HMCo #256p Gadget

P00256_Gadget_HMM_Album_16175_035_a.jpg

Particulars

Construction_Record_Title.jpgName: Gadget
Type: Racing Power Launch
Designed by: NGH
Contract: 1906-8-11
LOA: 26' 0" (7.92m)
Beam: 4' 0" (1.22m)
Propulsion: Gasoline, Renault, 50 h.p.
Propeller: Diameter 15 3/4", Pitch 33", 3 bl. #9502 L. H.
Built for: Goelet, Robert W.
Note(s) in HMCo Construction Record: 3/4 of figs for #254 for R. Goelet

Note: Particulars are primarily but not exclusively from the HMCo Construction Record. Supplementary information not from the Construction Record appears elsewhere in this record with a complete citation.

Model

Model #425Model number: 425
Model location: H.M.M. Model Room West Wall Left

Vessels from this model:
4 built, modeled by NGH
#245p X.P.D.N.C. (1904)
#254p Caloola (1906)
#256p Gadget (1906)
#269p Premier (1909)

Original text on model:
"Model made in 1888 EXPEDIENCE #245 Sept 1904 spaces 10" scale 3/4" (frames 11. 45' long)
CALOOLA 254" (Source: Original handwritten annotation on model. Undated.)

Model Description:
"45' gasoline racing launch XPDNC of 1904 and, with change in scale, the 40' Caloola two years later." (Source: Bray, Maynard. 2004.)

Model Comment:
"Reference to model 425 was added by CvdL, both, because she was listed in offset booklet together with other vessels built from that model and because the construction record lists Gadget and #254 Caloola which was built from Model 425 to have been built using the same moulds." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. 2008.)

Note: Vessels that appear in the records as not built, a cancelled contract, a study model, or as a model sailboat are listed but not counted in the list of vessels built from a model.

Offsets

Offset booklet number(s): HH.4.036

Offset booklet contents:
#245, #254, #256, #269 [gasoline launches X.P.D.N.C., Caloola, no name, Premier].

Offset Booklet(s) in Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection. Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass. (Restricted access --- see curator.)

Drawings

Main drawing Dwg 002-045 (HH.5.00044) Explore all drawings relating to this boat.

List of drawings:
   Drawings believed to have been first drawn for, or being first referenced to
   HMCo #256p Gadget are listed in bold.
   Click on Dwg number for preview, on HH number to see at M.I.T. Museum.
  1. Dwg 025-039 1/2 (HH.5.01790): Construction List for # 256 (1906-08-15)
  2. Dwg 058-040 (HH.5.04111): Propeller Strut # 256 (1906-08-17)
  3. Dwg 062-065 (HH.5.04430): Steering Gear and Stern (1906-08-17)
  4. Dwg 134-025 (HH.5.10863): Turning over Gear # 256 (1906-08-28)
  5. Dwg 134-026 (HH.5.10864): Brackets for Turning over Gear # 256 (1906-08-28)
  6. Dwg 011-048 (HH.5.00974): Outside Shaft Bearing # 256 (1906-08-29)
  7. Dwg 011-049 (HH.5.00975): Shaft Stuffing Box for # 256 (1906-08-29)
  8. Dwg 134-027 (HH.5.10865): Fly Wheel for Gasoline Engine # 256 (1906-08-29)
  9. Dwg 002-045 (HH.5.00044): General Arrangement > Racing Launch 26' x 4', # 256 (1906-09-01)
  10. Dwg 068-072 (HH.5.04878): Steering Wheel and Details for # 256 (1906-09-10)
  11. Dwg 134-028 (HH.5.10866): Exhaust Chamber for Gasoline Engine for # 256 (1906-09-14)
  12. Dwg 006-066 (HH.5.00565): 15 3/4" Dia., 33" Pitch (1906-09-19)
  13. Dwg 008-044 (HH.5.00742): Propeller Shaft for # 256 (1906-09-19)
  14. Dwg 134-029 (HH.5.10867): Air Pump for Gasoline Tank # 256 (1906-09-22)
  15. Dwg 134-043 (HH.5.10881): Steering Gear and Control for # 269 (1909-02-10)
  16. Dwg 034-117 (HH.5.02528): Boat Storage 1921-1922 (1921-12-05)
Source: Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass. Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection. Together with: Hasselbalch, Kurt with Frances Overcash and Angela Reddin. Guide to The Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection. Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass., 1997. Together with: Numerous additions and corrections by Claas van der Linde.
Note: The Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection is copyrighted by the Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections of the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Mass. Permission to incorporate information from it in the Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné is gratefully acknowledged. The use of this information is permitted solely for research purposes. No part of it is to be published in any form whatsoever.

Documents

Nathanael G. Herreshoff

"#256. Aug. 13, [19]06.
26' long. Frame spaces 13".
New moulds made 3/4 size of #245 [245p X.P.D.N.C.] using only even spaces 2-4-6-8 etc." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. [Penciled note in Offset Booklet HH.4.036.] Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

Other Contemporary Text Source(s)

"A motor launch attached to the American s.y. Nahma had a speed trial on the Gareloch measured mile a few days ago. The boat, which is 26 feet long, was designed and built by Herreshoff, and, though light (the planking is of pine), is very strong, for she is carried in davits, and not every fast launch could stand this treatment. The most notable feature of the lines of this boat is that the stern is not flat, in fact it is very fine, and yet the boat does not squat. The engine is a Renault, and, according to the M.M.A. formula, when running at 1,000 revolutions per minute, gives about 37 h.p., though the engineer of the yacht estimates the b.h.p. at about 60. The launch is controlled by one man --- indeed, there is only room for two people on board, so that she is really a racer. When going over to the Gareloch from Greenock the propeller struck some driftwood, and was damaged. Notwithstanding this, the speed attained on the mile was 19.4 knots. It would be difficult to better this performance." (Source: Anon. "A Fast Motor Launch." The Yachtsman, September 10, 1908, p. 118-119.)


Images

Supplement

From the 1920 and earlier HMCo Index Cards at the MIT Museum
  • 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.
From the 1931 HMCo-published Owner's List

Name: Gadget
Type: Gasoline
Length: 26'
Owner: Goelet, Robert W.

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

From the 1930s L. Francis Herreshoff Index Cards at the Herreshoff Marine Museum
  • 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.
From the 1953 HMCo Owner's List by L. Francis Herreshoff

Name: Gadget
Type: 26' gasoline
Owner: Robert W. Goellet [sic, i.e. Goelet]
Year: 1902
Row No.: 242

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.

From the 2000 (ca.) Transcription of the HMCo Construction Record by Vermilya/Bray

Year: 1906
E/P/S: P
No.: 256
OA: 26' 0"

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.

Research Note(s)

"[Notes on construction plan:] Moulds reduced from #245 to 3/4 size. 26ft-0in x 3ft 11in. Renault Freres Motor. Reverse gear Carlyle Johnson. # 40 Aluminum Casing. Coupling Smith & Mabley. Weight of Motor only 285 lbs. [In pencil:] Herreshoff 4in x 5in Engine installed Aug. 1918." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Plan 2-45. MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections HH.5.00044. Dated September 1, 1906.)

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

Note

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Citation: HMCo #256p Gadget. Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné. https://herreshoff.info/Docs/P00256_Gadget.htm.