HMCo #56p Lucy

"Lucy, steam yacht, of Bristol.
Built at Bristol, RI, by Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., 1880.
6.39 tons; 38.6 ft. x 8.6 ft. x 3.9 ft. [Register length x breadth x depth.]
No specifications shown.
Surveyed and measured, April, 1880 [also on May 10, 1881]." (Source: U.S. Customs Department, Bristol, R.I. Custom House Record Book, 1870s to 1904 (Collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum), s.v. Lucy.)

"[License issued to vessel under 20 tons. Pos. 157:]
Lucy, 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] (CT [Coastal Trade]) Apr. 10, 1880. Owner: Frank S. Birch of Swansea, Mass. Master: Frank S. Birch. ([Record at:] C[ustom] H[ouse, Providence]).
Lic[ensed] [for] (CT [Coastal Trade]) May 10, 1881 (vessel altered - 9.39 tons). Owner: same. Master: same.
Surrendered [license] July 28, 1883 at New York. ([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. Lucy.)

"The following is a list of the steam yachts built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company of Bristol, R.I: ... Lucy, same size and description as Dolphin [Length, 42 feet; breadth, 8 feet 6 inches; depth, 4 feet; draught, 3 feet; speed, 10 miles per hour], built for F. S. Birch, New York. ..." (Source: Jaffray, Edward S. "American Steam Yachting." Outing, April 1886, p. 23-25.)

"N/A"

Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #56p Lucy even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Lucy (HMCo-made index card)
• Lucy (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: Lucy
Type: Steam
Length: 42'
Owner: Birch, Frank S.

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

• Lucy
• 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: Lucy
Type: 42' 5" steam
Owner: Frank S. Birch
Year: 1880
Row No.: 387

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: 1880
E/P/S: P
No.: 056
Name: Lucy
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.

"Date this vessel was finished was estimated as April 10, 1880, the date this boat was measured by the U.S. Custom House inspector as per the 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." (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 (7.65) from the 1890-91 Manning's American Yacht List (New Measurement Tons were reported as 5.18 by the 1885 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.