HMCo #311p Apache

"[1917-03-12] Mon 12: ... Have order for 3rd patrol boat of Swazey model, #311 [Apache].
[1917-06-13] Wed 13: Launched #311 [Apache] in afternoon" (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1917. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

"Members of the Eastern Y. C. some time ago placed orders with the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company for eight 62-footers [#310p, #311p, #314p - #319p] for use as submarine chasers. The designs of these boats were approved by the Navy Department and four have been delivered and are on patrol duty. The commander of this unit is Richard S. Russell and his flagship will be an 80-footer [#312p Stinger] which is now nearing completion.
The first of the 62-footers is named Apache and is commanded by Robert F. Herrick, the Harvard rowing coach. All of these boats are named and hold their names until they have satisfied the Government inspectors that they are able to do the work to which they are assigned, and then the names give way to numbers with the letters S. P. --- scout patrol --- in front of the numerals.
The power of these boats consists of Model F, eight-cylinder Sterling engines of 200 h.p. The contract speed was 24 1/2 miles per hour, and the actual speed over a measured mile course was in excess of 25 miles. This is the sustained speed and it will probably be somewhat increased as the engines see more service, making more of a success of the type than was expected even by the most optimistic.
With the exception of a small rear cockpit, the entire boat is cabined. The forward deck is high and but slightly crowned. It is accessible both from the conning tower and from the runways on each side of the main cabin. A novel departure is the entrance to the engine room and forward quarters through the stack, while the design of the tower is both original and quite militaire. Boats of this design are apparently setting the style in submarine chasers and their increasing sturdiness of build is becoming more noticeable as they demonstrate their usefulness. These boats will meet incoming steamers, examine their papers, search if necessary, do patrol duty, tend nets, act as messengers, and perform the various services, necessary in war time, the omission of which might allow incendiary damage to harbors and cargo steamers." (Source: Anon. "Eastern Y. C. Patrol Boats." Rudder, September 1917, p. 594.)

"BRISTOL, R I, June 13 [1917] --- A launching by the old-time greased ways took place this afternoon at the Herreshoff boat shop, when a 62-foot patrol yacht for Robert F. Herrick of Boston was set afloat. The craft is to be named Apache, and is built of wood and has a speed of 21 knots." (Source: Anon. "Herreshoff Turns Out Big Yacht for Boston Lawyer." Boston Globe, June 14, 1917, p. 7.)

"The power patrol yacht Apache, built at the boat shops of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, for Robert F. Herrick of Boston, was successfully launched Wednesday [June 13, 1917] afternoon at high tide, from the north boat shop. The new yacht, painted battleship gray, is 62 feet in length, with a light draft.
The craft is built of wood, and has after deckhouses, and a pilot and chart house forward. The freeboard is high and the beam is quite broad. As speed of upward of 21 knots an hour is to be furnished with the regulation gasoline engine. She will be used in the Coast patrol fleet in the Second District." (Source: Anon. "Patrol Yacht Launched. Built at Herreshoffs. Will Be Used in Second District." Bristol Phoenix, June 15, 1917, p. 3.)

"Members of the Eastern Yacht Club are beginning to receive from the Herreshoff Company the unit of eight 62-foot submarine chasers, which they ordered built on approval of the naval constructors. Robert P. Herrick, the Harvard rowing Coach, has the first of this type of yacht, which has the civilian name of Apache and will retain it until the Government takes over the craft, when it will largely lose its identity in a mere number. Apache, in her trials recently, developed, a speed of twenty-five miles an hour, a mile and a half more than her speed guarantee. She has the general appearance of power boats of her type, with the single exception of her stack. On gasoline craft the stack is generally purely ornamental in character, though sometimes used as a ventilator. On the Apache the stack is used as a hatchway, an altogether unique idea of Captain Nat. G. Herreshoff. The door is on the after side of the stack, leads to the cabin, and so does away with one or two hatches. It is a practical sort of thing, which appeals to yachtsmen, and one of the new stacks may be seen on one boat of the unit owned by Felix M. Warburg of this city [#320p War Bug].
An 80-foot steam yacht [#312p Stinger] building for Richard S. Russell may be the flagship of the unit when it passes into the Government patrol service." (Source: Anon. "Herrick Gets New Craft. Harvard Coach Names 62-Foot Submarine Chaser Apache." New York Times, August 5, 1917, p. 3.)

