HMCo #240p 240

"[1905-05-30] Tue 30: Ran surry for a while in morning and then off in Roamer to Fall River to see race in which the boys took part in '240' [#240p, now in the collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum], after return made a run in surry of about 14 miles with John.
[1905-06-28] Wed 28: Fine [with] NW [wind]. Started on trip in Roamer to New London with the young people to see [the Harvard-Yale] rowing races. 240 [#240p] in company." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1905. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

"240 width & heigths with 10/12 rule. Frame spaces 11 1/4in Common Rule. ...
No. 240.
Use figures for #199 [Steam Tender for U.S.C.S.S. Eagle] and make moulds with 10in each (10/12 original size).
Sheer raised 1 1/2in (Common rule).
Frame spaces 11 1/4in Common Rule.
Deduct in making moulds:
Timbers 3/4
Planking 13/32
Total 1 5/32 by common rule.
Keel, stem & c. in same proportions as in #199." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. [Penciled note in Offset Booklet HH.4.030.] Undated, ca. July 1904. Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

"Dec[ember] 4, 1904
No. 240
Gasoline launch, 30 x 5, with new compound engine, screw 3 bl[ades] 20in x 40in.
Mean of several runs over 1/2 mile in harbor, nearly calm, 2 on board and heavy battens[?] equal to 1 person, 1-49s = 16.5 miles [14.34kn]." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. Handwritten note in Trials Booklet '1898 - 1909' under date of December 4, 1904. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum.)

"I will say that about 1904 he designed an experimental compound gasoline engine. I think his principal object in this design was to make an engine that had a quieter and cooler exhaust. This engine had three cylinders of which the forward and after ones were perhaps one-third the volume of the middle cylinder; the crankshaft was arranged so that when the two end pistons were up the middle one was down, so the engine was nicely balanced. The two end cylinders were of the four-stroke cycle, so timed that one after the other exhausted into the middle cylinder. This engine proved to be smooth running and quiet. It probably had about forty-five horsepower and drove a launch slightly faster than other engines of its time and weight, but Captain Nat became disgusted with it because twice the cylinder block cracked near the exhaust valve. With a little more patience undoubtedly an engine could have been worked out that had a slight increase in economy over the usual gasoline engine together with quietness and a cooler exhaust. It is too bad that this engine discouraged Captain Nat for the Herreshoff Company had a very good machine shop for that time and could have easily jumped into the gasoline engine business. ...
In speaking of the compound gasoline engine I do not want to give the impression that it was an invention of Captain Nat for at about that time others, both in Europe and over here, had experimented with compound internal combustion engines, and somewhere around 1904 there was an automobile named The Compound made in this country." (Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. The Wizard of Bristol. The Life and Achievements of Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, together with An Account of Some of the Yachts he Designed. New York, 1953, p. 244.)

