HMCo #180p [Launch for St. Y. Thespia]

"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.)

"The Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., have received orders for two small boats, one [#448s] of 16 feet, after the model of the 21-raters [#442s Houri etc.], and one steam launch [#180p] of 18 feet for yacht tending service, to be finished in two weeks. One is for Walter Langdon of Hyde Park, N. Y., and the launch for C. B. Greene, owner of steam yacht Siesta [#88p?]." (Source: Anon. "Bristol and Vicinity." Bristol Phoenix, July 21, 1894, p. 2.)

"... A steam launch was also completed for steam yacht Siesta, of American Yacht Club, owned by Geo. Green of N. Y. She is constructed of pine; her dimensions being about 18 feet over all, 16 feet 6 inches waterline, fitted with Herreshoff's improved engines and boilers, and was also built in two weeks time, and was towed to Cold Spring, Long Island, by Steam Yacht Eugenia [#178p], Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Herreshoff and daughter, Miss Katharine Herreshoff, accompanying and will make a pleasant cruise to various watering places before, returning to Bristol. ...[Note: It is unclear if this is a reference to #180 Launch for St. Y. Thespia, but the phonetic similarity between #88p Siesta and Thespia may suggest it. Siesta had just been sold to a new owner in 1893 (but note that the 1896 American Yacht List shows Chas. A. Sinclair from Boston as Siesta's owner in 1895)." (Source: Anon. "Yachts and Yachting." Bristol Phoenix, August 4, 1894, p. 2.)

"PROVIDENCE, Aug. 6 [1894]. --- ... A steam launch for the steam yacht Siesta, George Green owner, has just been completed and had a trial trip in the harbor last Wednesday [August 1, 1894]. Her machinery worked well and she made good time. ... [Note: It is unclear if this is a reference to #180 Launch for St. Y. Thespia, but the phonetic similarity between #88p Siesta and Thespia may suggest it. Siesta had just been sold to a new owner in 1893 (but note that the 1896 American Yacht List shows Chas. A. Sinclair from Boston as Siesta's owner in 1895)." (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.)

"N/A"

Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #180p [Launch for St. Y. Thespia] even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Launch (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: 1894
E/P/S: P
No.: 180
OA: 18'

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.

"Launch for steam yacht Thespia." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. [Note on Vessel Name Index Card.] No date.)

"Launch for Tespia as per HMCo drawing 002-004 ." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 2, 2008.)

"Thespia was a 196ft LOA steel steam yacht that had been launched in June 1895 by Cramp's Shipyard in Philadelphia for David Dows, Jr. Note that the New York Sun, August 7, 1894, p. 5 reported that #180p had been built as a launch for #88p Siesta." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 22, 2010.)

"The type of steam engine fitted to #180p Launch for Thespia appears not to have been recorded. The construction plan shows a single cylinder engine whose outline appears to perfectly match the 2 1/2" bore x 5" stroke engine shown on the construction plan for #121p Duck. All HMCo-built steam launches between 15' and 21' LOA were fitted with this 2 1/2" x 5" engine and we shall thus assume that #180p Launch for Thespia was equipped with the same engine." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 15, 2021.)

"Built in 14 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.