HMCo #414p Defiance Amc-73

"Delayed by a shortage of steel, the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., of this town, has been forced to lay off approximately 50 of its workers. The concern is engaged in emergency construction of boats for the U. S. Navy. The company placed the fourth craft completed by them for the Navy in commission last Saturday [November 1, 1941]." (Source: Anon. "Herreshoff Boatyard Lays Off Fifty Men." Bristol Phoenix, November 7, 1941, p. 3.)

"Defiance (AMc 73)
Accentor Class Coastal Minesweeper: Laid down 10 April 1941 by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., Bristol, RI; Launched 21 June 1941; Placed in service 24 November 1941; Placed out of service in 1945; Struck from the Naval Register in 1946 and sold. Fate unknown.
Specifications: Displacement 190 t.; Length 97' 1"; Beam 22'; Draft 9'; Speed 10 kts.; Complement 17; Armament one .50 cal. machine gun; Propulsion one 400bhp Superior K.N.B. diesel engine, one shaft." (Source: http://www.navsource.org/archives/11/03073.htm, retrieved March 16, 2007.)

"Defiance (AMc-73). Built in 1941 by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., Bristol, Rhode Island.
Named after the word and operated in the Great Lakes 10th Naval District until 1945.
Registered in 1947 by the Pure Oil Co., 35 E. Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois, as the 157-ton oil exploration vessel Leo Huff, homeported at Port Arthur, Texas.
In December 1947 the boat was off the coast of Louisiana doing a type of oil exploration work known as 'seismographic blasting' using dynamite. The boat itself was being operated by a Pure Oil crew while the blasting operations were conducted by a Geotechnical Corp. of Delaware (Geotech) crew. On December 5 an explosion occurred onboard resulting in the deaths of three Geotech employees and the loss of the boat. It was later determined that Lawrence Adam Pizzo was holding just over 33 pounds of dynamite in his hands when it exploded. Wires, blasting caps, batteries, and radio waves were involved in the operation but the exact cause of the detonation was never determined. Much litigation and accusations followed between Pure Oil and Geotech.
ON 253821." (Source: Williams, Greg H. World War II Vessels in Private Hands. Jefferson, NC, 2013, p. 116-117.)

"[Item Description:] Printed letter beginning with 'With reference to your inquiry of December 31st addressed direct to our Home Office at Ampere, New Jersey, and forwarded to this office for attention concerning DC motor drives and control for operation of cable reel of U. S. Navy Mine Sweepers [probably #411p MARABOUT AMC-50, #412p OSTRICH AMC-51, #413p COURIER AMC-72, and #414p DEFIANCE AMC-73], when the writer recently called at your office concerning this inquiry we were advised that the motor capacity had been decreased to 5 HP and that the use of brakes was unlikely. We are accordingly pleased to quote you now (and will forward supplementary quotation shortly on control) on suitable motors conforming in full to specifications as we interpret them and offering motors at both 1750 EPM and 1150 EPM.'. With technical sheet titled 'Dimensions of Form F Direct Current Machines'." (Source: Crocker-Wheeler Electric Manuf. Co. Letter to Brightman, Thomas (Herreshoff Manufacturing Co.). MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.131. Box HAFH.6.4B, Folder Motors. 1941-01-23.)
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"[Item Description:] Hulls, anchors and pipe berth cut-out models and diagrams. Among others deckline cut-outs for BETTY ANN, #300p SHADOW III, NOMAD, Fishers Island 31-footer, Fishers Island 23-footer, Sub Chaser 110ft x 18ft, 11ft-6in Boat [built from Plan] 76-17 [now named Plan 28-21] (76-33 [now named Plan 28-23]) for Mr Tiffany's #934 [HARLEQUIN] [this may be a reference to #191901es], 18ft-9in Launch [#191002ep] used on #692 [WESTWARD], 14ft Rowboat [#190912es] [built from Plan] 76-14 698 [#698s WESTWARD], 19ft-4 1/2in x 5ft-4in Launch [#191304ep] for #719 [VAGRANT II], 14ft-8in Gasoline Launch [#190307ep] for 590 [#590s INGOMAR], 10ft-3in Boat [# ?] for 376 [#376p ESLOMA], 18ft Dories [#191729es] for #323 [SP-2840], #293 [Power Launch for #215p ROAMER], Vosper [Torpedo Boats built from 1943 - 1944), AMC Minesweeper [#411p, #412p, #413p, #414p], 16ft-10in x 5ft-1in [#191307es Colonia Sailing Cutter] for #719 [VAGRANT II], 711 Class [New York 50s], [dinghies #191308es and #191309es] for #722 [KATOURA], 12ft [dinghy #191106es ?] for 698 [#698s WESTWARD], 25ft-10in x 6ft-1in [built from Plan] 2-83 [#191301ep Owner Launch for #722s Katoura], 11ft-0in Rowboat [# ?] between davits on #251 [LANG SYNE] Feb [19]06, 23ft-4in x 6ft-4in [#287p Stock launch later Crew Launch for #722s KATOURA]. Generally undated, the last vessels referred to appear to date from 1944." (Source: MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.130. Cut-out Models and Diagrams. Box HAFH.6.4B, Folder Models and Diagrams. No date (1944 and earlier).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #414p Defiance Amc-73 even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Wasp and #414p Defiance (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.

Year: 1941
E/P/S: P
No.: 414p
Name: Courier [sic, i.e. Defiance] (AMc 73)
OA: 97' 1"
LW: 92'

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 207 days (setup to delivered; equivalent to 1836 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

"Displacement 190 [long or short?] t." (Source: http://www.navsource.org/archives/11/03073.htm, last visit March 16, 2007.)

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