"THE '240' TRIP IN 1906
The trip in the '240' from Bristol, Rhode Island to Blue Hill, Maine in 1906 [sic. 1910 when she was reported to have been sold to Blue Hill is more likely] when I was 17 years old is described below:
The '240' was purchased by the C. P. Thomas family. C. P. Thomas was a friend of Carl Rockwell's. At that time she was an open launch, 30' long with two melon canvas covers.
Before I left, my father said to me that he wanted to speak to me in the other room and I thought that he would talk about navigation to Maine. Instead, he didn't speak to me about the boat trip, but cautioned me about speaking to people on the train trip back. I had to change trains in Boston and Providence.
We started from Bristol and went down the Sakonnet River to the ocean and Vineyard Sound to Hyannis Port where we anchored for the night. The Cape Cod Canal had not yet been built. Carl and C. P.'s younger brother went ashore to sleep. C. P. and I slept on the boat putting down some life preservers on the grating. I was forward and C. P. aft. The next morning because of fog we did not leave Hyannis Port until around 11 a.m. We went past Chatham inside of Monomoy and around the Cape to Provincetown.
As the '240' would cruise at about 14 miles per hour and it was early in the afternoon, we went across Massachusetts Bay, out of sight of land, to Marblehead. We arrived at Marblehead at dusk, and the first thing I saw was breaking waves on the rocks south of Marblehead Neck. However, we backed out and went to Marblehead for the night and next day we went through Cape Ann Canal and tied up at the northern entrance. The next day we went to Portland, Maine in a light fog. The next morning we went through the Gulf of Maine out of sight of land, also in a light fog.
Blue Hill, where the elder Thomases had their home was inside of Mount Desert Island. We arrived in good shape at Blue Hill. After staying a day I returned by train.
The 30ft. mahogany launch '240' was built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in 1904. It is understood that her distinctive name derives from her being the 240th power boat built and from the fact that 2-40 was the record speed for a racing horse and cart to cover a mile. She was built to test a unique compound gasoline engine invented by N. G. H. for the purpose of gaining improved economy. This engine ran too hot, but Gid Herreshoff believes it could be made to work with modern materials. Perhaps it would be an important advance with today's emphasis on fuel saving. The '240' was run for a couple of years by members of the Herreshoff family until the delivery cruise described above. At that time she was fitted with a 'Simplex' engine that Gid found very reliable. The '240' was donated to the Museum by Member Gordon B. MacPherson and is on display in a very good state of preservation." (Source: Herreshoff, A. Griswold. "The '240' Trip in 1906" In: Herreshoff Marine Museum Chonicle, Fall 1979, p. 3.)

"The Herreshoff Company, of Bristol, has built for Mr. H. B. Wright, of the Rhode Island V. G, a handsome 30ft. hunting cabin launch, finished in mahogany in trunk, cockpit and cabin, with comfortable cruising accommodations. [Note: #240p was apparently the only 30ft launch built in 1904 but is probably not the boat referred to in this article.]" (Source: Young, F. H. "Rhode Island Letter." Forest and Stream, May 28, 1904, p. 445.)

"The first of the series of three open regattas which was to be held by the Bristol Y.C. Saturday afternoon, June 24 [1905], was postponed to Saturday, July 1, at 1:30, owing to lack of a breeze at the time the races were scheduled to start, but it was decided to hold the power boat races as the conditions were admirable for a fair test of their speed. There were two entries each in the two classes of launches, the first for those over 21 ft. water line, and the second for boats of 21 ft. water line and under. The one-gun start without handicap was about the worst ever. The launches lined up at the start with engines running idle, and reminded the few spectators of four broken down power boats. The course was laid out with two doubling turns, both to the starboard, against their propellers, about the meanest possible course to follow for any but a short chunky boat.
Race was sailed under the rules of the American Power Boat Association, or so it was claimed. Here was a farce. Hugh L. Willoughby, Jr., had entered Tortue, with her new Continental engine, nominally 20-24 h. p., but which figured some 14.89 h. p. by A. P. B. A., while N. G. Herreshoff entered 240, a creation of the Herreshoff shops at Bristol. Here was a new type of engine built, not so much on the explosive theory as on exploded theories. They called it the new Herreshoff compound gasolene engine. The regatta committee were 'stumped' to figure the horse-power of this bunch of smoky scrap surrounding some electric sparks, and, concluding that the low-pressure cylinder amounted to but little more than an inferior sort of muffler, figured the horse-power of the engine as if double-cylinder, with no increase for compounding, making it some 22.13 h. p. at 550 r. p. in.
Young Herreshotf, with commendable absence of information, returned to the shop after the race and secured data on which to figure out the rating. At last accounts the regatta committee had not given out the results of their computation.
It was evident to one familiar with A. P. B. A. ratings that Willoughby would have to allow Herreshoff considerable time, although the usual opinion, as expressed, was that Willoughby would get the allowance. Had he entered protest within the limit following the race, the judges could not have done otherwise than to have awarded the race to W'illoughby, as compound gas engines are not mentioned in the A. P. B. A. rules.
Herreshoff seemed to think the rated horse-power too high, saying that the engine at 700 r. p. m. had developed but 22 brake h. p., and at 550 it should rate proportionately. By the usual rule for figuring horse-power a 2-cylinder engine, 6 7/8; in. by 7 in., at 700 r. p. m. should give something like 28 h. p. If this showed but 22 at test, compounding resulted in a loss of something over 20 per cent., instead of gaining anything.
The race between these two boats, however, was interesting. Tortue was apparently overpowered, while the Herreshoff model was decidedly underpowered. In the get-away Tortue had 5 seconds advantage, which she lost at the start, but more than made up before the first turn, losing so much time at the turns that she was last to finish. The finish showed 240 some 9 seconds in advance.
The second race was uniteresting, as but one boat finished. The summary:
First Class --- N. G. Herreshoff's 240, 23 minutes and 11 seconds; H. L. Willoughy's Tortue, 23 minutes and 20 seconds, elapsed time.
Second Class --- Griswold Herreshoff's Neon [#190301ep], 34 minutes and 25 seconds, elapsed time; J. B. Herreshoff's Peggy did not finish. Course, 4 3/4 knots." (Source: Anon. "Bristol, R. I." Power Boat News, July 1, 1905, p. 233.)

