HMCo #438s Meneen

"[1893-05-08] Mon 8: #438 … [Meneen] shipped to Southampton." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1893. Manuscript (excerpts). Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection.)

"#438 [hull number apparently added at a later date].
Fin Keel. Length o[ver] all 37' 1/2".
Length w.l. 24'. Beam 6'-1".
[Model] scale 1/16th.
Frame spaces 9".
Timbers moulded at head 1", and tapering for 3' 4" to 1 1/2", the rest 1 1/2" Sided 7/8".
Planking 1/4" mahogany x 1/4" pine. On bottom 1/2" mahogany.
Deck beam 1 3/4" x 3/4" except
Floors 2 1/4" x 1 5/8" # 18 to 32 inclusive, about 3' 6" long.
Floors 2 1/4" x 1 1/2" # 12 to 17 and 33 to 38inclusive, about 2' to 3' 6" long.
Floors 7/8" forward & aft.
Keel 10 to 1 3/* with 1" rabbit = 12 x 1 3/8" amidships.
Keel parallel from # 18 to # 32. [Note these offsets were originally intended for a boat for NGH himself, as per a note by NGH in his design booklet. Only later did he decide to use this model and the corresponding offsets for #438s Meneen and this seems to have been the date when added the #438 hull number at the top of his text." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. [Penciled note in Offset Booklet HH.4.084.2.] Undated, ca. February 1893. Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

"A cablegram order was received by the Hereschoffs [sic] last week for a 3 1/2 [sic] rater, to race in English, Scotch and Irish waters. She will be similar to the Winonah, and will be mahogany planked." (Source: Anon. "Yachting Notes." Rudder, February 1893, n. p.)

"The Herreshoff Mfg. Co. has an order for a 2 1/2-rater for England, presumably another Wenonah [#415s]." (Source: Anon. "Yacht News Notes." Forest and Stream, February 16, 1893, p. 150.)

"The Rogers cutter [#435s Colonia] is now well advanced at the Herreshoff shops, the plating completed ready for painting, the decks laid and the joiners at work below. Navahoe [#429s] is nearly completed and will soon leave the yard. Miss Sutton's one-rater Morwena [#431s] was launched and tried last week, and will soon be shipped. The Austrian one-rater [#436s Bubble] is completed, and the Southampton 2 1/2-rater [#438s Meneen] is well along." (Source: Anon. "Yacht News Notes." Forest and Stream, April 27, 1893, p. 372.)

" 'Old Salt' Does Not Think Ill of American Designers of Yachts.
From The Pall Mall Gazette.
Sir: ... let us not lose sight of the fact that American-built boats in other classes and without centreboards are more than holding their own. The wonderful fin-keel and bulb ten-rater Dakota [#440s], which has never yet been beaten on sheer sailing, still keeps up her marvelous form on the Clyde, and adds each week more 'firsts' to her long string of flags, and this in of the best efforts of our greatest designers. In the Solent, too, Meneen [#438s] and Wee Win [#425s], up to July 31, stood at the head of their respective classes, which plainly proves them, although built on American lines and in America, superior to boats of English design and build. In the one-rater class Mr. Herreshoff is certainly not so successful, although he is a good second. But in this case the Morwena [#431s] is always sailed by a lady. ..." (Source: Anon. "Warning To Crowing Britons." New York Times, September 10, 1894, p. 5.)

"Meneen, the Herreshoff 2 1/2-rater, owned by Mr. Hardie Jackson, has won 46 prices about the Solent this season [1894]." (Source: Anon. "Yacht News Notes." Forest and Stream, October 6, 1894, p. 302.)

"... The Meneen, a two-and-a-half-rater, built by Herreshoff for Mrs. Hardie Jackson of England in 1893, has been sold to Sharman Crawford of Ireland. ..." (Source: Anon. "News of Yachts and Yachtsmen." New York Times, March 2, 1895, p. 6.)

"... There is only one man who can be depended on to build boats that will beat the Herreshoff boats already afloat. That is Herreshoff himself. ... The success achieved by Herreshoff boats in England has been phenomenal. For the first season or two they have always beaten their competitors badly in their respective classes. Then John Bull, who is nothing if not persistent, has gone to work turning out boat after boat until he has finally succeeded in equaling those of the Yankee wizard, and in some instances in the smaller classes has proved that he has bettered the instruction and is ready for a new lesson, which it may be said Herreshoff stands prepared to administer whenever somebody gives him the order. ...
While the Wee Winn [#425s] and the Morwena [#431s] were romping away from their class competitors, the Herreshoff-built boat Wenonah [#415s], a two-and-one-half rater, about 30 feet on the water line, was easily defeating the best boats of her size turned out by British designers. The Wenonah was sold to Germany at the end of her first season, but the Meneen [#438s], a two-and-a-half rater that Herreshoff had built for Mr. and Mrs Hardie Jackson, continued to maintain the supremacy of the Yankee designer in that particular class.
Mr. and Mrs. Jackson --- they always sailed and raced together --- had previously owned a little British cutter that came near providing the pair of them with a watery grave. That settled that type of boat with them. ...
Great is Herreshoff and great will he continue to be. And any Britisher who wants a boat that will beat any boat of her class afloat can get one from him. Give him the cash and he will do the rest." (Source: Anon. "Our Yachts Lead The World. This Year's Record Shows How They Won in All Classes. Beat Englishmen in England. Here Are Some American-Built Yachts Even More Remarkable For Speed Than Defender." New York World, November 17, 1895, p. 28.)

