HMCo #54p Dolphin

"Dolphin, steam yacht, of Bristol.
Built at Bristol, RI, by Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., 1879.
6.39 tons; 38.6 ft. x 8.6 ft. x 3.9 ft. [Register length x breadth x depth.]
No deck, no mast, plain head, sharp stem.
Surveyed and measured, July 14, 1879." (Source: U.S. Customs Department, Bristol, R.I. Custom House Record Book, 1870s to 1904 (Collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum), s.v. Dolphin.)

"[License issued to vessel under 20 tons. Pos. 66:]
Dolphin, steam yacht, of Bristol.
Built at [blank] [HMCo].
6.39 tons; 38.6 ft. x 8.6 ft. x 3.9 ft. [Register length x breadth x depth.]
No specifications shown.
Previous documentation not shown.
Lic[ensed] ([for] C[oastal] T[rade]) July 14, 1879. Owner: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company of Bristol. Master: John B. Herreshoff.
Surrendered [license] July 2, 1881 at Bristol. ([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. Dolphin.)

"THE HOME OF HIGH SPEEDS. --- The summer months have opened busily at the constructing and machine shops of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, Bristol. R. I. ... The steamer Dolphin [HMCo #54p], built here for Mr. Kennedy of New York, has been kindly loaned by that gentleman to the Yale crew, and left a few days since for New Haven. She is to act as coaching-steamer in preparation for the coming regatta at New London. ..." (Source: Anon. (C. P. Kunhardt?) "Yachting News." Forest and Stream, June 24, 1880, p. 419.)

"STEAM LAUNCH DOLPHIN FOR SALE --- 38 1/2 feet long, 8 1/2 feet beam; built by Herreshoff in 1879. She is fast and in perfect order; draws about 3 feet; licensed to carry 13 persons. Apply to HERRESHOFF MANUFACTURING COMPANY, Bristol, R. I., where she may be seen, or Post office box 3.395 New York." (Source: Anon. [Classified Ad.] New York Herald, November 20, 1881, p. 14.)

"THE HERRESHOFF WORKS AT BRISTOL. ... Of late years [the Herreshoffs] have turned their attention to steam and have given to the engineering world the Herreshoff engine and coil boiler. The list of steam yachts is a long one, including some of the fastest afloat, Leila [#40p], Aida [#92p ex-Permelia], Permelia [sic, double-counted, #92p], Ossabaw [#101p], (No. 100) [#100p Permelia], Gleam [#65p], Marina [#105p], Orienta [#89p], Nereid [#83p], Magnolia [#104p], Camilla [#72p], Dolphin [#54p], Xantho [#99p], Juliet [#78p], Sinbad [#49p]. ..." (Source: Anon. (W. P. Stephens). "The Herreshoff Works at Bristol." Forest and Stream, April 16, 1885, p. 236, 237.)

"The following is a list of the steam yachts built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company of Bristol, R.I: ... Dolphin, built 1879, for Robert Lenox Kennedy. Length, 42 feet; breadth, 8 feet 6 inches; depth, 4 feet; draught, 3 feet; speed, 10 miles per hour. ..." (Source: Jaffray, Edward S. "American Steam Yachting." Outing, April 1886, p. 23-25.)

"The steam yacht Dolphin will hereafter ply the waters of Lake Champlain. She has been purchased from Howard S. Jaffray by Major W. B. Wetmore. J. B. Herreshoff built her in 1879. She is 42 feet over all, 89 feet at water-line, 8.6 feet beam, 4 feet deep and draws 8 feet." (Source: Anon. "Notes of Yachts and Yachtsmen." New-York Tribune, April 30, 1887, p. 7.)