"The regatta committee of the Bristol Y. C. have just decided that 240 won over Tortue in the race held over a month ago, making Tortue allow 20 seconds to 240. The Herreshoff boat, 240, had a compound gasolene engine and the committee had considerable difficulty in arriving at the horse power rating." (Source: Anon. "Bristol, R. I." Power Boat News, July 29, 1905, p. 330.)

"The annual cup regatta of the Rhode Island Y. C, which was scheduled for Saturday, August 26th [1905], was simply a fizzle, for there was lack of sufficient entries to fill the several classes and the only event of the afternoon was a race between three of the 30-ft. cats.
The Herreshoff power boat 240 [#240p] came up from Bristol, and also another smaller power boat [quite certainly #190301ep Neon] owned by the Herreshoffs, but unfortunately (?) there were no entries in their classes. ..." (Source: Anon. "Pawtuxet, R. I." Power Boat News, September 2, 1905, p. 435.)

"For Sale --- 28 ft. x 6 ft. mahogany steam launch [#?p] and 30 ft x 5 1/2 ft. gasoline launch [probably #240p], both nearly new, built by Herreshoff Mfg. Co. and suitable for steam yacht tenders; will be sold low for cash. For particulars inquire of Herreshoff Mfg. Co., Bristol, R. I., where launches can be seen." [Note: The 28ft steam launch can not be identified at this time. The gasoline launch is possibly #240p, which, though already four years old in 1908 when the advertisement appeared, had received a new engine in 1906, and was the only gasoline launch which fitted the description.] (Source: Anon. "For Sale." New York Times, August 4, 1908, p. 12.)

"BRISTOL, R I. July 9 [1910] --- ... The race in which the Herreshoff power boat 240 contested, one week ago Saturday, under the auspices of the Bristol yacht club, proved the craft's unfitness to compete with other boats without being overhauled. Having held the lead from start to finish the '240' was beaten singularly enough by the Hobo of Fall River, the smallest craft. The '240' has gone to a new owner at Blue Hill, Me." (Source: Anon. "Bristol Notes." Boston Globe, July 10, 1910, p. 52.)

