HMCo #39p Clara

"[1878-06-30] Sun 30: St[eame]r 39 Clara [#39p]. Wind NE moderate. Wehers[?] b. 1.42.30. Sandy Pt. 1.59.40 st[eam pressure] 62, rev[olutions] 128. Bishop[?] b. 2.31 st[eam pressure] 57, rev[olutions] 120. Turned at Beavertail 2.59 st[eam pressure] 55. Sandy Pt. 4.00 st[eam pressure] 59. Wehers[?] b. 4.16.30 st[eam pressure] 75. Vac[uum] 26in. With st[eam pressure] 80 [lbs] revs. 144. With st[eam pressure] 70 [lbs] revs. 132. With st[eam pressure] 60 [lbs] revs. 125.
[1878-07-01] Mon 1: Trial st[eame]r Clara (no 39) [#39p]. Started fire 9-41-35. Steam 9-43-45. 30 lbs steam [pressure] 9-45-11. Eng[ine] started 9-47. St[eam] 110 [lbs] at 10-4. Wind fresh NE. Tide ebb. Run from Mussel Bed L[igh]t to Dumpling rock, 12 miles, 4 times. Mussel Bed L[igh]t 10.9.45. Dumpling 10.52.50, av[erage] st[eam] 108 [lbs], Ry[?] 14, vol[?] 23. Dumpling 11.3.10. Mussel Bed 11.57.40 av[erage] st[eam] 118 [lbs]. Mussel bed 12.1.10. Dumpling 12.42.25, av[erage] st[eam] 120 [lbs]. Dumpling 12.54.15. Mussel Bed 1.45.45, av[erage] st[eam] 75 [lbs]. Engine worked well without heating[?]. Boiler worked well, except leak during last run. Troubled with blower belt not being strong enough [which] slipped very much during first and last run." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1878. Manuscript (excerpts). Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection.)

"The Spanish authorities in Cuba were so impressed with the performances of ESTELLE, that the following summer, they ordered a gunboat from John that would have speed enough to catch such a craft as ESTELLE, and so a contract was made with the Spanish government for the CLARA, and a very polite and gentlemanly Spanish officer was stationed here to inspect the construction." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. "The Old Tannery and My Brother John." Written July 28, 1933. In: Pinheiro, Carlton J. (ed.). Recollections and Other Writings by Nathanael G. Herreshoff. Bristol, 1998, p. 27-28.)

"John's steamers were beginning to make public interest, and he had obtained an order from the Spanish government for a gunboat [CLARA] that was to be faster than such a craft as ESTELLE, besides some orders for small steam craft. It appeared he needed my services and there was a good prospect to build up the steam powered boat business, so, at the end of 1877, I left the Corliss Steam Engine Company and engaged myself to John, under a salary smaller than the one I was leaving." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. "Some of the Boats I Have Sailed In." Written 1934. In: Pinheiro, Carlton J. (ed.). Recollections and Other Writings by Nathanael G. Herreshoff. Bristol, 1998, p. 52.)

"The first sizable order after the partnership was formed was from the Spanish government for a gunboat to be used at Cuba to chase or capture vessels the insurgents might use to import arms. Apparently the 'Estelle,' of which we have spoken before and which could maintain a speed of sixteen miles per hour, had greatly impressed the Spanish government. This gunboat, which was named 'Clara,' was somewhat similar to 'Estelle' but was one hundred and forty feet long." (Source: 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, p. 95.)

"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 ship yard there is now in process of construction a steam gun-boat [#39p Clara] for the Spanish government which is 135 feet long, 19 feet wide, 9 feet deep, of light schooner rig; her steam power will be from a vertical compound condensing engine of 300 horse power. The hull is composite, having an iron frame with wooden planking; she will be completed early in June. The wharf part of the yard where the gunboat is being built has been recently enlarged on each side some twelve or fifteen feet in width, making the head of the wharf some sixty feet front, giving ample room for ship building operations. ..." (Source: Anon. "The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company's Works." Bristol Phoenix, April 13, 1878, p. 2.)

