HMCo #258p Idle Hour

P00258_Idle_Hour.jpg

Particulars

Construction_Record_Title.jpgName: Idle Hour
Type: Power Launch
Designed by: NGH
Contract: 1906-12-10
Launch: 1907
LOA: 41' 3" (12.57m)
Beam: 8' 9" (2.67m)
Draft: 2' 7.5" (0.80m)
Propulsion: Gasoline, Standard, 25 h.p.
Propeller: #3
Built for: Sparrow, E. W.
Note(s) in HMCo Construction Record: Moulds of #128. Stern carried out. E. Sparrow

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 #27Model number: 27
Model location: H.M.M. Model Room East Wall

Vessels from this model:
6 built, modeled by NGH
#128p [Launch for U.S.S. Chicago] (1885)
#183p Item (1896)
#250p Tuza [Seashell] (1906)
#252p Waneche [Waneeche. Tender for #631s Dahinda] (1906)
#253p Tautog (1906)
#258p Idle Hour (1907)

Original text on model:
"No. 128 USS CHICAGO launch
No. 183 ITEM 1896 stern built out
No. 250 1905 SEASHELL
No. 252 1906 WANEECHE
No. 253 1906 TATAUG No. 258 1906 IDLE HOUR" (Source: Original handwritten annotation on model. Undated.)

Model Description:
"#128 39'6" steam launch for USS Chicago. Also, with modifications, #183 Item, 45'6" steamer of 1895, #252 Waneeche and #253 Tautog, 40'3" gasoline launches of 1906, and #258 Idle Hour, 41'3" gasoline launch of 1906." (Source: Bray, Maynard. 2004.)

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.4.016

Offset booklet contents:
#128, #250, #252, #253, #258, overhanging stern built on to #18[3] [#183p, canoe [#188601es] for G. G. King [various launches].

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

Drawings

Main drawing Dwg 002-041 (HH.5.00040) Explore all drawings relating to this boat.

List of drawings:
   Drawings believed to have been first drawn for, or being first referenced to
   HMCo #258p Idle Hour are listed in bold.
   Click on Dwg number for preview, on HH number to see at M.I.T. Museum.
  1. Dwg 065-013 (HH.5.04609): Rudder Head & Tiller (1884-11-24)
  2. Dwg 065-016 (HH.5.04612): Details for Strs. # 117 and 130 (1885-10-02)
  3. Dwg 067-025 (HH.5.04753): Steering Arm for Str. 118 (1886-06-21)
  4. Dwg 093-040 (HH.5.07645): Cabin Table # 560 Class (1901-10-10)
  5. Dwg 008-029 (HH.5.00727): Shaft for Gasoline Launch 1 7/8" Steel (1902-09-03)
  6. Dwg 093-046 (HH.5.07651): Cockpit Chairs # 229 (1903-04-30)
  7. Dwg 011-037 (HH.5.00963): Stern Tube and Stuffing Box # 242 (1903-12-09)
  8. Dwg 068-059 (HH.5.04955): Steering Gear # 243 (1904-02-18)
  9. Dwg 058-036 (HH.5.04107): Strut for Propeller Shaft # 250 (1905-12-19 ?)
  10. Dwg 002-041 (HH.5.00040); Construction Dwg > # 252, # 253 (Moulds of ...) 40'-3" O.A., 8'-9" Beam, 2'-7 1/2" Draft, Gasoline (1906-02-20)
  11. Dwg 025-062 (HH.5.01813): List of Castings & Forgings & etc. (1906-02-20 ?)
  12. Dwg 068-068 (HH.5.04874): Steering Gear For'd and Port Side (1906-03-01)
  13. Dwg 066-041 (HH.5.04714): Signal Gear # 252 (1906-04-17)
  14. Dwg 111-067 (HH.5.09258): Sections at # 25 and # 33 1/2 and Details New Cabin for # 252 (1906-10-11)
  15. Dwg 111-069 (HH.5.09260): Mahogany Deck House Details (1907-01-29)
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.

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: Idle Hour
Type: Gasoline
Length: 41'3"
Owner: Sparrows, E. 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: Idle Hour
Type: 41' 3" gasoline
Owner: E. W. Sparrows
Row No.: 292

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.: 258
Name: Idle Hour
OA: 41' 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.

Research Note(s)

"Idle Hour was apparently built for the auto industry pioneer Edward W. Sparrow, who had made a fortune in real estate, including northern Michigan timber and mineral lands, and was the co-founder and first president of the the Olds Motor Vehicle Company." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 30, 2014.)

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 #258p Idle Hour. Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné. https://herreshoff.info/Docs/P00258_Idle_Hour.htm.