"The A. Sydney DeW. Herreshoff Room at the Herreshoff Marine Museum was formally dedicated Sunday afternoon, marking another important milestone in the history and tradition of Herreshoff boat-building in this town. Also, an important part of the program was the acceptance by the museum of the 30-foot sloop Bambino [#616s], donated by Louis B. Off, of Linwood, N.J.
Presided over by Halsey C. Herreshoff, the ceremonies were attended by a large crowd of invited guests, all of whom were greatly impressed with the display of items relating to the accomplishments of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. ... The museum is located in part of one of the buildings formerly used by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., at 18 Burnside Street, near the corner of Hope. In his remarks at the dedication Mr Halsey Herreshoff said that the site was where J. B. Herreshoff once had his home. ...
Among the gifts and contributors to the museum are the following: Power boat THANIA [#248p ex-Toddy Wax] by Daniel A. Newhall; Sloop BAMBINO by Louis B. Off; Launch '240' [#240p] by Gordon B. MacPherson; Sloop MIST II [#1164s ex-Louise Ann] by William L. Taggart, Jr.; Marlin Class Sloop [apparently #1421s] by John R Bumstead; Cat Yawl CYGNET [#1203s] by Capt Paul Hammond; Dinghy by A Sydney DeW. Herreshoff; Rowboat by Halsey C Herreshoff II; 1878 Steam Engine [apparently 2 1/2" & 4 1/4" x 5" built between 1881 and 1885] by Fred Simmons; Triple Expansion Engine by John Francis Brown; Capstan and Steering Stand from RESOLUTE by Isaac B Merriman Jr; Photographs by Mr and Mrs Paul A Darling; Bell used by Herreshoff Manufacturing Co, by Anthony A Nunes and Isaac B Merriman Jr; Herreshoff Steam Engine and Boiler [2 1/2" x 3 1/2" from 1891], by Henry Luther and Mrs Wirth Munroe. ..." (Source: Anon. "Herreshoff Mueseum Dedicated." Bristol Phoenix, August 18, 1977, p. 4.)

"TWO FORTY. 'Gasolene' Power Launch. TWO FORTY was designed by N. G. Herreshoff to test a revolutionary 3 cylinder 'gasolene' engine of his own design. The outstanding feature of this engine was a large bore low pressure cylinder which was propelled by exhaust ejected from two smaller high pressure cylinders which flanked it, an efficient use of exhaust. After two years of experimentation, this engine was replaced with a 30-40 horsepower Smith & Mabley gasoline engine in June, 1906. The designer's son, A. Griswold Herreshoff, claimed in later years, that the original engine was economical, but ran hot, a problem that could be overcome today with modern metals. The boat gets her name partly from her hull number and partly from her expected speed, 2 minutes and 40 seconds having been a record time for a trotting horse to travel a mile. The keel, frame, cockpit coaming and sheer strake are of white oak. The hull and deck are doubled planked with mahogany over white cedar.
Donated by Mr. Gordan B. MacPherson in 1972. LOA 30ft 4in. LWL 30ft 0in. B 5ft 0in. D 1ft 5in.
#240. 1904. [Accession number] 72.240." (Source: Herreshoff Marine Museum. [Plaque on display at the museum.] Bristol, RI, no date [ca. 2005].)

"This boat gets her name partly from her hull number and partly from her expected speed, 2 minutes and 40 seconds having been the record time for a trotting horse to travel a mile. She was built for the purpose of testing one of the few gasoline engines that NGH ever designed.
In 1906, then fitted with a Simplex engine, 240 made the run of over 300 miles from Bristol to Blue Hill, Maine, outside Cape Cod (the canal had yet to be built), cruising at around 14 miles an hour. NGH's son Griswold, then seventeen, his Bristol friend Carl Rockwell, and Rockwell's friend C. P. Thomas, whose family had just purchased 240 and had a summer place in Blue Hill, made the trip in this open boat with only melon-type canvas spray hoods for shelter. In her later life, but still in Blue Hill, 240 was owned by Dr. Seth Milliken, who, at the time, also owned the big Herreshoff yawl Thistle [#1078s]. Today, 240 is in the collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum, where she can be seen and studied, having been changed but little over the years." (Source: Bray, Maynard and Carlton Pinheiro. Herreshoff of Bristol. Brooklin, Maine, 1989, p. 119.)

