HMCo #94p [Launch for U.S.S. Albatross]

"The Herreshoff Company are now employing 100 men in all departments, and during the approaching season expect to greatly increase this force. The yearly vacation will commence in a few days, and when work is resumed on August 30, it will be pushed on orders for several launches for the Fish Commission [#94p Launch for U.S.S. Albatross and #95p Gig for U.S.S. Albatross] and a sidewheel pleasure yacht for river use [#98p Augusta I]. ..." (Source: Anon. "Steam Yacht Building In Rhode Island. The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company And Its Operations." The Mechanical Engineer, September 2, 1882, p. 55.)

"The US Steamer Fish Hawk, Captain Tanner of the United States Fish Commission, arrived here on the night of the 12th inst., and subsequently took on board the steam launches [#94p Launch for U.S.S. Albatross and #95p Gig for U.S.S. Albatross] built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co, for the Commission, and sailed for Wilmington. Del. on Tuesday last [October 17, 1882]." (Source: Anon. "Local Notes." Bristol Phoenix, October 21, 1882, p. 2.)

"The Albatross has five boats, as follows:
HERRESHOFF STEAM CUTTER.
The Herreshoff steam cutter is 26 feet 6 inches in length, 7 feet beam, and 3 feet 10 inches in depth, with double coil boiler and compound engine, cylinders 6 inches and 3 1/2 inches in diameter and 7-inch stroke, developing 16 horse-power with 100 pounds of steam. It has a keel condenser, and carries an average of 26 inches vacuum. The bunkers hold 1,100 pounds of coal, and the fresh-water tank, which is placed directly underneath the boiler, has a capacity of 42 gallons, sufficient for three days' steaming.
The hull and engine are of the best material and workmanship. Water tight compartments at bow and stern have sufficient buoyancy to prevent sinking in case the boat is filled with water. Twelve persons can be seated comfortably in the stern sheets.
In addition to steam power, the boat is provided with sliding gunter masts and sails, schooner rigged, and makes good speed under sail alone. It is cutter build, with square stern, weighs 5,500 pounds, and has a speed of 8 knots." [P. 12]
...
STEAM CUTTERS.
The Albatross is provided with two steam cutters, built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, of Bristol, R. I., from their own designs. The boats have wooden hulls, the larger one being coppered; both are fastened with screws, and are built as light as is consistent with strength. They have compound engines, Herreshoffs patent coil boilers, and external surface condensers. That which distinguishes Herreshoffs system is the coil boiler fed at the top, emptying its steam and water into a separator (whence steam is fed to the engine), and a 'circulating pump' which takes the excess of feed-water from the bottom of the separator and delivers it again to the top of the coil. The larger boat has its shaft parallel with the base line and has a 4-bladed screw; ... Fig. 16 is a cut of the double-coil boiler of the steam cutter. The feed water enters the bottom of the outer coil, passing upward and through the spiral coil, then into and down the inner coil, and finally up, through an external pipe F, and into the separator D. The gases of combustion pass through the spaces between the coils. The furnace is lined with firebricks to a height of about 6 inches, and the coils are supported by wrought iron straps, with stirrup bolts, resting on the fire-bricks; the casing of the boiler is of sheet iron. The lightness of the boiler, the very small amount of water it contains, its great strength, and large heating surface give it great advantages over other boilers, and its results have been admirable. [P. 42]
...
The principal dimensions of the boats and machinery are as follow:
Large boat.
Length from forward edge of stem to after edge of stern; feet; 26.500
Length at the load water-line; do; 24.500
Greatest beam; do; 6.750
Beam at the load water-line; do; 6.400
Depth from top edge of gunwale to lower edge of rabbet of keel:
Forward; do; 4.333
Amidships; do; 3.417
Aft; do; 3.677
Draught of water, exclusive of keel:
Forward; do; 1.667
Amidships; do; 1.625
Aft; do; 1.583
Depth of keel:
Forward; do; .25
Amidships; do; .625
Aft; do; 1.000
Area of greatest immersed transverse section; square feet; 7.27
Area of load water-line; do; 101.65
Aggregate area of the wetter surface; do; 116.25
Displacement at the load water-line; cubic feet; 80.29
Weight of hull and fittings; pounds; 3,300
Weight of boiler; do; 1,115
Weight of coal and water; do; 780
Weight of engine, including screw; do; 520
Weight of the boat complete; do; 5,715
Number of boilders; ; 1
Diameter of casing of boiler; inches; 36
Diameter of furnace; inches; 29
Area of grate surface; square feet; 4.58
Diameter of smoke-pipe; inches; 10
Height of smoke-pipe above grate bars; feet; 8.75
Diameter of separator; do; 6
Steam cylinders; number; 2
Diameter of high-pressure cylinder; inches; 3 1/2
Diameter of low-pressure cylinder; do; 6
Stroke of pistons; do; 7
Diameter of the piston rods; do; 5/8 [?]
Diameter of the air pump (single-acting); do; 2 1/2
Stroke of airpump; do; 2 7/8
Diameter of circulating pump-plunger; do; 7/16 [?]
Diameter of feed pump-plunger; do; 7/16 [?]
Stroke of pumps; do; 7
Length of condensing pipes; feet; 15
Condensing surface; square feet; 9.83
Main journals; number; 3
Diameter of main journals; inches; 1 1/2
Length of main journals; do; 3
Crank pin journals; number; 2
Diameter of crank-pin journals:
High pressure; inches; 1 1/2 [?]
Low pressure; do; 1/2 [?]
Length of crank-pin journals:
High pressure; do; 1 1/2
Low pressure; do; 1 1/2
Space occupied by the engine:
Length fore and aft; do; 24 1/2
Width; do; 21
Height; do; 44
Diameter of the screw propeller; do; 28
Pitch of the crew propeller (uniform); do; 48.72
Projected length of the screw on line of its axis; do; 5
Blades of the screw; number; 4
Friction of the pitch used; ; 0.49
Helicoidal area of the screw blades; square feet; 3.89 [?]
Weight of the screw; pounds; 45 [P. 44]" (Source: United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. "Report of the Commissioner for 1883." Washington, 1885.)