"Daiquiri [#317p], Ellen [#315p], Apacha [sic, i.e. Apache #311p], Inca [#314p], Kangaroo [#316p], Commodore [#318p], Snark [#310p] and Sea Hawk [#319p] are the names of the eight patrol boats built by Herreshoff for members of the Eastern Yacht Club which have been turned over to the Navy Department. These 62-foot boats are equipped with two Sterling eight-cylinder 400-horsepower engines and are capable of 27 miles an hour." (Source: Anon. "Notes From the Week's Log." Boston Globe, December 23, 1917, p. 25.)

"IN the lists printed on pages 36, 38, and 40, will be found a complete record of all motor boats and motor yachts which went into the service of our Navy Department during the war period. This is the first time that such a list has been published and is given to Motor Boating at the special request of the Hon. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
The data which is printed is divided into four parts. Motor boats purchased outright by the Government; Motor boats loaned by their owners to the Government on a free lease basis; Motor boats chartered, and Motor boats lost.
The lists include boats propelled by internal combustion motors only—they do not include steam yachts or steamers of any description.
A large majority of the boats purchased by the Government are to be offered for sale at once. Those which are to be sold are marked with a *.
*Apache [Name of Boat]; 729 [S.P. No.]; 62-4 [Length]; 18,500.00 [Purchase Price]; Robt. F. Herrick, Boston, Mass. [Former Owner]. ..." (Source: Anon. "Privately Owned Motor Boats Purchased by the Government. First List to Be Published Containing Names of Motor Boats Taken Into the Navy." Motor Boating, February 1919, p. 36-40.)

"If details are few on the role of the [Eastern Yacht] clubhouse as a naval training station, they are no more than clues that a part may have been played by some members at sea --- as tossed out by John Parkinson in his History of the New York Yacht Club: 'A group of Boston yachtsmen, which included some NYYC members, built a one-design division of fast patrol boats at their own expense before their country entered the war. They were about 50 feet long and proved useful.'
The 1917 EYC Yearbook lists eight powerboats, all 62 feet overall, 61 feet waterline, and 11 feet beam, except one 58 feet overall, 57 feet waterline and 11 feet beam. All were under construction for single and multiple owners, including Maximilian Agassiz, John S. Lawrence, Herbert M. Sears, Oliver Ames, Charles F. Ayer, Francis S. Eaton, Charles P. Curtis, and Charles A. and Henry A. Morss. Nathaniel F. Ayer was building the 58-footer. There is no further reference to them. Philip Bolger heard that Ralph Winslow claimed to have designed them while working as Loring Swazey's draftsman. On the other hand, one wonders whether these or the fast patrol boats mentioned by Parkinson --- considerably elongated --- are the same as those alluded to by Devereux Barker in The Eastern Yacht Club Story many years later:
'Shortly after the Declaration of War, the Government asked yachtsmen to subscribe for power boats to be used for submarine patrol. They were to be built by Herreshoff, be about 40 feet long, and cost $ 18,000. The added inducement was that the owner would be commissioned as an ensign and command his own vessel. This inducement was shortly annulled, but in any event, the delays in the yard were so great that few, if any, of the craft were delivered in time to be of any use.' " (Source: Garland, Joseph. The Eastern Yacht Club: A History from 1870-1985. Camden, Maine, 1989, p. 143.)

