HMCo #234p Friday

"[1903-02-20] Fri 20: L[igh]t W to WSW [wind] & clear & fine. 10deg. early. Harbor frozen over. Set up #234 shop tug [Friday]. ...
[1903-03-06] Fri 6: Very fine [with] fresh NNW [wind] & clear. Turned over tug launch [Friday] #234.
[1903-03-20] Fri 20: Fog early. Very fine & mild. Fresh SSW [wind]. Fog in evening. Launched #234, shop tug Friday.
[1903-04-19] Sun 19: Very fine with fresh breeze WNW. Clear. Off in Friday [#234p] with boys in afternoon.
[1905-03-17] Fri 17: Very fine. Light winds. After working 3 days in breaking ice in cove, [we] succeeded in launching 'Friday' [#234p] and 'Florence' [#213p, ex-Quickstep, steam yacht owned by A. H. Alker who would also own #626s Alera].
[1910-03-04] Fri 4: Installing new engine in [the yard workboat #234p] Friday. ...
[1910-03-11] Fri 11: Fine. Launched [#234p] Friday with new Buffalo engine of 36hp & had satisfactory trial. ...
[1910-03-25] Fri 25: [Shop towboat #234p] Friday towed [derrick scow #190402es] Useful to E[ast] Greenwich yesterday & today for 2 loads of hardwood lumber. Trip light in 1 [hour] 31 [minutes]. Returned with scow fully loaded [in] just 2 hours. 10.3 miles.
[1910-04-23] Sat 23: Westward [#692s] sailed for Southampton at 3:20 PM. John & Agnes & I went in her to Sandy Pt. [1.5 miles north of Block Island] & return[ed] in [the yard workboat #234p] Friday. S & SE wind." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1903 to 1910. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

"#234
Feb. 9, 1903. Set of moulds to be made for Shop tug; #[blank].
Use 14in rule for breadth [sp?] & depth [sp?] and. and [sic] also for length.
Deduct in making mould 1 1/4 for timbers and 3/4 for planking, but in Shop tug 1 3/8 timbers and 1in planking to be used. ..." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael Greene. Handwritten note in Offset Booklet HH.4.13. Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass. February 9, 1903.)

"Dec[ember] 9, 1905
Friday. Power 3cyl Wolverine 2 cycle motor. Rated 18hp.
Towing tests &c.
When tied to dock, with original screw, having 36in dia[meter] & 28in pitch.
[Followed by tabulated data with max pull being 820lbs]
Towing scow light, fresh breeze, NE, smooth water. Shop wharf to McKee's wharf.
[Followed by tabulated trial run data]
Returning light same course
[Followed by tabulated trial run data with mean speed being 8.32mph]
Dec[ember] 13, 1905
Trial of Friday with screw changed. 4 bl[ades], 36in x 42in. The same screw that was formerly on Eugenia #205. and used [for] a while on Roamer [#215p]. Test are under same conditions and courses as on Dec[ember] 9 except calm.
At dock. Rev[olutions] 157. Pull 480lbs.
Pitch of screw 42in.
With scow in tow
[Followed by tabulated trial run data]
Running free
[Followed by tabulated trial run data with mean speed being 8.49mph] ..." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. Handwritten note in Trials Booklet '1898 - 1909' under date of December 9, 1905 and December 13, 1905. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum.)

"One of the new 30-foot class racing yachts [of the NY30 class], recently built, at the Herreshoff, was out for a trial spin early in the week. Owing to the heavy sea one of the crew pitched overboard while adjusting the head sheets. The seaman, after a hard struggle in the rough water, was picked up by the Herreshoff tender named Friday." (Source: Anon. "News and Notes of Local Interest." Bristol Phoenix, May 5, 1905, p. 2.)

"The Herreshoff tug Friday is being overhauled and repaired at the pier of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company." (Source: Anon. "Bristol and Vicinity." Bristol Phoenix, March 24, 1914, p. 2.)

