HMCo #158p [Launch for Seal Fishing]

"[1889-03-15] Fri 15: [Brother] John & [his daughter] Katie returned from Calafornia[sic]. Order for 23' st[eame]r (#157) [sic. The 23ft length suggests this to be a reference to #158p Launch for Seal Fishing for use on the West Coast. Note, however, that #157p Aquila, though 48ft long, was also meant to be sent to San Francisco. Subsequent diary entries will continue to mix up the hull numbers of these two launches].
[1889-11-05] Tue 5: Launched & tried st[eame]r #158 [Launch for Seal Fishing] (Sealing launch).
[1889-11-23] Sat 23: Shipped launch #158 [Launch for Seal Fishing], boxed, to S. Francisco. [We may assume that the two steam engines, #159p and #160p, which had been contracted for by the same party, were delivered at the same time.] ..." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1889. Manuscript (excerpts). Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection.)

"Nov. 8th, 1889
Steamer no 158.
Launch for the seal Fisheries of S. Francisco.
23ft x 4ft 8in x 2ft 8in, peaked stern, clinker built. New waterlevel pipe boiler of modified Thornycroft type. 2 1/2 x 5 engine with high pressure condensing. 2 bl[ade] screw, 19in [diameter] x 30in [pitch].
Screw at one side arranged to raise [via an ingenious cardan joint in the propeller shaft].
Weight complete with 1/2 tank of water ... 1406 [lbs]
[Plus] 2 men & coal, say 350 [lbs]
[Total weight] 1756 [lbs].
On half mile course, wind light E, 2 on board, little coal, poor Franklin[?] coal
... [With natural draft:] Rev[olutions] mean 249, ... mean speed 5.9 miles, [propeller] slip 18%.
... [With jet in stack (forced draft):] Rev[olutions] mean 360, ... mean speed 7.4 miles, [propeller] slip 27%." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. Trials Booklet 1884 - 1889. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum.)

"The Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. will build a 23-foot steam launch [#158p] for the seal fisheries in Alaska." (Source: Anon. "Local Affairs." Bristol Phoenix, August 17, 1889, p. 2.)

"The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, after a three weeks vacation, started up again Monday morning [August 12, 1889]." (Source: Anon. "Local Affairs." Bristol Phoenix, August 17, 1889, p. 2.)

"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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"[Item Transcription:] [Typed trial run note:] Trial of steamer No. 158 [#158p Launch for Seal Fishing]. Nov. 8th, 1889.
Dimensions 23ft X 4ft8in X 2ft 8in. Engine 2 1/2in X 5in single Screw, two blade bronze, 19in dia. 30in pitch. Weight of boat, including 2 men and coal 1756lbs. 1st. run. up, maximum steam 65, minimum steam 48, mean 54. mean revolutions per min. 262. Time 5h 7-1/2min down. max. steam 48, min. steam 46, mean 47. Mean revolutions per min. 249. Time 5h 4-/2min Above was with natural draft.
With jet.
Up. Max. steam 104, Min. 95. Mean 99. Revolutions per min. 360, Time 4h 9-1/2m
Down. Max. steam. 102. Min. steam 95, Mean 99. Revolutions per min. 354. Time 3h 58-1/2min
Mean speed, natural draft. 5.9 miles per hour. Mean speed, using jet in stack, 7.4 miles per hour.
Would recommend for ordinary runing[sic, i.e. running], 60 to 65 lbs. steam pressure, which will require the jet used very moderately, if good coal is used." (Source: Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDW02_03510. Trial Run Note. Folder [no #]. 1889-11-08.)
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"[Item Transcription:] Handwritten (in ink and pencil) experiments and trials booklet titled 'Herreshoff Mfg. Co. Experiments 1884 to 1889. N.G. Herreshoff'. Relevant contents:
§40: #158p [LAUNCH FOR SEAL FISHING] Trial Run (1889-11-08)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Trials Booklet. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE07_03520. Folder [no #]. 1884-05 to 1890-05.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #158p [Launch for Seal Fishing] even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Launch for shad fishing San Francisco (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: 1889
E/P/S: P
No.: 158
OA: 23'

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.

"Dimensions from NGH notes in offset booklet HH.4.23." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. July 15, 2014.)

"Built in 235 days (contract to launch; equivalent to 6 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

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