HMCo #169p Kid

"[1891-12-03] Thu 3: Off in kerosene launch [#169p Kid].
[1891-12-10] Thu 10: Off in kerosene launch [#169p Kid].
[1894-08-05] Sun 5: Went to Colis [?] & Kickamuit Rivers in kerosene launch Kid [#169p] with family.
[1901-12-02] Mon 2: SW [wind], fine & mild. Off in Kid [#169p] trying electric motor." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1891 to 1894. Manuscript (excerpts). Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection. Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1901. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

"Steam Launch # [blank].
Model 22" long, 5" beam, 2 3/8" deep.
Divided into [34] frame spaces of 7 1/2" each for a 22 feet boat.
The 1st frame being 9" [pencilled addition 7 1/2] from outside of stem.
8" frame spaces would make oat 23'-5 3/4"
7" frame spaces would make boat 20'-6 1/2"
6 12" frame spaces would make boat 19'- 0 3/4"
6 1/8" frame spaces would make boat 17' 11 3/4" [this line as a pencilled addition]
Timbers 3/4" sq[uare]
Planking 3/8" thick.
In making moulds deduct for 1 1/8" for timbers & planking.
Make keel 1 3/4" thick instead of 2" as given in figures for frames. [Note: Dimensions of model, frame spaces and scantlings provide a perfect match with the 22ft LOA #169p Kid as drawn on construction plan 002-003. This plan in turn perfectly matches plan 002-004 for the 18' LOA #180p Launch for Thespia when correcting for the change in length (but not width). The pencilled additions for 6 1/8" frame (which are also noted on plan 002-004) thus are believed to have been added when #180p was designed.]" (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. [Notes (in ink and pencil) in Offset Booklet HH.4.207.] Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

"Dec[ember] 3, 1901
Kid with Electric Power.
# [blank] Kid has had steam power taken out entire[ly], had keel removed, heel of keel & skeg cut away, and fitted with a H.-C. [Hotlzer Cabot] 3/4hp motor, and 42 cells of batteries, made in Prov[idence]. 5/8 dia[meter] Tobin bronze shaft, 2 bladed propeller, 10 1/2in dia. - 9in mean pitch (per drawing).
On trial course of 394.3 feet in Cove. Wind fresh NE, 2 on board. ...
[Followed by tabulated trial run data with mean speed being 6.15mph (?)].
39 1/4 Volts & 26 1/2 amperes. Hitched up to flood stage, standing pull 59 1/2lbs, slip of screw 20%." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. Handwritten note in Trials Booklet '1898 - 1909' under date of December 3, 1901. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum.)

"May 31 [1902]. Kid. 2hp gasoline motor
1/2 miles up 4-21, down 4-29, mean 4-25
Speed 6.8 miles
Nearly calm, 4 on board." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. Handwritten note in Trials Booklet '1898 - 1909' under date of May 31, 1902. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum.)

"Owner did not take her. Changed to gasoline + taken by N. G. H." (Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. "Kid." Vessel index card in the collection of the Herreshoff Museum, Bristol, R.I. No place, no date.)

"... 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. The grist of work turned out this winter includes the Mississqui [sic], a steam launch 48 feet long and feet wide. She has been built for W. Seward Webb, and will be used on Lake Champlain. Her hull is mahogany. Her speed on trial was 19 1/4 miles an hour. ... A small steam launch [apparently #169p Kid, also for W. S. Webb], to be used as a yacht tender, is building for a New York gentleman. --- Boston Globe." (Source: Anon. "At Bristol, R.I." Rudder, March 1891, p. 32.)

"PROVIDENCE, Aug. 6 [1894]. --- ... The Herreshoffs are experimenting with the steam launch Kid, which is a tender to the steam yacht Eugenia [#178p], and she has had several trials recently. She has been fitted with a Herreshoff single engine, somewhat resembling a Thorneycroft engine in appearance and in some details of construction. The boiler is very small and compact. Kerosene is used as fuel. The space occupied by both engine and boiler is very small, and the cost of fuel is very slight. The machinery is not yet perfected and the boat is not very fast, but it is expected that a good speed will ultimately be attained. ..." (Source: Anon. "At The Herreshoffs' Works. Many New Boat in Hand, Some of Them Ready for Use." New York Sun, August 7, 1894, p. 5.)

"[About Kid's steam engine:] This exquisite 1893 power plant is Herreshoff through and through. The stressing of parts is so precise (unusual in steam launch design) that the machinery appears spindly, even frail. The very long connecting rod is a Herreshoff trademark, and the high finish of the boiler is matched by its light weight. Locating the engines cylinder inside the boiler's steam drum results in compact dimensions and measurably improved thermal efficiency. (The spoked flywheel is extraneous, representing the size and weight of a boats propeller.)
Nathanael Herreshoff designed the unit, Herreshoff engine #543, for use in his own light 22-foot launch. ... Originally fired with kerosene, the boiler was later converted for solid fuel firing from either side. Henry M. Luther most recently owned the plant and loaned it to the (Massachusetts) Fall River Marine Museum for public display. (Drawings from the Hart Nautical Museum, M.I.T.) [The engine subsequently became part of the collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum.]" (Source: Mitchell, Richard M. "The Steam Launch." Camden, Maine, 1982, p. 261.)

"N/A"

"[Item Transcription:] Handwritten (mostly in pencil but also in ink) trials booklet titled '1898 - 1909'. Relevant contents:
§16: #169p KID Trial Run with Electric Power (1901-12-03)
§20: #169p KID Trial Run with 2hp gasoline motor (1902-05-31)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Trials Booklet. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE09_00060. Folder [no #]. 1898-09 to 1911-04.)
① ② ③ ④ ⑤ ⑥ ⑦ ⑧ ⑨ ⑩ ⑪ ⑫ ⑬ ⑭ ⑮ ⑯ ⑰ ⑱ ⑲ ⑳ ㉑ ㉒ ㉓ ㉔ ㉕ ㉖ ㉗ ㉘ ㉙ ㉚ ㉛ ㉜ ㉝ ㉞ ㉟ ㊱ ㊲ ㊳ ㊴ ㊵ ㊶ ㊷ ㊸ ㊹ ㊺ ㊻ ㊼ ㊽ ㊾ ㊿
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 #169p Kid even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Kid (HMCo-made index card)
• Lassie ex-Kid (HMCo-made index card)
• Lassie ex-Kid (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: Kid
Type: Steam [sic, i.e. Kerosine]
Length: 22'
Owner: Webb, W. S.

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

• Kid
• 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: Kid
Type: 22' steam
Owner: W. S. Webb
Row No.: 352

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.: 169
Name: Kid
OA: 22'

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.

"Kerosine launch. Changed to gasoline 1902. Sold in June 1906 to H[erman] Dock." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. [Note on Vessel Name Index Card.] No date.)

"Kid is commonly referred to in HMCo records as a 'kerosine launch' but note that she simply had a steam engine that was kerosine fired. The Herreshoff Marine Museum has in its collection a small single cylinder steam engine that is believed to be Kid's but note that Kid was built in 1890/1891 while the steam engine carries a builder's plate which states the construction year as 1893." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 19, 2015.)

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