HMCo #73p [Launch for St. Y. Radha]

"Unusual activity is displayed at the Herreshoff works and much yacht work is in hand. ... The handsome steam launch [HMCo #73p] for a tender to the S. S. Rhada [sic, i.e. Radha], Mr. P. Lorillard, is a little gem in beauty and finish, and is to be delivered in a week, she is 30 ft. long. ..." (Source: Anon. (C. P. Kunhardt?) "Yacht Building at Bristol." Forest and Stream, March 10, 1881, p. 117.)

"This company is now having erected a large frame building in addition to and adjoining the machine shop and boat works on Summer street, the new building being as large or larger than the original building, where so many fine large and small craft have been constructed and such a variety of first class machinery has been turned out. We visited the establishment a day or two since and by the politeness of Mr. Charles F. Herreshoff, were shown through the various departments of their busy shops.
Among the vessels now being built to order are --- one steam yacht [#72p Camilla] 60 feet in length by 9 feet in width for Dr. Holland, editor of Scribner's Monthly; another [#76p Idle Hour] of the same size for Mr. Carver, a prominent broker of New York city; and still another [#77p Edith] of the same size for a Mr. Woodward, also of New York; also one steam yacht [#78p Juliet], 45 feet long and 9 feet wide, for Mr. A. Newbold Morris, of New York.
A most beautiful steam launch [#73p Launch for St. Y. Radha], 30 feet in length and 5 feet in width, nearly completed, was receiving the final touches of the skilled workmen. This vessel is for Mr. T. Lorillard, and is one of the finest and handsomest craft ever built in this or any other country. Her keel is of oak, the inside planking of cherry, and the outside, from keel to upper works, deck, etc., all of polished mahogany. We noticed that this launch and the others mentioned were all put together with brass screws, --- no nails being used. The inside planking (or boarding) is put on in an acute angle from the outside planking, making the vessel much firmer and less liable to be wrenched or twisted out of shape.
All of the yachts and the launch mentioned are, or will be fitted with the Herreshoff compound engines, and safety coil boilers. ...
It is a specialty at this establishment to do nothing but first-class work, to build no second rate vessels. All the steam launches and yachts are finished up in the very best workmanlike manner in cherry, mahogany and costly kinds of wood. The Company has now in its employ about one hundred men, on boats and machinery." (Source: Anon. "The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company." Bristol Phoenix, March 19, 1881, p. 2.)

"N/A"

"[Item Transcription:] [Newspaper clipping that can be shown to be from the Bristol Phoenix, March 19, 1881, p. 2:] This company is now having erected a large frame building in addition to and adjoining the machine shop and boat works on Summer street, the new building being as large or larger than the original building, where so many fine large and small craft have been constructed and such a variety of first class machinery has been turned out. We visited the establishment a day or two since and by the politeness of Mr. Charles F. Herreshoff, were shown through the various departments of their busy shops.
Among the vessels now being built to order are --- one steam yacht [#72p Camilla] 60 feet in length by 9 feet in width for Dr. Holland, editor of Scribner's Monthly; another [#76p Idle Hour] of the same size for Mr. Carver, a prominent broker of New York city; and still another [#77p Edith] of the same size for a Mr. Woodward, also of New York; also one steam yacht [#78p Juliet], 45 feet long and 9 feet wide, for Mr. A. Newbold Morris, of New York.
A most beautiful steam launch [#73p Launch for St. Y. Radha], 30 feet in length and 5 feet in width, nearly completed, was receiving the final touches of the skilled workmen. This vessel is for Mr. T. Lorillard, and is one of the finest and handsomest craft ever built in this or any other country. Her keel is of oak, the inside planking of cherry, and the outside, from keel to upper works, deck, etc., all of polished mahogany. We noticed that this launch and the others mentioned were all put together with brass screws, --- no nails being used. The inside planking (or boarding) is put on in an acute angle from the outside planking, making the vessel much firmer and less liable to be wrenched or twisted out of shape.
All of the yachts and the launch mentioned are, or will be fitted with the Herreshoff compound engines, and safety coil boilers.
Two vedette boats [#74p 149 and #75p 150] are being built, each 48 by 9 feet, for the British government, both to be fitted with compound machinery and boilers, same as others mentioned, but of greater power. The yacht Sadie [#186704es] is being enlarged and rebuilt; she was formerly a sloop, but is now a schooner; her dimensions now are, length, 64 feet, breadth, 16 1/2 feet; she is owned by Mr. W. A. Cole, of New York.
They now have, nearly completed, a compound engine and boiler for a yacht 80 feet long, belonging to Mr. Mark Hopkins, of Detroit, Mich., where the machinery will be put in the yacht. The cut be-low is a very good representation of the Herreshoff Compound Engine. [Woodcut of a compound steam engine]
A writer in a recent number of the Scientific American says: The engines used in the Herreshoff system for marine purposes are of the compound condensing type, having feed and air pumps attached. The machinery of this system is especially noteworthy for its extreme lightness and for the judicious distribution of material, all of the parts having ample strength, and no portion being loaded with useless metal, which would rather detract than add to the efficiency of the machine. These engines use the steam with the highest economy, actual and prolonged tests having proved the efficiency to be at least 40 per cent greater than that of the non-expanding type. As to mechanical details of construction, finish proportion and general design these engines leave nothing to be desired.' The same writer concludes his article as follows: 'The entire range of the manufactures of the Herreshoff company exhibit careful and intelligent supervision, and workmanship that is in every way superior.'
The steam yacht LEILA [#40p], 100 feet in length, built by the Herreshoffs about two years ago, has recently been sold to a Club, at Toledo, O., where she will be forwarded about the first of May next.
The Company are building a number of engines and boilers for United States Navy launches, also constructing engines and boilers for running electrical light machines to be used by the United States Electric Lighting Co., of New York. The quickness with which steam may be raised, the freedom from danger of explosion, the lightness of both boiler and engine, and the perfection of the mechanical details, render this system valuable for this purpose, and admits of placing powerful machines in the midst of crowded cities without danger to life or property.'
It is a specialty at this establishment to do nothing but (first-class work, to build no second rate vessels. All the steam launches and yachts are finished up in the very best workmanlike manner in cherry, mahogany and costly kinds of wood. The Company has now in its employ about one hundred men, on boats and machinery.
It is a specialty at this establishment to do nothing but first-class work, to build no second rate vessels. All the steam launches and yachts are finished up in the very best workmanlike manner in cherry, mahogany and costly kinds of wood. The Company has now in its employ about one hundred men, on boats and machinery." (Source: Anon. "The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company." Bristol Phoenix, March 19, 1881, p. 2.)" (Source: Bristol Phoenix (creator). Newspaper Clipping. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE14_01220. Folder [no #]. 1881-03-19.)
①

Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #73p [Launch for St. Y. Radha] even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Yacht tender (HMCo-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.

Year: 1881
E/P/S: P
No.: 073
OA: 30'

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.

"HMCo #73 is identified only as yacht tender in the Construction Record. A note in Forest & Stream of March 10, 1881, however, strongly suggests her to be a steam tender for P. Lorillard's steam yacht Radha." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 2, 2008.)

"The American Yacht List 1885, p. 118, describes Radha as: 'Radha, Composite. Raised 2' 10" by Pine, Greenpoint, '81. Designed by Gustav Hillmann. Scw. Str. [Rig]; Sawyer & Son [Sailmaker's Name]; 300 [Custom House Tonnage. Old]; 149.15 [Custom House Tonnage. New]; 156.0 [Length]; 135.0 [W.Line]; 20.4 [Breadth]; 12.0 [Depth]; 8.6 [Draught]; C. I. 3 Cy. 20' & 26' x 24'. Boiler, 9' 10" x 14' 6", Pusy & Jones, Wilmington, Del. [Engines of Steamers. Builders of Engines]; Newburg. [Where built]; Ward, Stanton & Co. [Builder's Names]; 1880 [When built]; J. M. Seymour [Owners]; New-York [Port belonging to]; 835 [Clubs: American Yacht Club].
S. G. W. Benjamin, in his article 'Steam Yachting in America' (The Century, August 1882, p. 598-607) also describes Radha: 'More agreeable to look at and, perhaps, as good a sea-boat [as the Yosemite] is the Rhada, built in 1880 for Mr. Pierre Lorillard. She is of composite construction, very fast and every way trim and handsome, except in her for-ward-deck saloon, which breaks the flow of lines and is so unnecessarily high as to ruin the general appearance of an otherwise very handsome boat. The tendency of Americans to crowd their decks with houses is excusable when it results from a question of dollars and cents , as in a freight or passenger vessel. But we cannot understand why, when a gentleman builds for pleasure a craft in which beauty of lines and decoration are especially considered, he should so often disfigure it with clumsy excrescences called cabins, so formed and placed as to ruin the general grace of outline. The Rhada was built at Newburg, by Messrs. Ward, Stanton & Co.'
Contemporary photos of Radha by Gubelman and Stebbins exist, but none of them shows her Herreshoff tender." (Source: van der Linde, July 1, 2016.)

"Weight of hull with tanks, screw, shaft, rudder &c 1370lbs. Boiler 500lbs. Engine 176lbs. Piping &c 84lbs. Total 2130lbs." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Handwritten note on plan HH.5.00146 (002) Constr. & Arr'gt Plans of Cutter, ca 1881. Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

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