"Apache (SP 729)
SP-729 served both the U. S. Navy and Coast Guard.
Built in June 1917 as Apache by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., Inc., Bristol, RI; Acquired by the Navy, 23 May 1917; Commissioned USS SP-729, 7 July 1917; Decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register, 17 May 1919 at Key West, FL; Transferred to the Coast Guard, 22 November 1919; Named Arrow, 16 December 1919; Commissioned 25 August 1921; Renamed and classified AB-2, 6 November 1923; Transferred to the Shipping Board, 18 March 1925. Fate unknown.
Specifications: Displacement 12 t.; Length 62' 4"; Beam 10' 11"; Draft 2' 6"; Speed 21 kts.; Complement eight; Armament one 1-pounder.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: The third Apache-a wooden-hulled cabin motorboat built by the noted Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., Inc. of Bristol, R.I. -was acquired by the Navy on 23 May 1917 from Bostonian Robert F. Herrick whilst apparently still under construction, since records indicate that she was not due to be completed until 12 June.
Commissioned on 7 July 1917, Apache-designated SP-729-served as a despatch and local patrol boat at Boston, operating under the aegis of the 1st Naval District through early October 1918. Due to the urgent need for such craft at Brest, France, at that time, orders apparently went forth from Washington to Boston, directing the Commandant of the 1st Naval District to ready six "SP-boats"-Commodore (SP-1425), Cossack (SP-695), War Bug (SP-1795), Sea Hawk (SP-2365), Kangaroo (SP-1284), and SP-729 (ex-Apache)-to be shipped to France as deck cargo, amply provided with spare parts. The order, dated 14 October 1918, revealed that Apache had in fact lost her 'name' by that time and was known simply by her alphanumeric number, SP-729.
Nothing further on this proposed movement appears in the records, however, probably because of the armistice of 11 November 1918 that ended hostilities and eliminated the need for patrol craft. However, SP-729 did head south via the inland waterway that December, bound for Florida to take up station briefly at the Pensacola Naval Air Station, probably for duty as a crash boat.
Decommissioned at Key West, Fla., and struck from the Navy list on 17 May 1919, SP-729 was turned over to the Coast Guard on 22 November 1919. A little less than a month later, she was named Arrow, on 16 December, but was apparently not commissioned for service until 25 August 1921, at Key West. Soon thereafter, the cutter Tallapoosa towed Arrow to Tampa. While Arrow was serving at Tampa, she was reclassified as the unnamed harbor launch, AB-2, on 6 November 1923. The boat was later found unfit for further Coast Guard service and transferred to the Shipping Board on 18 March 1925 for ultimate disposition." (Source: http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/170729.htm, retrieved March 17, 2007.)

"AB-2 [name]; Arrow, Apache, SP-729 [former names]; GVHQ [call sign]; 1917-Bristol, RI [built]; 1919 [year acquired by government]; 1924 [year decommissioned] 62'4"x10'11"x3 1-gun [dimensions]; Tampa, FL & Mobile, AL [government station]." (Source: Flynn, Jr., James T. "Numerical Listing of AB Boats." https://media.defense.gov/2018/Apr/11/2001901934/-1/-1/0/FLYNN_RCS&CGAB2.PDF, retrieved December 28, 2021.)

"Nine of these 62-foot patrol boats were built by the Herreshoff Mfg. Co. for the training of World War I Naval Reserve volunteers, having been ordered and paid for as a patriotic gesture by members of the Eastern Yacht Club of Marblehead, Massachusetts. (The EYC clubhouse, having been converted early in the war as a barracks, served as an operational base for these patrol boats.) Their cost was $19,000 each. They were twin-screw vessels, powered by two eight-cylinder Sterling engines. These craft ... each carried a standard, Herreshoff-built Columbia-model tender --- a somewhat delicate lifeboat for wartime use." (Source: Bray, Maynard and Carlton Pinheiro. Herreshoff of Bristol. Brooklin, Maine, 1989, p. 152.)

"[Item Description:] Enclosing a revised purchase and sale agreement, 'what I want is to ensure your and Sidney's services', Swasey has signed similar agreement, Eastern YC member navy boats [#310p, #311p, #314p, #315p, #316p, #317p, #318p, #319p]." (Source: Emmons, Robert W. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_59180. Unidentif. / Non-Cataloged, Folder [no #], formerly 253?. 1917-02-09.)
①

"[Item Description:] Lease of storage property, please work out plans for new shop construction, Eastern YC member are negotiating with William Swan about navy boats [#310p, #311p, #314p, #315p, #316p, #317p, #318p, #319p]." (Source: Emmons, Robert W. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_59170. Unidentif. / Non-Cataloged, Folder [no #], formerly 253?. 1917-03-16.)
①

