HMCo #269p Premier

Particulars

Construction_Record_Title.jpgName: Premier
Type: Racing Power Launch
Designed by: NGH
Contract: 1908-12-11
Launch: 1909-7
Construction: Wood
LOA: 33' 1" (10.08m)
Beam: 4' 4" (1.32m)
Propulsion: Gasoline, Premier, 50 h.p.
Propeller: Diameter 15 3/4", Pitch 33", 3 blades #9502
Built for: Premier Motor Mfg. Co.
Note(s) in HMCo Construction Record: moulds as for #256 changed. Premier Motor Mfg. Co.

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 Premier as having been built from moulds of #256 Gadget which was built from Model 425." (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 002-055 (HH.5.00057) Explore all drawings relating to this boat.

List of drawings:
   Drawings believed to have been first drawn for, or being first referenced to
   HMCo #269p Premier are listed in bold.
   Click on Dwg number for preview, on HH number to see at M.I.T. Museum.
  1. Dwg 054-016 (HH.5.03949): Elbows 1 1/2" x 2" Dia. (1882-02-24)
  2. Dwg 112-069 (HH.5.09363); Mainsheet Capstan for 1 1/2" and 1 3/4" Rope Used on 30 Footers N.Y.Y. Club (1905-12-05)
  3. Dwg 058-040 (HH.5.04111): Propeller Strut # 256 (1906-08-17)
  4. Dwg 062-065 (HH.5.04430): Steering Gear and Stern (1906-08-17)
  5. Dwg 011-048 (HH.5.00974): Outside Shaft Bearing # 256 (1906-08-29)
  6. Dwg 011-049 (HH.5.00975): Shaft Stuffing Box for # 256 (1906-08-29)
  7. Dwg 006-066 (HH.5.00565): 15 3/4" Dia., 33" Pitch (1906-09-19)
  8. Dwg 008-044 (HH.5.00742): Propeller Shaft for # 256 (1906-09-19)
  9. Dwg 134-033 (HH.5.10871): Exhaust & Expansion Chamber for About 40 H.P. (1907-06-08)
  10. Dwg 134-036 (HH.5.10874): Turning over Gear for # 265 # 243 (1908-06-03)
  11. Dwg 134-037 (HH.5.10875): Bracket for Turning over Gear for Premier Motor in # 265 (1908-06-05)
  12. Dwg 134-039 (HH.5.10877): Gasoline Pump for # 256 and 266 (1908-06-17)
  13. Dwg 134-043 (HH.5.10881): Steering Gear and Control for # 269 (1909-02-10)
  14. Dwg 134-044 (HH.5.10882): Control Levers for Gasoline Engines (1909-02-12)
  15. Dwg 002-055 (HH.5.00057): Construction Dwg > Launch - IC, 33'1" O.A., 4'-4" Beam (1909-06-16)
  16. Dwg 134-052 (HH.5.10890): Gasoline Tank for Buffalo 30 H.P. Engine # 277 (1911-05-22)
  17. Dwg 015-021 (HH.5.01224): 8" Stroke Engines, Feed and Force Pumps (1917-11-21)
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

"[1908-12-31] Thu 31: #269, speed launch [Premier], planking begun." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1908. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

"#269. Dec. 1908.
Length 33'.
Moulds of 256 [#256p Gadget] with even nos[?] spaced 16 1/2" & 3 intermediate timbers spaced 4 1/8" c[enter] to c[enter].
Timbers 15/32" square, increase foot of alternate timbers for about 5ft under engine to 13/16" sided holding that 14" up then taper to regular sq[uar]e at top.
Planking 9/64" cedar & 9/64" mah[ogany], garboard 5/16".
Deduct for moulds 11/16".
Keel 1 3/8" thick." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. [Penciled note in Offset Booklet HH.4.036.] Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

Other Contemporary Text Source(s)

"BRISTOL, R I, July 17 [1909] --- ... The latest craft to be launched at Herreshoffs were two speed launches, built of mahogany, both able to log off more than 23 miles an hour as demonstrated on numerous trials this week. One of the boats, the Premier [#269p], 29 feet in length, is to be sent overland to Chicago. The boat being built by Herreshoff for Richard Croker Jr. is to receive a 210 horsepower engine which was in the old Caloola [#254p] and which was found to have too much power for the method of construction. The new craft of mahogany will have larger and heavier frames und planking and is to be somewhat longer than the Caloola. [Note: The identity of the new craft for Richard Croker, Jr. is unclear.]" (Source: Anon. "Bristol Notes." Boston Globe, July 18, 1909, p. 38.)

Archival Documents

"[Item Description:] Penciled trial run note titled 'PREMIER [probably #265p and not #269p or #279p ?]. 2 mile' showing speeds (15.65, 15.5, 14.35, 16.5 and 16.25 miles per hour) and revolutions for 3 blade and 4 blade propellers of various pitch. On verso of printed trade card from Callender, McAuslan & Troup Co. who 'wish to announce that their Exhibitof Fine French and Domestic Lingerie will take place Tuesday, June the Ninth Nineteen Hundred Eight and respectifully invite your kind inspection of same. Providence, Rhode Island. Undated (probably ca. June 1908)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (?) (creator). Trial Run Note. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE03_01800. Folder [no #]. No date (1908-06 ??).)
① ②

Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #269p Premier even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.


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: Premier
Type: Gasoline
Length: 33'1"
Owner: Premier Motor Mfg. Co.

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

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

Year: 1908
E/P/S: P
No.: 269
Name: Premier
OA: 33' 1"

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.

Note

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Citation: HMCo #269p Premier. Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné. https://herreshoff.info/Docs/P00269_Premier.htm.