HMCo #38p Puck

"[1878-04-23] Tue 23: St[eame]r 38 [#38p Puck]. Cone[?] boiler. Westin[?] Engine & DeLamater screw 3f[oot] dia[meter], 3f h., engine 6 cyl[inder]s, 4 x 4. 1/2 mile course 2m 51s & 2m 52s. At 78 to 85 lbs [steam pressure], av[erage] 82 lbs. Cumberland coal. Water feed by Hitchcocks[?] Inspirator, exhaust free in stack, small st[eam] jet. 3 on board, calm. [Trial data.]" (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1878. Manuscript (excerpts). Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection.)

"We made a brief visit to the Works of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, of this town, a few days since and were surprised at the recent great increase in the business of that establishment. At present more than seventy skilled mechanics and workmen are employed there. Through the politeness of Charles F. Herreshoff, Esq, father of the famous boat builder, we were conducted through the various departments in the yards and buildings. ...
In the yard between this building and the boat shop near the wharf, there is a 45 feet yacht [probably #38p Puck], 7 feet wide, built for Boston parties; and also No 31 [#31p], built last year and sold to parties in Buenos Ayres, South America, to be delivered within a few days, she is 47 1/2 feet long and is to be used on the La Platte river. ..." (Source: Anon. "The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company's Works." Bristol Phoenix, April 13, 1878, p. 2.)

"[Item Transcription:] [Penciled time and other notes and calculations for a trial trip:] St[eame]r 38 [[#38p PUCK]. At[?] 30th Westin[?] engine. 38in [propeller] wheel, 57 pitch. 1/2 mile courses, low tide, 105lbs st[eam pressure], 204 rev[olutions] per min, 3 m[inutes], [with] 5 [persons] on board. 120 to 150lbs st[eam pressure] (av[erage] 130), 224 rev, 2m 51sec, 6 on board. 82lbs st[eam pressure], 195 rev, 3m 11sec. 3/4in. ex nozzle, ex waste pipe open.
Make steam very easy. [In] P.M. with 32in wheel, st[eam pressure] 100 to 105, 1/2 mile in 2m 54sec. 85lbs st[eam pressure] in 3m[inutes] [at] 102 lbs [steam pressure]. 330 rev, 2m 46sec. 105lbs, 2[minutes] 39sec, 460 rev[olutions]. [Undated, similar data with identical times can also be found in NGH diary under date of April 23, 1878, suggesting this to be the date of this note and trial.]" (Source: Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_48610. Note. Subject Files, Folder [no #]. No date (1878-04-23 ?).)
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"N/A"

Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #38p Puck even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Puck (HMCo-made index card)
• Puck (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: Puck
Type: Steam
Length: 45'
Owner: Edwards, Ernest

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

• Puck
• 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: Puck
Type: 45' steam
Owner: Ernest Edwards
Year: 1878
Row No.: 549

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: 1887 [sic, i. e. 1878]
E/P/S: P
No.: 038
Name: Puck
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.

"The Construction Record notes, apparently incorrectly, that a 2in. x 7in. high pressure steam engine was initially installed in Puck. But note that this would have made Puck the only HMCo-built vessel to have been fitted with such an engine. Furthermore, none of the plans at M.I.T. shows such an engine. Given that the HMCo-prepared vessel index card for Puck notes that a 3 1/2in. x 7in. high pressure steam engine was put in Puck, these figures were also used for inclusion in the HCR." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 3, 2015.)

"In the absence of better available data displacement was estimated by using the figure for Old Measurement Tons (7) from the 1882 Olsen's American Yacht List and converting to lbs by dividing through 2000 (short tons). Note that this figure can only be a rough estimate because register tons as reported in Yacht Registers correlate only loosely with actual displacement figures." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 17, 2015.)

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