"[Item Transcription:] [Typewritten letter on 'Lawrence Gas Company, R.W. Emmons, 2D, Treasurer, 79 Milk Street, Boston, Massachusetts' stationery:] Your letter of January 1st [1920] I received more than a week ago. I have delayed answering it until after the New York Yacht Club meeting, which was held night before last, as George Cormack telegraphed and wrote you.
The Committee replied to Lipton they would agree to his terms, namely, to race, beginning July 15th off Sandy Hook, but declined to make any alteration in rig in the way of Marconi topmast. This being settled, George [Cormack] and I have got underway with the schedule for captain, mates and crew for Resolute. [Chris] Christiansen with John Christiansen, whom we had the first year will be our Captain and first mate [on #725s RESOLUTE]. We have already obtained some of our old men.
The question of tender still troubling us. Steamers like CAPE COD will cost to run this year nearly $45,0000 a piece for each boat, which seems a sinful waste of Syndicate money. Charlie [Adams] and I are both in favor or rechartering the QUEEN [#657s], and in order to obtain if necessary more room, building a house over her from the main deck forward in the line of a receiving ship. This will enable us to mess all the men at the same time and give us ample accommodations for sails, supplies and for ourselves. Such a lay-out together with Harold Vanderbilt's tender [#301p MAGISTRATE] would be adequate for our purpose. Nothing definite has been settled, but this is what Charlie and I lean towards. George [Cormack], however, is still in favor of steamers.
The Cup Committee have decided to begin the racing on May 2lst --- a series of 5 races to he held off New Haven; an interval then for alterations, refit, etc., and then a series to begin off Newport about June 4th and continue until the first of July. Newport races only to actually count for selection.
This being the schedule it is out opinion that RESOLUTE should be launched about May 1st, as with her crew on the spot it will not take long to rig her, and from experience of previous years, weather at that time is none too favorable anyway. I do not know how this will suit your plan, but I think if you plan to arrive about that time we can get on all right.
The new wooden mast for RESOLUTE has not been started and there is some discussion as to where to built it. Your ideas were that it should be built in the south shop, if I remember correctly, and unless I hear from you to the contrary I will have it constructed there. Chase has the rigging for same practically all completed. There is not much else to report regarding RESOLUTE.
George Nichols is to arrive in Boston for our Directors meeting next week, and at that time he and I will take up with Sidney the subject of making winches for him, as per an understanding you had with him just before you sailed.
Jim Swan has no doubt written you regarding all the other work in the shop; especially work on the schooner [#827s OHONKARA] seems to have gone on very satisfactorily.
The first little S boat is practically completed, and some of the proposed owners of same have made inspection.
All seem to be pleased with the boats with the exception of one point, and opinion has been so strongly expressed that I have taken it upon myself to alter the specifications as originally planned by you, and I trust you will understand and forgive me in case you have any feeling in the matter. The case is this. The present oak ribbon which you have designed and placed on the first boat with the hollow under side, in place of the usual pear-shaped shear streak, they all desire changed for the older method.
While I recognize your idea, which is a good one both as to cover board for the canvas deck and also the hollowed out underside for shedding water, it gives the boats a very heavy effect looked at from broadside or stern view, and I thought it best to meet their desires in the matter, and the other boats will be built as I stated above on the old method. The only other alteration was the slight tipping of the seats in the deep cockpit boats; the first boats seats are flat, and while comfortable enough in the forward part of the cockpit, are not as comfortable as if dipped in the after part.
Chase is going at the rigging for these boats and the first mast is all done. I will follow out your suggestion and have the boat launched and weighted according to your instructions, but if the weather holds mild, although it has been very cold recently, Charlie Adams and I propose to rig up, launch and try out the first boat under sail before the other sails are made, and I think between us we will discover anything that may not be just right. Arthur Adams, Charlie's brother has just ordered four more 12 1/2 footers, and as we were already building one, we have taken the order for the other four at $750 a piece.
We are in hopes of getting an order for a good-sized house boat to carry us through the spring and summer work. Swazey is on his way South to see two or three gentleman regarding same. We shall need this new work soon.
The expert accountants have been making the annual audit, but at the time of the stockholders meeting held last Thursday, complete figures were not in. I am sorry to have to tell you that their figures so far bring us out with a loss instead of a profit for the year. As soon as I get the final correct figures I will forward you a copy, but although Mr. Garfield, Charlie Adams and myself, as well as Young and Swan are convinced that the profit we should have showed is tied up somewhere in the inventory and we have not yet been able to dig it out. We have already dug out $6,000, and I am in hopes we may find other misrepresentations.
