HMCo #165p Katydid

"[1890-08-14] Thu 14: Work order for 27' launch for E. D. Morgan [#165p Katydid].
[1890-09-23] Tue 23: Finished #164 [sic, ie. #165p Katydid] launch for E. D. Morgan.
[1890-12-16] Tue 16: Hauled up Lucile [#110p or #122p], Daisy, and Katydid [#165p]. ...
[1891-05-05] Tue 5: ... Launched Katydid [#165p]." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1890 to 1891. Manuscript (excerpts). Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection.)

"August 31 1935
Dear Mr. Stephens -
... Commodore E. D. Morgan first came here in summer of 1890 in his 40 footer MOCCASIN (or TOMMYHAWK I forget which) to see the shops, and I had the privilege of showing him about and having a very interesting talk. On leaving I said I was about to take a little sail in my cat yawl CLARA and would he like to go with me and transfer to his 40 footer down the Bay. He took the wheel and he was astonished the way we held to the 40 footer in beating to windward. He soon came again and ordered a 27 ft. steam launch [#165p Katydid] and also a 27 ft. cat-yawl with fish-well (PELICAN) for his brother-in-law and soon after a 29 1/2 ft. cat-yawl GANNET for himself. ...
Very truly yours,
Nathanael Greene Herreshoff
Sept. 15 1935." (Source: Letter 13. From N. G. Herreshoff to W. P. Stephens, dated August 31, 1935 to September 15, 1935. In: Herreshoff, Nathanael Greene and William Picard Stephens. "Their Last Letters 1930-1938." Annotated by John W. Streeter. Bristol, R. I., ca. 1999, p. 67-80.)

"[License issued to vessel under 20 tons. Pos. 201:]
No. 165 [Katydid], steam yacht, of Bristol.
Built at [blank] [HMCo].
10.40 tons; no dimensions nor specifications shown.
Previous documentation not shown.
Lic[ensed] ([as] yacht) July 26, 1890. Owner: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company of Bristol. Master: [blank]. ([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. No. 165.)

"NEWPORT. R. I., Oct. 18. --- ... Mr. E. D. Morgan has received a new twenty-seven-foot steam launch from Herreshoff of Bristol. The new boat is very broad, and very much resembles a naval launch, having two separate cockpits, the forward one for the working force and the after for passengers, each protected by a table folding top. She is hand-somely finished in mahogany and brass. Mr. Morgan also has a naphtha launch belonging to the Catarina, and the long Herreshoff steam launch Daisy [#133p, formerly named Henrietta]. (Source: Anon. "The Resorts Of Fashion. ... A New Launch For Mr. E. D. Morgan." New York Times, October 19, 1890, p. 10.)

"The works of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. at Bristol, R. I., are busy with a number of yachts, both sail and steam, in addition to Government work. The largest yacht is a steamer [#168p Vamoose], 112ft. long for W. R. Hearst, to make 25 miles per hour, another steamer [#164p Javelin], 98ft. long, is for E. D. Morgan, her speed being 23 miles; while Mr. Morgan will also have a steam tender, the Katydid [#165p], 27ft. long and 6ft. 5in. beam. Beside these two steamers he has a keel catyawl 29ft. 6in. l.w.l., of the same family as the Consuelo and Clara. Her name will be Gannet [#409s] Another catyawl [#408s Pelican] 26ft. 5in. l.w.l. is for Mr. J. C. Moran [sic], of New York." (Source: Anon. "Work At Bristol." Forest and Stream, March 12, 1891, p. 161.)

"... The Herreshoffs have had a very busy winter, and at present employ 105 men, and have $115,000 worth of contracts on hand, outside of projected government work. ... Steam launch Katydid [#165p], of mahogany, 27 feet long and 6 1/2 feet wide, has been built for E. D. Morgan, of New York, for use as a tender. A keel cat yawl, 29 1/2 feet long on the water-line, and named the Gannet [#409s], has been built for E. D. Morgan, of New York, and a keel cat-yawl, Pelican [#408s], 26 1/2 feet on the water-line, for I. C. Moran, of New York. ... A steam yacht [#164p Javelin] 98 feet long is building for E. D. Morgan, of New York, the speed required being 23 miles an hour. --- Boston Globe." (Source: Anon. "At Bristol, R.I." Rudder, March 1891, p. 32.)

"Mr. H. L. Willoughby has laid up his steam yacht Wampanoag at Newport and will spend the winter in Florida, as usual, taking with him the 26-foot Herreshoff launch Katydid, which he recently purchased from Vice-Com. Morgan. Katydid left Newport on November 2 [1891], with her owner at the tiller in the after cockpit and the engineer in the forward cockpit. She reached Stonington that night, continuing her voyage next day, and arrived at Bay Ridge on Saturday afternoon. Her owner and crew lived on board through the entire trip. A bed was made up aft, the melon or canopy was closed, and with both feet near the boiler there was no discomfort from cold. The engineer made up a bed in his compartment and the cooking was done over a single burner naphtha stove, the furnace being used for an occasional broil. The launch has a two-cylinder compound engine of light construction, but which has proved very satisfactory, and a Herreshoff coil boiler. Only the regular bunker supply, half a ton, was used on the trip, an extra sack of coal carried being unopened. The launch will be shipped from New York to St. Augustine by steamer." (Source: Anon. "Katydid." Forest and Stream, November 12, 1891, p. 342.)

"N/A"

"[Item Transcription:] About the main-sheet fastening [for #411s GLORIANA].
I think the cleats would be good if they were large enough but if you have not got the pattern for the right size I think the timber[?] heads[?] or bitts[?] would be best.
I would like to have some of that same white[?] paint of mine on the DAISY's [#133p ex-HENRIETTA] bottom. If [E.D. Morgan's engineer] Mr. Taylor has not got any I think Mr Carver[?] could get some from Port Jefferson.
Yes it was all right to varnish KATY-DID [#165p] & the tender should be bright all over.
I see by the papers that the 'SAYONARA' carried her sail better than the MINEOLA. I shall do all I can to go to Bristol when the boat is all ready to leave but if I cannot get there I hope you will see that all the light sails fit well before she gets out of Wilson[?] naer[?]. I drove[?] about 24 miles today just to see the MINEOLA at anchor[?]. I understand the NYYC intend giving a big sweepstakes for the 46's. Let me know when you think the 'GLORIANA' will be ready. [Incl. envelope.]" (Source: Morgan, E.D. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_77660. Correspondence, Folder 98. 1891-05-28.)
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"[Item Transcription:] Handwritten (in ink and pencil) trials booklet 'Herreshoff Mfg. Co. Experiments & Trial Trips. 1890. N.G. Herreshoff'. Relevant contents:
§14: #165p KATYDID Trial Run (1890-10-04 & 1890-10-10)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Trials Booklet. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE07_02260. Folder [no #]. 1890-01 to 1898-08.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #165p Katydid even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Katydid (HMCo-made index card)
• Katydid (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: Katy Did [sic, i.e. Katydid]
Type: Steam
Length: 27'
Owner: Morgan, E. D.

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

• Katydid
• 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: Katydid
Type: 27' steam
Owner: E. D. Morgan
Year: 1891
Row No.: 344

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: 1890
E/P/S: P
No.: 165
Name: Katydid
OA: 27'

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.

"Built in 40 days (contract to finished)." (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.