HMCo #421s Bee

"[1892-04-01] Fri 1: ... Set up #421 [Bee].
[1892-04-09] Sat 9: Turned over #421 [Bee]. ...
[1892-06-10] Fri 10: Launched #421 Bee.
[1892-06-11] Sat 11: Off trying [#421s] Bee." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1892. Manuscript (excerpts). Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection.)

"#421.
17 1/2' w.l. fin keel.
Length overall 26 1/2'. Beam 5' 0".
Frame spaces 10".
Planking 3/8" thick.
Timbers to be 5/8" moulded at head and taper 5/32" per foot for 28". The lower ends to be 1" moulded. Sided 3/8".
Intermediate timbers to be 1/2" square and through fastened.
Keel 1 1/8" thick, reduced at aft end to 3/4" thick. Breadth at top in middle 6".
Sheer height given is to bottom of deck.
Floor 3' 6"." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. [Note (in ink) in Offset Booklet HH.4.080.] Undated, ca. February 1892. Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

"PROVIDENCE, R. I., Feb. 7 [1892]. --- The Herreshoffs have contracted to build a 21-foot yacht for a Boston man who wishes to keep his name secret.
The boat will be on the Dilemma model, and will carry a jibsail and mainsail and have a fin keel.
On the same model the Herreshoffs will construct Dilemma's [#412s] littlest sister, a 17-foot water line craft, for a New York man, who will use it on the lakes. He also declines to have his name disclosed.
The yacht likewise will have a fin keel and will carry a jib and mainsail. Six fin keel boats are now built or ordered at Bristol.
They are: Dilemma [#412s], Morgan's 36-footer [#417s Drusilla], the Scotchman's 2 1/2-rater [#415s Wenonah], Mr. Kersey's 2 1/2-rater [#418s El Chico] and the two new boats." (Source: Anon. "On Model of Dilemma. Herreshoff Building a 21-Footer for a Boston Man." Boston Globe, February 8, 1892, p. 8.)

"The spring work at Bristol is about finished, only the large steel steam yacht [#172p Truant] remaining. Last week the half-rater Wee Win [#425s] was sent to New York for shipment to England, a 17ft. fin-keel [#421s Bee] was sent to Auburn, N. Y., a 16ft. cat-yawl to Lake Minnetonka, Minn. [#419s Coquina 2nd], and a 23ft. cat-yawl to Conanicut Park [#424s Wraith]; while the 30ft. centerboard Edith M. [#426s] was launched." (Source: Anon. "Yacht News Notes." Forest and Stream, June 30, 1892, p. 621.)

"N/A"

"[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 #421s Bee even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Bee (HMCo-made index card)
• Bee (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: Bee
Type: J & M
Length: 17'6"
Owner: Bun, C. P.

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

• Bee
• 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: Bee
Type: 17'6"J & M
Owner: C. P. Bun
Row No.: 78

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: Feb
Day: 5
Year: 1892
E/P/S: S
No.: 0421
Name: Bee
LW: 17' 6"
B: 5' 0"
D: 4' 0"
Rig: J & M
K: FK
Ballast: Lead
Amount: 550.00
Notes Constr. Record: Auburn, N.Y.
Last Name: Burr [?] [sic, i.e. Bun ?]
First Name: C. P.

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.

"LOA of 26' 6" was calculated from LOA of #425s Wee Winn which was 9/10th the size of Bee according to a note on the back of her model." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 2, 2008.)

"Built in 126 days (contract to launch; equivalent to $4/day, 10 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

"Displ. 1317lbs from a preliminary calculation in NGH design booklet entry dated February 7, 1892." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. September 17, 2014.)

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