"[Item Description:] Casting Book # 4, steamers #40p, #54p, #57p, #63p, #67p, #70p, #79p, #89p, #92p, #99p, #100p, #101p, #102p, #103p, #104p, #105p, #106p, #107p, #108p, #109p, #110p, #111p, #112p, #113p, #114p, #115p, #116p, #117p, #118p, #119p, #120p, #121p, #122p, #123p, #124p, #125p, #126p, #127p, #128p, #129p, #130p, #131p, #132p, #133p, #134p, #135p, #136p, #137p, #138p, #139p, #140p, #141p, #142p, #143p, #144p, #145p, #146p, #147p [castings by hull number; front page shows summary size and engine and boiler data for steamers 99 thru 146 as well as repair data for steamers #40p, #54p, #57p, #63p, #67p, #70p, #79p, #89p, #92p, #118p, and #128p]. Undated, vessels mentioned were built between 1878 and 1887. Dates mentioned for repairs range from 1885 to 1887. Note considerable informational overlap with Casting Book # 1, which as in this book also contains data for #99p through #116p, although it appears (!) that Book # 4 lists more patterns per boat than Book # 1. Likewise, considerable overlap with Casting Books # 2 and # 3 which also contain data for boats that are also listed in book # 4. It may well be that information in Book # 4 was copied from books # 1, # 2 and 3." (Source: MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.120-07. Castings Book 4. Box HAFH.6.4B, Folder Casting Record Books Vessel Castings Book 4. No date (1878 to 1887).)
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"N/A"

"[Item Description:] Casting Book # 2 [B (there is another Casting Book # 2)] showing hull castings as per title only for steamers #148p Our Mary and #149p Jersey Lily. Contents, however, also include castings for other boats including #188903es Yawl Boat for #157p Aquila, #405s Alice, #406s Iris, #54p Dolphin, #65p Gleam, #104p Magnolia, #104p Magnolia, #133p Henrietta, #151p Ballymena, #152p Cushing, #155p Augusta [III], #156p Antoinette, #157p Aquila, #158p Launch for Seal Fishing, and #162p Judy. Also listed are many parts for a quadruple engine (probably for #152p Cushing or for #150p Say When or #151p Ballymena). While other casting lists record both castings made at home and at outside foundries, this book appears to list only castings made at outside foundries and none at home. A first part of the booklet from front to about the middle shows casting numbers, descriptions, numbers of castings and foundry where made with dates ranging from Sept 10, [1887] to Dec 14 [1889]. A second, upside down, part of the booklet begins at the end and then goes back to the middle showing for the same date range 'Patterns sent away' with pattern numbers and names of foundries these were sent to. A further section then shows castings required for #152p Cushing and as well as castings required for Lagging, Pumping Engines, Feed Pump and Air Pump, all these possibly also for #152p Cusing. A final section shows 'Patterns ordered home' with pattern numbers, foundry names these were received from and dates ranging from Sept 12 [1887] to Dec 16 [1889]." (Source: MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.120-03. Castings Book 2B. Box HAFH.6.4B, Folder Casting Record Books Hull Castings Order Book 2. 1888-09-10 to 1889-12-14.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #54p Dolphin even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Isherwood, Benjamin Franklin, Theo. Zeller and Charles E. DeValin. "Report of a Board of United States Naval Engineers on the Boiler and System of Machinery for Steam-Yachts, Steam-Launches, etc." Washington, Bureau of Steam Engineering of the U.S. Navy Department, 1880.
  Detailed descriptions of the boilers of four Herreshoff vessels (#43p Kelpie, #52p Javelin, #54p Dolphin, #57p Launch for N. Y. Coast Survey), testing results and procedures, praise of the lightness of the Herreshoff machinery and efficiency of the Herreshoff coil boiler.

• Dolphin (HMCo-made index card)
• Dolphin (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: Dolphin
Type: Steam
Length: 42'
Owner: Kennedy, Robert Lenox

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

• Dolphin
• 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: Dolphin
Type: 42' steam
Owner: Robert L. Kennedy
Year: 1879
Row No.: 161

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: 1879
E/P/S: P
No.: 054
Name: Dolphin
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.

"... Str. #54 - Repair Job. ..." (Source: Anon. [Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. (N. G. Herreshoff?)] No Title. [Handwritten Notes on Outer Cover of Notebook.] No date [ca. late 1880s.] Notebook in the Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, The Francis Russel Hart Nautical Collections, M.I.T. Museum, Cambridge, Mass., obj. no. HH.6.120.)

"Date this vessel was finished was estimated as July 14, 1879, 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.)

"In the absence of better available data displacement was estimated by using the figure for Gross Register Tons (6.39) from the 1890-91 Manning's American Yacht List (Net Register Tons were reported as 6.39 by 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.