"In 1881 we purchased two Herreshoff steam cutters [#94p Launch for U.S.S. Albatross and #95p Gig for U.S.S. Albatross] for the Fish Commission Steamer Albatross, which vessel was then being built under my superintendence. The original form of Herreshoff boiler was used in these cutters. The feed pumps were worked from the cross-heads, and there was no other means of feeding the boilers. There were small fresh-water tanks in these boats for supplying the leaks. Clean distilled water was used in the boilers, and the feed pumps and tanks were cleaned at every opportunity. The grate bars were replaced once in every eighteen months; new casings and smoke pipes were necessary at the end of two years; the only parts of the original boilers left at the end of two years, were the coils, separators and a few fittings. Twice a year I had the boats landed, took out both engines and boilers, replacing every defective part of the boilers, and re-bushing the engine journals and re-lining the engines at these times. The boilers (the coils) by this kind of attention lasted six years.
The boats did a great deal of running, and generally well up to full power. We sometimes carried them at the davits for forty-eight hours at a time with the fires banked. As soon as fires were hauled the coils were swept and the ash-pit and furnace closed and smoke pipe covered, to keep out moisture. The commanding officer of the Albatross, as well as the Commissioner of Fisheries, never once restricted me in any repairs or changes I desired to make in these boats, which enabled me to keep them in good condition. My experience has, therefore, been confined to the original and not the 'improved' Herreshoff boiler.
The one great difficulty I have found with this type of boiler is to find or to train men to run it. As all others are 'water-level' boilers, and as the height of water is the thing most carefully watched, it naturally makes a man nervous to confront so radical a change. This original Herreshoff boiler contains the greatest strength for a given weight of metal. It has a positive circulation; there are no pockets to deflect the water; it takes its one unalterable course from its receiving point to the separator. It contains a relatively large furnace, that the rate of combustion per square foot of grate may be diminished, with a given total combustion.
The steam, I believe, is mostly formed in the separator, where the pressure is somewhat diminished; and if this be true, the coils are run pretty full of water, the weight of which in this type of boiler is nearly as much as in other tubulous boilers." (Source: Baird, George W. Passed Assistant Engineer, U. S. Navy. [Comment.] Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers. August, 1890, p. 392-393.)

"N/A"

"[Item Transcription:] Handwritten (in ink and pencil) trials booklet titled 'HMCo. Experiments. 1882'. Relevant contents:
§6: #94p [LAUNCH FOR U.S.S. ALBATROSS] Trial Run (1882-10-13)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Trials Booklet. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE07_02860. Folder [no #]. 1881-06 to 1883-03.)
① ② ③ ④ ⑤ ⑥ ⑦ ⑧ ⑨ ⑩ ⑪ ⑫ ⑬ ⑭ ⑮ ⑯ ⑰ ⑱ ⑲ ⑳ ㉑ ㉒ ㉓

"[Item Description:] Casting Book # 3, steamers #136p, #63p (Repair), #89p, #118p (Repair), #137p, #94p (Extra), #138p, steamer LOOKOUT ex-HALCYON, #128p (spare parts), #139p [castings by hull number]. Undated, dates mentioned are from 1886. Note considerable informational overlap with Casting Book # 4, which also contains data for most of the boats mentioned in this book." (Source: MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.120-08. Castings Book 3. Box HAFH.6.4B, Folder Casting Record Books Vessel Castings Book 3. No date (ca1886).)
① ② ③ ④ ⑤ ⑥ ⑦ ⑧ ⑨ ⑩ ⑪

Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #94p [Launch for U.S.S. Albatross] even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Launch for USS Albatross (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.

Name: Albatross
Type: Steam
Length: 26'3"
Owner: U.S. Fish Commission

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

• Launch for Albatross
• 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: Albatross
Type: 26' 3" steam
Owner: U. S. Fish Commission
Row No.: 11

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: 1882
E/P/S: P
No.: 094
OA: 25' [sic, i.e. 26' 3"]

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.

"Steam launch for the 234ft LOA U.S. Fish Commission steamer U.S.S. Albatross." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. June 3, 2009.)

"June 30th 1882.
St. Launch.
Str. no. 94. Frames 10 1/2in. apart, 1 1 1/8in. sq, planking 3/4in.
Model 30in. long, for 6f 9in. Beam
and 3f 5 1/2in. deep, overhanging stem.
Thickness of Stem, keel and stem post 2 1/2in.
Deduct for timbers and planking 1 7/8in.
Thickness of stem at edge 1/2in." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. [Handwritten notes.] Offset booklet HH.4.10 in the Hart Nautical Collections at M.I.T., June 30, 1882.)

"Displacement (80.29 cu ft) from United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. 'Report of the Commissioner for 1883.' Washington, 1885. But note different figure (3200lbs = 1.6 short tons) in Construction Record comment and on plan 3-20." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 30, 2014.)

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