"... Out of the 1057 lots listed in the sale catalog at the recent Herreshoff auction only two were boats, the composite 46-foot sloop Humma [#553s], formerly owned by Ex-Commodore Robert Treat Paine 2d of the Eastern Yacht Club and the little old plant towboat Friday. Neither had been overboard for probably 10 years, and both went cheap. ... Friday also went for a nominal sum. She is 35 feet long and went at a dollar a foot. She had a shaft and propellor, but no engine. ..." (Source: Anon. "Notes From The Week's Log." Boston Globe, August 31, 1924, p. 58.)

"[Item Transcription:] Handwritten (mostly in pencil but also in ink) trials booklet titled '1898 - 1909'. Relevant contents:
§43: #234p FRIDAY Towing Test max pull 820lbs (1905-12-09)." (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.)
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"[Item Description:] new tender [MONTAUK] for #725s RESOLUTE, I did not mean to imply that I thought you were opposing us at every turn regarding alterations to RESOLUTE, and I further wish to state that I have all along agreed with you entirely that it is best for us to leave well enough alone, new alloy gaff, reconditioning RESOLUTE, bringing your little boat [#718s ALERION III] from N.Y. to Bristol, George [Nichols] has written that Jack Morgan will offer you the MERMAID for sale and you should take her, Swan is figuring on a large steamer for Mr. Winton [this will be #377p ARA], total amount of the shop includes 16 S-boats and 8 12-1/2 footers, begin to think that we are now going to show some profits, VANITIE should be sailing by May 1st, glad you have stopped bothering with Dr. Reynolds, reply from NGH: expected letter from James Swan but nothing came, materials for alloy gaff, awaiting address in N.Y. for ALERION III to ship to, if I do not take her home, could you not select one or two of your crew, do not want to have her towed by large steamer, too much danger of swamping in rough water or through c.b. casing, am rather in favor of taking #236p MERMAID, as towboat it would be best to overhaul #234p FRIDAY and put new motor in her, the one [port engine] I took out of #299p HELIANTHUS III would be the thing for her" (Source: Emmons, Robert W. (incl NGH reply). Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_27260. Subject Files, Folder 8, formerly 90-95. 1920-03-24.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #234p Friday even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Friday (HMCo-made index card)
• Friday (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: Friday
Type: Gasoline
Length: 35'
Owner: Herreslioff Mfg. Co.

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

• Friday
• 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: Friday
Type: 35' gas tow boat
Owner: Herreshoff Mfg. Co.
Row No.: 239

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: 1903
E/P/S: P
No.: 234
Name: Friday

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.

"#234. Feb. 9, 1903. Set of moulds to be made for Shop Tug. Use 14in rule for breadths & depts, and, and [sic] also for length. Deduct in making moulds 1 1/4 for [sp?] timbers and 3/4 for [sp?] planking but in Shop tug. 1 3/8 timbers and 1in planking to be used. ..." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael Greene. [Notes in Offset Booklet HH.4.13 in Hart Nautical Collections at M.I.T.] Bristol, RI, February 9, 2014.)

"Both LFH and 1931 HMCo brochure list Friday's length as 35' and do not say if it is LOA or LWL. Given that the custom of the HMCo was to specify LOA for power boats, LOA was assumed. According to Clarence deW Herreshoff (in a Herreshoff Marine Museum Chronicle) Friday was called Friday because she was launched on a Friday." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 2, 2008.)

"Friday had an 18 h.p. Wolverine gasoline engine as per a note on plan card for plan 2-26." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. November 15, 2009.)

"Note that Friday was set up on Friday Feb 20, 1903, turned over on Friday Mar 6, 1903, and launched on Friday Mar 20, 1903. In 1911, after she had received a new engine, she was re-launched on Friday Mar 11." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 28, 2012.)

"Built in 28 days (setup to launch)." (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.