HMCo #250p Tuza [Seashell]

"[1906-03-05] Mon 5: Launched gasoline launch #250 [Tuza] for Maxwell." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1906. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

"Soon after this the plumb bow and square stern launches 'Waneeche,' for Butler Duncan, and 'Seashell' for H. L. Maxwell, were built so that the Herreshoff Company began building launches of most every size powered with engines of various makes." (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. 248.)

"Six new boats are under construction at the Herreshoff shops at Bristol, R. I. The largest is the schooner [#657s Queen] for Mr. J. Rogers Maxwell. This boat is quite unlike Ingomar and she is a remarkably beautiful and clean vessel. She is a centerboard boat and has an unusually large amount of room below.
The boat [#658s Irolita II] building for Commodore E. Walter Clark, Philadelphia Corinthian Y. C, is to be rigged as a sloop and not as a schooner, as was originally announced. She is a keel boat with a waterline length of 65ft.
A high speed steamer [#249p] 95ft. long of the Mermaid, Mirage and Scout type, is building for Mr. Nathan Strauss, of New York, for use on the St. Lawrence River. She will have a guaranteed speed of 23 miles for a one hour run.
The other three boats are being built from the same moulds. They are launches about 40ft. long intended for day use on Long Island Sound. One of these boats [#252p Waneeche] is for Mr. W. Butler Duncan, Jr., and the other [#250p Tuza] is for Mr. Maxwell. The third boat [#253p Tautog] was built on speculation.
These six boats include all the work now in hand at the Herreshoff shops. The report that this firm was building a schooner [#190401es] for the German Emperor was erroneous." (Source: Anon. "New Boats Building at Bristol." Forest and Stream, February 17, 1906, p. 274.)

"[License issued to vessel under 20 tons. Pos. 247:]
Sea Shell, gas screw yacht, of Bristol.
Built at Bristol, 1906.
6 tons; 38 ft. x 8.7 ft. x 5 ft. [Register length x breadth x depth.]
No specifications shown.
Lic[ensed] ([as] yacht) May 7, 1906. Owner: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company of Bristol. Master: N. G. Herreshoff, Bristol.
Surrendered [license] Apr. 30, 1907 at New York. ([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. Sea Shell.)

"[Item Description:] Four handwritten (in ink) pages with tabulated data listing 'Shop No', 'Name', '[Tons] Gross' and '[Tons] Net' for a total of 100 HMCo-built boats and classes. Tonnage data is usually precise to two digits behind the decimal. Random comparisons suggest source of tonnage data to be official Custom House data. Boats mentioned are: #664s, #663s, #625s, #665s, #634s, #658s, #657s, #646s, #641s, #617s, #626s Class, #624s, #621s, #616s, #619s, #590s, #591s, #586s, #592 Class, #618s, #605s, #578s, #560s Class, #580s, #553s, #551s, #552s, #546s, #541s, #545s, #538s, #534s, #533s, #532s, #529s, #534s, #530s, #531s, #435s, #437s, #452s, #499s, #429s, #426s, #424s, #481s, #422s, #417s, #414s, #451s, #215p, #213p, #222p, #235p, #230p, #229p, #236p, #224p, #244p, #247p, #249p, #231p, #232p, #228p, #252p, #250p, #251p, #248p, #168p, #164p, #118p, #142p, #174p, #173p, #194p, #189p, #193p, #183p, #178p, #179p, #181p, #182p, #175p, #163p, #148p, #149p, #172p, #155p, #170p, #186p, #188p, #206p, #207p, #205p, #208p, #209p, #210p, #211p, #212p, #216p. Undated (the latest boat listed, WINSOME, was launched in 1907)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (?) (creator). Handwritten List. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE06_00220. Folder [no #]. No date (1907 or later).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #250p Tuza [Seashell] even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Tuza Seashell (HMCo-made index card)
• Tuza Seashell (HMCo-made index card)
• Tuza Seashell (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: Tuza
Type: Gasoline
Length: 40'3"
Owner: Herreshoff Mfg. Co.

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

• Tuza Seashell
• 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: Tuza
Type: 40' 3" gasoline
Owner: Herreshoff Company
Row No.: 698

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: 1905
E/P/S: P
No.: 250
Name: Tuza
OA: 40' 3"

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.