"The new gunboat 'Clara,' built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, for the Spanish government, was successfully launched from the yard of the builders at 12 o'clock, M, on Tuesday last [May 21, 1878]. The contractor for the Spanish government, and a large number of spectators, were present to witness the launching. A general description of this steamer was published in the Phoenix of the 13th ultimo. Her trial trip will be made next week." (Source: Anon. "Locals." Bristol Phoenix, May 25, 1878, p. 2.)

"The new gunboat Clara, built for the Spanish government at the Herreshoff boat works, made a trial trip last Wednesday [May 29, 1878] afternoon in our harbor. Her speed equalled the expectations of those concerned." (Source: Anon. "Locals." Bristol Phoenix, June 1, 1878, p. 2.)

"Clara, steamer, of Bristol.
Built at Bristol, RI, by John B. Herreshoff & Co.
106 45/100 tons; 128 2/10 ft. x 19 5/10 ft. x 9 5/10 ft. [Register length x breadth x depth.]
One deck, two masts, plain head, round stern.
Surveyed and measured, June 6, 1878." (Source: U.S. Customs Department, Bristol, R.I. Custom House Record Book, 1870s to 1904 (Collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum), s.v. Clara.)

"The new gunboat Clara, built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., for the Spanish government, made a very successful and highly satisfactory trial trip on Saturday [June 1, 1878] last. Senor Montifo, the Spanish agent, with a goodly number of invited guests were on board, and all expressed themselves much pleased with the sailing qualities and the working of the machinery of this new steamer." (Source: Anon. "Locals." Bristol Phoenix, June 8, 1878, p. 2.)

"[Abstract of register or enrollment. Pos. 182:]
Clara, steamer, of Bristol.
Built at Bristol, 1878.
106.45 tons; 128.2 ft. x 19.5 ft. x 9.5 ft. [Register length x breadth x depth.]
One deck, two masts, plain head [bow].
Reg. June 13, 1878. Owner: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company of Bristol. Master: John B. Herreshoff. ([Record at:] C[ustom] H[ouse, Providence])." (Source: Survey of Federal Archives, Work Projects Administration. Ships Documents of Rhode Island. Bristol. Ship Registers and Enrollments of the Port of Bristol - Warren Rhode Island, 1941, s.v. Clara.)

"The new steamer 'Clara,' built for the Spanish government by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., cleared from the Custom House on Thursday [June 13, 1878] evening, and will sail for Cuba this (Saturday) morning. Mr J. B. Herreshoff goes out as captain of the Clara, and Captain J. Collins as sailing master." (Source: Anon. "Locals." Bristol Phoenix, June 15, 1878, p. 2.)

"The new steam gunboat Clara, built for the Spanish government by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., sailed from here for Havana, Cuba, about 11 o'clock last Saturday [June 15, 1878] forenoon. As she left her dock hearty cheers were given by the many friends assembled at the landing, and as the Clara steamed by Fort Rounds a grand salute was fired under the direction." (Source: Anon. "Locals." Bristol Phoenix, June 22, 1878, p. 2.)

