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

Particulars

Construction_Record_Title.jpgName: [Launch for St. Y. Iolanda]
Type: Power Launch
Designed by: NGH
Contract: 1909-9
Trial: 1909-10-5
LOA: 28' 6" (8.69m)
Beam: 7' 0" (2.13m)
Propulsion: Gasoline, Holme; 4 cyl. 4 1/4" x 6 1/4"
Propeller: Diameter 20 1/2", Pitch 21", R.H. 3 bl. #9806
Built for: Herreshoff, J. B. [Morton F. Plant]
Note(s) in HMCo Construction Record: Moulds #242 with 2 1/4 lower sheer, M.F. Plant
Last year in existence: 1910 (aged 1)
Final disposition: Wrecked in Palermo, Italy on May 28, 1910 after collision with a battleship's pinnace

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 #424Model number: 424
Model location: H.M.M. Model Room West Wall Left

Vessels from this model:
30 built, modeled by NGH
#197p [Steam Tender for U.S.C.S. Yankton] (1898)
#198p [Steam Tender for U.S.C.S. Yankton] (1898)
#199p [Steam Tender for U.S.C.S. Eagle] (1898)
#200p [Steam Tender for U.S.C.S. Yosemite] (1899)
#201p [Steam Tender for U.S. Coast Survey] (1899)
#202p [Steam Tender for U.S.C.S. Vixen] (1899)
#204p [Launch for St. Y. Valiant] (1899)
#214p Isis [Launch for St. Y. Isis] (1902)
#220p Atala (1902)
#227p [Launch for St. Y. Yacona] (1902, Extant)
#233p Delaware Junior [Launch for St. Y. Delaware] (1903)
#237p North Star II [Launch for St. Y. North Star II] (1903)
#238p [Launch for U.S.S. Eagle] (1903)
#239p [Launch for U.S.S. Vixen] (1903)
#240p 240 (1904, Extant)
#241p [Launch for St. Y. Haida] (1903)
#242p Breeze (1904)
#246p [Steam Launch for U.S.S. Yankton] (1904)
#255p Electra Jr. [Launch for St. Y. Electra] (1906)
#257p [Gannet (? Launch for St. Y. Electra)] (1907)
#262p [Launch for St. Y. Iolanda] (1908)
#263p Cassandra Jr. [Launch for St. Y. Cassandra] (1908)
#265p Premier (1908)
#266p Polyana (1908)
#270p Wanderer Jr. [Launch for St. Y. Wanderer] (1909)
#271p Diana (1909)
#272p [Launch for St. Y. Iolanda] (1909)
#273p [Launch for St. Y. Iolanda] (1910)
#274p Haulrey Jr. [Launch for St. S. Hatuey / Houtrey] (1910)
#275p [Launch for U.S.S. Scorpion] (1910)

Original text on model:
"[#197] Model made 1897 and changed in fall 1897 26' long frame spaces 9 3/4
[#198] 198 ditto everything
[#199] 199 28' long frame spaces 10 1/2
[#200] 200 ditto all the way
[#201] 201 ditto all the way
[#202] 202 30' long frames spaces 10 1/2
[#204] 204 ditto all the way
[#227] 227 30 YACOMA [sic, i.e. Yacona]
[#233] no number [should be 233] 28 DELEWARE
[#238] 239 [should be 238] 28 US EAGLE
[#239] dash [should be 239] 26" [should be 28] VIXEN
[#240] 240 30' by 5' "240" gasoline
[#246] 246 28' USN
[#262] 262 28' M plant [unreadable name]
[#263] 263 34' Cassandra
[#265] 34? J.B.H. Premier gasoline [i.e. #265]
[#???] ? 34 by 5 gasoline [this is apparently another reference to #265p Premier]
[#270] ? 28 WANDERER [should be 270]
[#???] ? 34' ILONDA ? [sic, i.e. Morton Plant's steamyacht IOLANDA] 1909
[#255] also 2 [unreadable] for ELECTRA [sic, i.e. #255 and #257] and 1 for ILONDA [sic, i.e. Morton Plant's steamyacht IOLANDA]
[#257]
[#272?]
[#273] 273 35' ILONDA [sic, i.e. Morton Plant's steamyacht IOLANDA]
[#274] 274 Sept. 1910 Cuban [sic, i.e. Haulrey Jr.]
[#275] 275 Oct 1910 28' USN SCORPION" (Source: Original handwritten annotation on model. Undated.)

Model Description:
"26' steam launch of 1898 for the coast survey vessel Yankton. Others built of various sizes over the next dozen years, with scale changes, including the 30' gasoline launch 240 that is now in the Herreshoff Marine Museum's Hall of Boats." (Source: Bray, Maynard. 2004.)

Model Comment:
"Reference to Model 424 was added by CvdL, both, because the construction record lists this launch as having been built from moulds of #242p Breeze which was determined to have been built from Model 424, and because a note on the back of Model 424 references two launches built for Morton Plant from it, one of them apparently being #272p [Launch for M. F. Plant] (the other being" (Source: van der Linde, Claas. July 13, 2010.)

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.


Drawings

Main drawing Dwg 002-057 (HH.5.00059) Explore all drawings relating to this boat.

List of drawings:
   Drawings believed to have been first drawn for, or being first referenced to
   HMCo #272p [Launch for St. Y. Iolanda] are listed in bold.
   Click on Dwg number for preview, on HH number to see at M.I.T. Museum.
  1. 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)
  2. Dwg 006-065 (HH.5.00564): Propeller 20 1/2" Dia., 26" Pitch (1906-07-09)
  3. Dwg 058-038 (HH.5.04109): Shaft Strut # 255 (1906-07-19)
  4. Dwg 068-071 (HH.5.04877): Steering Gear # 255 (1906-07-22)
  5. Dwg 002-046 (HH.5.00045): Construction Dwg > Tender - IC, 28' O.A., 7' Beam [Gas Burning Boiler] (1906-09-25)
  6. Dwg 071-050 (HH.5.05152): Color Pole & Deck Fittings (1906-12-08)
  7. Dwg 134-033 (HH.5.10871): Exhaust & Expansion Chamber for About 40 H.P. (1907-06-08)
  8. Dwg 008-048 (HH.5.00746): Propeller Shaft # 271, 278, 273, 274, 284, 285 (1909-09-23)
  9. Dwg 002-057 (HH.5.00059): Construction Dwg > Tender - IC, 28' O.A., 7' [B] (1909-09-25)
  10. Dwg 071-063 (HH.5.05165): Color Pole Socket & Yoke for Same For (1909-10-01)
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

"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.)

Other Herreshoff Family

"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.)

Other Contemporary Text Source(s)

"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.)

Archival Documents

"[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.)



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.


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

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.

Research Note(s)

"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.

Note

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Citation: HMCo #272p [Launch for St. Y. Iolanda]. Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné. https://herreshoff.info/Docs/P00272_Launch_for_M_F_Plant.htm.