HMCo #264p Sarah Webb

"April 1, 1908
Trial of Gasoline cruising launch Sarah Webb #264.
50ft x 10ft 9in with 25hp Standard motor. Engine on trial in charge of builders.
On mile course in harbor.
[Followed by tabulated trial run data with best speed being 10.55mph = 9.12kn]
Wind E 12[mph]. About 380 rev., with 4 bl[ade] 28in x 51[in] screw. (Mean pitch about 49in.)" (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. Handwritten note in Trials Booklet '1898 - 1909' under date of April 1, 1908. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum.)

"L. FRANCIS HERRESHOFF Yacht Designer 20 LEE STREET MARBLEHEAD, MASSACHUSETTS ... September 20, 1935. {1935/09/20} Dear Father: ... Lately there have been quite a few boats of your design in the harbor, some of them are - Cleopatra's Barge (Ex Mariette) [#772s]; 58' Winsome [#664s] (now leg-o'-mutton rigged ketch); two N.Y.Y.C. 50's, Andiamo [#716s ex-Samuri] and Toggeta Pleoine [#714s]; three or four Bar Harbor 30's; a Buzzards Bay 25' short overhang centerboard boat; 20 or so "S" boats; a Seawanaka Y. C. 14 1/2' fish boat and two or three 12 1/2 footers; your last Helianthus [#378p], the old double-ended power boat, Sara Webb [#264p], and several others I can't think of just now. The principal peculiarities of all these boats is that they have retained a fair, true shear line and there are no other boats of their sizes and ages which have done so. Some time I want to talk to you about this. ... Yours very affectionately Francis" (Source: Mystic Seaport Museum, L. Francis Herreshoff Collection, Box 17, Folder 11: Letter from L. F. Herreshoff to N. G. Herreshoff.)

"The first [NGH-designed powerboat] was the double-ended fifty foot launch 'Express' [#228p] built for Morton F. Plant in 1903. I think J. B. took the order for her when Captain Nat was away on a cruise; otherwise they may not have built a gasoline launch for some time to come. This launch was built on the molds originally made for the steam launches 'Our Mary' [#148p] and 'Jersey Lily' [#149p] built in 1888, also Captain Nat's own steamer 'Squib' [#188p] built in 1898, but whereas these earlier steamers had plumb bows and square sterns, the 'Express' was built with a slightly over-hanging bow and a canoe stern. 'Express' had a four-cylinder heavy duty Standard engine and was a great success in every way so that eventually there were four of these launches built:
[#228p] 'Express'; 1903; Morton F. Plant
[#231p] 'Helvetia II'; 1903; C. O. Iselin
[#232p] 'Adrienne'; 1903; Adrian Iselin
[#264p] 'Sarah Webb'; 1908; G. H. Webb
One or two of these launches, I believe, are still running. [#231p Helvetia II was still extant in 1953.]" (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.)

"... There were recently launched from the shops three swift power boats, one for Morton G. Plant [#262p], which has been sent abroad; one for Paul J. Rainey [#263p Cassandra Jr.], and a 50-foot cruising launch [#264p Sarah Webb] for Col. George H. Webb of Providence." (Source: Anon. "Little Business At Boat Yards. Herreshoff's Yard Very Dull For This Time Of The Year." New London, April 21, 1908, p. 8.)

"[Item Description:] Handwritten notebook. This booklet had two lives: In 1907-1908, 1908-1909 and 1909-1910 it was used for winter storage records, listing name of boat, owner, storage location, billed amount, and dates of storage. Listed were for the winter of 1907/1908: #235p MIST, ORIANA, #571s LARIKIN, EAGLET, #453s VAQUERO II, #580s TRIVIA, #663s ISTALENA, COSSACK, #666s AVENGER, #220p ATALA (for sale), #207p MIRAGE, #224p EUGENIA, #146p AUGUSTA, #247p SEA URCHIN, #105p COSETTE, ARLINE, #213p FLORENCE, #208p FLORETTE, #249p SISILINA, #591s IROLITA, #481s SPALPEEN, DUCHESS, #669s ELEANOR, #460s KILDEE, #647s CAPRICE, #408s PELICAN, #243p SWIFTSURE, #617s COCK ROBIN, #177p VANISH, #446s ALERION, and #591s IROLITA I, for the winter of 1908/1909: #666s AVENGER, #663s ISTALENA, #481s SPALPEEN, #580s TRIVIA, #617s COCK ROBIN, COSSACK, #177p VANISH, #242p #242, #243p SWIFTSURE, SKIP, #446s ALERION, CHEWINK II, DUCHESS, #571s LARIKIN, #460s KILDEE, #679s PEPITA, EAGLET, #408s PELICAN, #453s VAQUERO, #146p AUGUSTA, #224p EUGENIA, COYOTE, #264p SARAH WEBB, #207p MIRAGE, ARLINE, #213p FLORENCE, #208p FLORETTE, #249p SISILINA, #591s IROLITA I, CASSANDRA 27ft Launch, and #263p CASSANDRA 34ft Launch, and for the winter of 1909/1910: #252p WANECHE (no further boats were listed). At some later time, the same book was turned upside down and inscribed with a new title in ink '200Ft Submarine Destroyer [#191802ep Unbuilt 200ft Submarine Chaser]. Data + Calculation Book. Herreshoff Mfg Co.' on its now-new front cover (formerly its back cover), followed by weight data estimates and calculations for this submarine destroyer." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. (creator). Notebook. MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.087. Box HAFH.6.2B, Folder Submarine Destroyer 200-Footer. 1907-1908, 1908-1909, 1909-1910, 1918-06.)
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"[Item Transcription:] Handwritten (mostly in pencil but also in ink) trials booklet titled '1898 - 1909'. Relevant contents:
§50: #264p SARAH WEBB Trial Run mean speed 10.55mph 9.12kn (1908-04-01)." (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 #264p Sarah Webb even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Sarah Webb (HMCo-made index card)
• Sarah Webb (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: Sarah Webb
Type: Gasoline
Length: 50'
Owner: Webb, George H.

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

• Sarah Webb
• Topaz ex-Sarah Webb
• 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: Sarah Webb
Type: 50' gasoline
Owner: George H. Webb
Year: 1908
Row No.: 594

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: 1907
E/P/S: P
No.: 264
Name: Sarah Webb
OA: 50' 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.

"Built in 97 days (contract to trial; equivalent to 433 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

"In the absence of better available data displacement was estimated by using the figure for Gross Register Tons (21) from the 1912 Lloyd's Register of American Yachts (Net Register Tons were reported as 14) and converting to lbs by dividing through 2000 (short tons). Note that this figure can only be a rough estimate because register tons as reported in Yacht Registers correlate only loosely with actual displacement figures." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 17, 2015.)

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