"I gather [Clara was] a larger version of [#35p] Estelle, but used a different half model. At 140' (or 135' according to the offset book), she was a leap not only from Estelle but for the Old Tannery since Estelle's hull was built in Fall River. It appears that Clara's contract is what convinced NGH to join his brother, both men thinking they were on their way to building a lot of steam-driven vessels of this size with coil boilers and NGH-designed machinery. It seems that their plan sort of worked out but with smaller sizes.
... I find myself woefully ignorant in visualizing how Clara was constructed at all, let alone so quickly. I presume her iron frames were bent to patterns or perhaps chalked lines laid out on a platform, but how were they bent and where? Heated and beaten to the specified curve by a trip hammer or what? It appears to me that NGH filled out two offset books with somewhat the same information making me think that two parties were at work simultaneously bending the frames. A portion of the frames could easily have been farmed out to a local blacksmith while the HMCo workers bent the others and were laying the 10" x 12" oak keel and getting out the [yellow pine?] planking.
NGH at the beginning of recording offsets lists them as feet, inches and fractions of inches (e.g. 5' 2-1/4"), then, partway through, shifts to feet, inches, and eights (e.g. 5-2-2). He records these half-breadths at 6" intervals above the base. Accuracy is to the nearest 1/8" so he must have had a device somewhat like the later one we're familiar with.
I can't find how thick the planking was, but the 2-3/8" bolts indicate planks were around 1-1/2" to 1-3/4" thick if they were counterbored for bungs. With 133 frames, a girth averaging 12', planks averaging 5-1/2" wide, there'd be 26 planks per side, all of which works out to confirm the 13,000 button-head bolts that NGH specified. The 2,000 longer bolts he also called for must have been for the ends of the iron deck beams, or 'carlins' as they're called in the book.
Then there are the bolt holes which somehow were formed in the angle iron frames. I wonder if they were punched in their approximate locations before they were set up and then reamed to fit the 3/8" diameter bolts as the planks were being hung? Or what?
Given Clara's size, those 70 yard workers must have been flat out milling wood, bending and erecting frames, attaching beams, hanging planks and laying decking, not to mention the deck structures which were probably built as subassemblies. WOW!
How I wish that the drawings had survived! NGH lists only five: Elevation, Keel, Sternpost et al, Stem et al, and a detail showing the ends of the deck beams.
I find it fascinating to speculate, but Clara is a stretch." (Source: Bray, Maynard. Private Email to Claas van der Linde, March 13, 2021.)

"The men who worked on bending the wrought iron frames were called anglesmiths in larger shops and were separate from the workers who dealt with unheated iron. Iron angles had to be heated before they could be bent so there must have been a long, coal-fired forge for this purpose—perhaps even in 1878 inside one of the buildings on Burnside Street. Bending took place on a bending slab (blacksmith's pegboard, I've heard it called) made up of square cast iron sections, about six inches thick with sides measuring about six feet by six feet, that were riddled with square holes. See attached sketch from Abell's book The Shipwright's Trade [1948, p. 133].
As the angle iron is bent, the material on the inside of the curve goes into compression and I suppose would tend to buckle, thus the need for men with mauls to keep pounding it flat. Must have been hard, hot, and noisy work that echoed L. Francis's description of HMCo's 'vulcans' [Herreshoff, L. Francis. The Wizard of Bristol. New York 1953, p. 213]. After being bent to the correct curve, mauls and forked levers took care of beveling the contact face of the frame so that the planking would fit against it, this operation done while the frame was still hot and malleable.
Since wrought iron is more like hardwood than steel, I'm thinking that the fastening holes were made as the hull was being planked, using pneumatic drills. Those for Clara were only for 3/8" bolts, yet I'll bet the twist drills themselves dulled easily and had to be frequently sharpened.
How the angle iron deck beams attached to the hull frames remains for me a mystery, although this detail did appear on one of the drawings (now lost) that NGH listed for this vessel.
Designing and supervising construction of the steam propulsion engine and auxiliaries must have come as a second nature to NGH because of his Corliss experience. But forming the tapered tube that became the coil boiler must have been challenging --- really challenging. Those lap welds had to withstand 50 psi or so of steam pressure without leaking. After the forge-welding, came the gradual bending of the tube that became the famous HMCo coil boiler. What a risky bit of business this must have been!" (Source: Bray, Maynard. Private Email to Claas van der Linde, March 16, 2021.)

"N/A"

Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #39p Clara even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Clara (HMCo-made index card)
• Clara (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: Clara
Type: Steam
Length: 140'
Owner: Spanish Naval Comm., The

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

• Clara
• 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: Clara
Type: 140' steam
Owner: Spanish Naval Commission
Row No.: 114

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: 1878
E/P/S: P
No.: 039
Name: Clara
OA: 140'

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.

"Exported to Spain." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 2, 2008.)

"Clara is listed as LOA 140ft in the Construction Record, while the offset booklets and contemporary reports appear to describe her as having had an LOA of 135ft." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 13, 2021.)

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