I am convinced our methods are all right, and our book-keeping system all right, and further that any Company which could have paid off $100,000 indebtedness as we did the past year is a good-going concern, and even if this year's statement shows us behind instead of ahead, I am confident we will only come out with all the better balance this coming year. The officers and directors of the previous year were all elected at the meeting, and we are to hold as i stated a Directors meeting Wednesday next.
You must be having splendid weather and a fine time, It seems hard to think of you sailing in summer clothes, while we are experiencing 5 below zero day before yesterday, and now a snow storm with a foot and a half on the ground.
The Alumni of Harvard have chosen me to be their chief Marshal on my Twenty-fifth anniversary this coming June.
This same honor was given to Charlie Adams on his Twenty-fifth, and on that day I am afraid the RESOLUTE will have to stop work --- otherwise my attention from now on will be largely given to her.
They are already at work on the SHAMROCK pearing off some of her fore-foot, and I believe further they are expecting to relay the deck. George [Nichols] will have a hard time to get his work [on VANITIE] done in the same yard, but I do not think we can possibly do anything more for him than we have agreed to. His present plans are, namely; shorten bowsprit and main boom while increasing the height of his rig a little, thereby reducing his sail area enough to reduce his time allowance 30 seconds. Charlie and I think he is working in the wrong way. We would both have left the base line as it is and increased the rig at least 500 sq. ft if not more, giving us more allowance, trying to come nearer to to SHAMROCK's rig. There it would give us a better line on how we will go with the latter. However, I do not think it makes much difference what he does, or what SHAMROCK does, for as Charlie says, if we cannot beat them both we had better quit racing for good.
With my very best wishes for a Happy New Year to you and Mrs. Herreshoff, and hoping to hear from you soon, and further trusting my delay in answering your letter is offset by what I have written, I am
Yours faithfully, ...
P.S.: Since writing I have been in communication with Mr. Kittredge the expert accountant and his statement is as follows; namely that if we fail to find any further discrepancy in the inventory to offset what loss the Company now shows as per figures sent you, there are two items to account for a large loss, namely: The Richards contract [#329p CAROLA] on which we allowed $3,000 for completion and delivery this year, has probably cost us, as figures will show, nearer $8,000. Then since you left, as probably Jim Swan has written the government has assessed their war tax against us on all contracts completed since that law was out into effect, excepting the Richards boat. These taxes amount to some $9,900, and we cannot include them in this years assets, for the reason that in the case of Harry Lippett [#368p MARY ANN], he has refused to pay his tax. In the case of the Sabine launch and the Codman launch [#342p, #343p, #344p or #345p?], as no account of this was made to them, it is the feeling of the Directors that we must pay the tax, although we may get Mr. Codman's. In the case of of Herrick [#311p APACHE and #371p GYPSY] and Crozier [#369p SUNFLOWER], Pinchon [#372p VASANTA] and the others, the matter has been brought to their attention I understand, and we should expect their taxes. Since, however, this question has arisen, we have had a legal clause drawn, and all contracts now go out from the Company's office including this clause and precluding any liability on the part of the Company being stuck for the taxes, as it states this must be paid before delivery is made.
Please do not worry yourself any over these financial details, however, as I think everything will come out all right in the end.
[Penciled PPS:] Enclosed is copy of Butler Duncan's letter just rec[eive]d regarding dates for trial races." (Source: Emmons, Robert W. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_26390. Subject Files, Folder 6, formerly 90-95. 1920-01-17.)
① ② ③ ④ ⑤ ⑥ ⑦

Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #311p Apache even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Anon. "Eastern Y.C. Patrol Fleet." Rudder Magazine, January 1918, p. 7-8. (1,607 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: No. Class history. Vessel description. Owner names. Photos. (#320p War Bug, though part of this class, is not mentioned in the article, because she was independently contracted for by a non-Eastern Y. C. yachtsman.)

• Apache (HMCo-made index card)
• Apache (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: Apache
Length: 62'4"
Owner: Herrick, Robert F.

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

• Apache
• 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: Apache
Type: 62' 4" gas launch
Owner: Robert F. Herrick
Row No.: 40

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: 1917
E/P/S: P
No.: 311
Name: Apache
OA: 62' 4"
LW: 61' 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.

"One of a group of eight identical vessels built for members of the Eastern Yacht Club for use by the U.S. Navy. A ninth vessel, War Bug, was independently sponsored by Max Warburg of New York." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 9, 2009.)

"Built in 95 days (contract to launch)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

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