HMCo-made index card)
• Kanawa (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.

Name: Kanawa
Type: Steam
Length: 45'
Owner: U.S. Army

Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. "A Partial List of Herreshoff Clients." In: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Herreshoff Yachts. Bristol, Rhode Island, ca. 1931.

• Kanawa
• 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: Kanawa
Type: 45' steam
Owner: U.S. Army
Row No.: 332

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.

Year: 1877
E/P/S: P
No.: 030
Name: Kanawa
OA: 45'

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.

"Date this vessel was finished was estimated as April 27, 1877, the date this boat was measured by the U.S. Custom House inspector as per the U.S. Custom House Record Book in the collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 9, 2020.)

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