HMCo #272p [Launch for St. Y. Iolanda]

"Oct[ober] 5 1909
Trial of Gasoline launch constructed for J.B.H. but bought by M.F. Plant for Iolanda before finished. Length 35ft [sic], breadth about 6 1/2[ft] built on same moulds as #198 & others but flared out in topsides. Fitted with 6 cyl. Premier motor.
1 pair [of] runs over harbor course nearly calm.
Up 3m 7s. Down 3m 9 1/2s.
Rate 19.25[mph], 19.0[mph] = 19.12m[ph] = 16.7 knots.
Machinery noisy, but working well. 4 on board. Boat changes trim considerably, probably due to length at the stern." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. Handwritten note in Trials Booklet '1898 - 1909' under date of October 5, 1909. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum.)

"Scale for laying out moulds.
13 1/2 = 12 of #199.
use moulds [for] 242 [#242p] with 2 1/4 taken off for sheerline.
Frame space 10 1/2.
Keel [blank] x 2 1/4in deep of oak, 1 1/4in above Rabbate.
False keel 2 1/4in wide, oak.
Planking 3/8 x 3/8 Cedar.
Bulkeads 5/16 + 5/16 Cedar. Teak.
Carlings 1 1/2in x 3/4, Crown 4 3/8 in 6ft-9in.
Deck 1/4in Teak & 1/4in Cedar." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Handwritten text on Construction Plan HH.5.00059 (002-057) titled 'Tender - ic, 28ft o.a., 7ft' (1909-09-25). Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass.)

"Morton F. Plant's large and palatial new Yacht Iolanda dropped anchor near Bristol Tuesday afternoon [September 14, 1909] and her owner and guests came ashore in a steam launch. They visited the office of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company before returning to the yacht. [The visit was apparently related to #262p, a new launch for Iolanda, the contract for which was recorded in the HMCo Construction Record in September 1909.]" (Source: Anon. "Bristol and Vicinity." Bristol Phoenix, September 17, 1909, p. 2.)

"[Palermo, Italy, May 28, 1910] ... we hurried back to the yacht [Steam Yacht Iolanda] and by arrangement with His Majesty I had the pleasure of waiting for them [the King and Queen of Italy] at the royal landing with our No. 1 launch [#272p Launch for St. Y. Iolanda]. They came on board at 6:10 p.m. and remained with us until 7 o'clock. Upon leaving they invited me to go to Anjou, near which is their shooting preserve Castelporziano, and have tea with them on Tuesday next, at which time the Princess Iolanda [namesake of Plant's steam yacht Iolanda] would come on board. We thanked them for the charming invitation. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop dined on the yacht with us. As our No. 1 launch, in which they went ashore, was returning to the yacht, it was run into by a pinnace from the Italian battleship Ferrucio and totally wrecked. ... the wrecking of our No. 1 launch having been the only accident on the long journey ..." (Source: Plant, Morton F. Cruise of the Iolanda [from October 9, 1909 to July 5, 1910]. New York, 1911, p. 185, 186, 202.)

"[Item Transcription:] Handwritten (mostly in pencil but also in ink) trials booklet titled '1898 - 1909'. Relevant contents:
§56: #272p [LAUNCH FOR ST. Y. IOLANDA] Trial Run mean speed 19.12mph = 16.7kn (1909-10-05)." (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.)
① ② ③ ④ ⑤ ⑥ ⑦ ⑧ ⑨ ⑩ ⑪ ⑫ ⑬ ⑭ ⑮ ⑯ ⑰ ⑱ ⑲ ⑳ ㉑ ㉒ ㉓ ㉔ ㉕ ㉖ ㉗ ㉘ ㉙ ㉚ ㉛ ㉜ ㉝ ㉞ ㉟ ㊱ ㊲ ㊳ ㊴ ㊵ ㊶ ㊷ ㊸ ㊹ ㊺ ㊻ ㊼ ㊽ ㊾ ㊿
① ② ③ ④ ⑤ ⑥ ⑦ ⑧ ⑨ ⑩ ⑪

Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #272p [Launch for St. Y. Iolanda] even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Launch for M F Plant (HMCo-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.

Year: 1909
E/P/S: P
No.: 272
OA: 28' 6"

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.

"Launch for Morton Plant's steam yacht Iolanda, as per a note on the back of model 424. Iolanda was 318ft LOA, designed by Cox & King, and built in 1908 by Ramage & Ferguson in Leith, Scotland. Plant owned Iolanda until 1911." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. July 13, 2010.)

"Note that Construction Record and construction plan 2-57 both list the dimensions for this launch as 28ft LOA whereas NGH in his trial run notes for #272p reports it to have been 35ft LOA and confirms this in his trial notes for the 35ft LOA #273p which he reports as having been identical to #272p." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 8, 2019.)

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