"N/A"

"[Item Description:] HMCo Plan HH.5.00296 (005-065). Photostat general arrangement plan with plan view and inboard profile titled '30ft Gasoline Launch [#240p]. 1in = 1ft. Oct[ober] 4 1904'." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. (creator). Photostat General Arrangement Plan. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE14_01630. Folder [no #]. 1904-10-04.)
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"[Item Transcription:] [Signed typewritten letter on 'H.P. Whitney, 32 Nassau Street, New York' stationery:] It is quite awhile now since you and I have had much communication on the subject of boats. I have always had it in mind to build sometime a large schooner, say 130 feet waterline, with an auxiliary engine --- alcohol preferred, the boat not to draw more than fifteen feet, three masted, if you consider best.
I presume that it is too late to start on such a boat this year, and do not want to involve you in plans and specifications for something that I may not build for twelve months, but should be obliged to you if you would give me a rough estimate of what the probable cost of such a boat would be, and the probable length of time it would take to build; also whether you could build a boat of that size, and, if not, with whom you could arrange for having it done, as I suppose you know I would never be content in the boat line with anything that was not designed and built by you.
[p. 2] Also, I am contemplating building a motor launch to be ready in April or May [1905]. I understand that you have built for Mr. Iselin [#232p HELVETIA II], which is about what I want, except in the matter of speed.
I would like a boat about fifty feet long, able enough to navigate the Sound, with a speed of about twenty miles an hour; in fact forty feet might be long enough for my purposes.
Would you be kind enough to send me some rough idea of such a boat, to hold about half a dozen people, stating the price, motor, horsepower, length, etc? I have a 60 HP Mercedes engine which, perhaps, might be utilized.
Yours very truly, ... [With handwritten P.S.:] P.S. In the launch matter. in any question between speed & comfort I would prefer more speed & less comfort. [Incl penciled draft reply by NGH on verso:] We would be pleased to build you an aux schooner of the size you mention, which is about as large our building shed will take.
It is rather late now to build for the coming season, and as it takes a good deal of time to make up the plans for such a yacht it would be well to start in 10 or 12 months before you want the craft completed.
Do you prefer a yacht of type of INTREPID or more like ATLANTIC? Both good yachts, the first probably better for seagoing purposes. As to auxiliary power I never could recommend one using an inflammable substance for fuel in a decked vessel. I think it far better for you to use steam, with coal fuel.
I am not quite prepared to make estimates of cost and would like to find out a little more thoroughly what your requirements are.
We can build you a motor launch of between 40ft and 50ft length that will have a speed of 20 miles per hour, but I am of opinion that a craft of less maximum speed would be pleasanter to go in on Long Is[land] Sound unless it is calm weather. The Mercedes motor you speak of, if it can be adapted for marine use would make a good power. We have a 30ft launch [#240p 240] built late last fall with a 25-30 HP motor of our own make which made 16 1/2 miles on the measured mile and have also a new launch with steam power [# ???p], which has not yet been afloat, which is 45ft long and has an engine our latest design of about 75 HP. This craft is expected to make over 18 miles. This launch is a little smaller but of same class as Mr. E.D. Morgan's VANISH [#177p]. I think a steam launch of this type is more reliable than the gasoline motor launch but we can make you either kind you prefer.
In a P.S. you mention that you prefer speed to comfort. Perhaps a racing craft more like XPDNC [#245p] would appeal to you. Please let me know.
Yours very truly, ..." (Source: Whitney, Harry Payne (incl NGH reply). Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_23060. Correspondence, Folder 68. 1905-01-10.)
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"[Item Transcription:] Handwritten (mostly in pencil but also in ink) trials booklet titled '1898 - 1909'. Relevant contents:
§41: #240p 240 Trial Run best speed 16.5mph [14.34kn] (1904-12-04)." (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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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #240p 240 even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• No240 (HMCo-made index card)
• No240 (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.

Year: 1904
E/P/S: P
No.: 240
OA: 30'

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.

"Moulds made from figures for #199 [Steam Tender for U.S.C.S.S. Eagle].
Half breadths and depths to be 5/6 of original figures.
Sheer raised 1 1/2in above 5/6 of original figures.
Frame spacing to be 11 1/9" x 36 spaces. ..." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. [Penciled notes on Construction plan 2-37 for #240p.] Bristol, RI, June 27, 1904.)

"Donated in 1972 by Gordon M. MacPherson to the Herreshoff Marine Museum." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 8, 2012.)

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