HMCo #410s Mab

"[1891-04-27] Mon 27: Launched 16ft boat Mab [#410s]." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1891. Manuscript (excerpts). Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection.)

"The works of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. at Bristol, R. I., are busy with a number of yachts, both sail and steam, in addition to Government work. ... Besides these are two 16ft. cats, one [#410s Mab] for Boston, one [unidentified] for New York ." (Source: Anon. "Work At Bristol." Forest and Stream, March 12, 1891, p. 161.)

"... The Herreshoffs have had a very busy winter, and at present employ 105 men, and have $115,000 worth of contracts on hand, outside of projected government work. ... A 16-foot cat-boat [#410s Mab] has been built for a Boston gentleman, and another [unidentified one] for a New York gentleman. These boats are mates of the cat-boat Bird [#407s], which the Herreshoffs built last year and sent out to lake Minnetonka. The Bird was a very fast cat, and she beat everything on the lake, even boats in classes above her. ... --- Boston Globe." (Source: Anon. "At Bristol, R.I." Rudder, March 1891, p. 32.)

"HULL Y. C., JUNE 17 [1891].
The Hull Y. C. sailed a race on Wednesday with reefs down, the principal event being the performance of the new Herreshoff cat Mab, lately built for Com. John Shaw, who beat her competitors as handily as Gloriana disposed of the 46-footers in New York. Mab is 15ft. 9in. l.w.l, 8in. overhang at bow and 2ft. 3in. at stern, with a very small rig. She is of the lightest construction and finest workmanship. In spite of a very strong breeze she saved her time from all but Egeria of the larger class. ...
HULL CORINTHIAN Y. C., JUNE 20 [1891].
The first championship race of the Hull Corinthian Y. C. was sailed on Saturday in a light N.E. wind and smooth water, ...
The Herreshoff catboat Mab, beat, on actual time, the larger boats." (Source: Anon. "Hull Corinthian Y.C." Forest and Stream, June 25, 1891, p. 467.)

"[Item Description:] Typewritten and penciled table with data for 'Date of Order', '[Hull] No.', 'Name', 'Length on W.L.', 'Beam', 'Draft', 'Rig', 'Keel or Centerboard Keel', 'Ballast' for #400s CONSUELO, #401s ROMP, #402s CLARA, #403s CALYPSO, #404s COQUINA, #405s ALICE, #406s IRIS, #407s BIRD, #408s PELLICAN[sic], #409s GANNET, #410s MAB, #411s GLORIANA, #412s DILEMMA, #413s SAYONARA, #414s WASP, #415s WENONAH, #416s ALPHA, #417s DRUSILLA, #418s EL CHICO, #419s COQUINA 2ND, #420s REAPER and #421s BEE. Undated (data until 1891 is typewritten, thereafter penciled, suggesting that the table was prepared in January 1892 before EL CHICO, the first boat with a penciled year, was contracted for)." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. (creator). Construction Record Table. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDW02_04530. Folder [no #]. No date (1892-01 ?).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #410s Mab even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Grayson, Stan. Herreshoff Catboats. The Roots of a Boatbuilding Dynasty." Wooden Boat #289, November/December 2022, p. 58-67. (1,855 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Detailed, well-written story about Herreshoff catboats, from early boats such as Sprite and the four Julias which were all built before the founding off the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company to the numerous small catboats like Dandelion and Bluebell, many of which were delivered to Boston yachtsmen and most of which were also built before the founding of HMCo to the later, often very extreme and rule-beating catboats such as Wanda. With some minor errors, not all Julias were keelboats, Dexter Stone was from Philadelphia and not just a local yachtsman, Peri was not built for W. Starling Burgess, and Bluebell was built for Ed. Burgess with no proof that this was Edward Burgess.

• Mab (HMCo-made index card)
• Mab and #410p Sheerness (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: Mab
Type: Cat
Length: 16'6"
Owner: Snow, John

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

• Mab
• 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: Mab
Type: 15' 9" open cat
Owner: John Shaw
Year: 1891
Row No.: 389

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.

Month: Jan
Day: [?] [sic, i.e. 6]
Year: 1891
E/P/S: S
No.: 0410
Name: Mab
LW: 16' 6"
B: 7' 4"
D: 1' 4"
Rig: Cat
CB: y
Ballast: none
Amount: $525.00
Last Name: Shaw
First Name: John

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.

"The offsets in offset book HH.4.70 are not for #410s Mab (as noted in: Hasselbalch, Kurt and Frances Overcash and Angela Reddin: Guide to The Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection. Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass., 1997, p. 37.) but for #410p Sheerness." (Source: Langerman, Adam. Private email communication to Claas van der Linde. April 6, 2009.)

"Data for LOA from plan 080-012: Spars for 16' catboat (1890-04-27)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 14, 2014.)

"Built in 111 days (contract to launch; equivalent to $5/day)." (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.