"Meneen, the well-known Herreshoff 2 1/2-rater, says 'The Yachtsman' on March 26 [1896], 'that was brought over three seasons ago for Hardie Jackson, and was sold last year to a Cross Channel owner, has again changed hands. She is at present lying at Fay's, Southampton, and her new owner is Herbert Johnson, of Andover.' " (Source: Anon. "Other Yachting News." New York Tribune, April 12, 1896, p. 20.)

"... The season of 1892 will also be remembered by the success of the little Herreshoff boat, 'Wee Winn,' in the 1-rating class. ...
Although 'Gareth' [designed by Nicholson in 1892] was the best boat of the year [1893 in the 2 1/2-rater class], 'Meneen' [#438s] a Herreshoff production, made a great name as a light weather flier, and created quite as much sensation as did the Herreshoff 1-rater 'Wee Winn,' [#425s] in the previous season.
On the Clyde an interesting class of 2-raters continued in fashion, but 'Wenonah' [#415s] the American crack, still held the sway.
The Herreshoff boats about this period played an important part in British waters, for Miss Sutton's 'Morwena' [#431s] more than held her own against the Solent fleet of 1-raters, of which the Payne-designed 'Sacharissa,' and the Sibbick-designed 'Tartar' were the most conspicuous. The little American fliers were very light displacement craft, and their success to a great extent precipitated the introduction of the 'pram' bow in our waters, as this was a prominent feature in all the Herreshoff designs. ...
In [1894 in] the 2 1/2- and 1-rating classes it is curious to note that British designers, having made a study of light displacement craft, turned out some boats that could completely outsail the representatives from Mr. Herreshoff's board, 'Vaquero' [#453s] 2 1/2-rater. and 'Lagopa,' [#454s] 1-rater, that were shipped across the Atlantic to compete in Solent waters. The Sibbick 2 1/2-rater 'Lorette,' which, as an all-round performer, was about on a par with 'Gareth,' and Mr. Nicholson's 1895 production [p. 415] 'Corolla,' met 'Vaquero,' the Herreshoff boat, five times, defeated her on four occasions, and was some distance ahead when she took the ground during the fifth match. ..." (Source: Henry Charles Howard Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire (ed.). The Encyclopaedia of Sport & Games - Volume 4. London, 1911, p. 414-415.)

"N/A"

"[Item Description:] Penciled construction plan with plan view, midship section, inboard profile and list of scantlings. Titled '24[ft] wl. Scale 3/4in per foot. #431 [MORWENA], 18 w.l., scale 1in per ft, Nov[ember] 1892. #436 [BUBBLE], 18 w.l., scale 1in per ft, Dec[ember] 1892. #438 [MENEEN], 24 w.l., scale 3/4in per ft, Feb[ruary] 1893'." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Plan. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Acc. 2004.0001.0218. WRDT04, Folder 21, formerly MRDE08. 1892-11 to 1893-02.)
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"[Item Transcription:] [Penciled list of sailing boats built by HMCo in the winter of 1892/1893:]
428 [#428s] MERRY THOUGHT. 25ft w.l. Cat. Crozer
429 [#429s] NAVAHOE. 84ft w.l. Sloop. Carroll
430 [#430s] BONNIE DOON. 30ft w.l. Sloop.
431 [#431s] MORWENA. 1 Rater. England
432 [#432s] VIOLA. 176t w.l. Cat. Boston
433 [#433s] MOJAVE. 20ft w.l. Cat. Murray
434 [#434s] KITE. 20ft w.l. J[ib] & M[ainsail]. Peet
435 [#435s] COLONIA. 85ft w.l. Sydicate
436 [#436s] BUBBLE. 1 Rater. One-Rater. Sail New Draft. Austria
437 [#437s] VIGILANT. 85ft w.l. Sydicate
438 [#438s] MENEEN. 2 1/2 Rater. Jackson." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (?) (creator). Penciled List. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE03_04410. Folder [no #]. No date (1893-07 or later).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #438s Meneen even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Meneen (HMCo-made index card)
• Meneen (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: Meneen
Type: J & M
Length: 24'4"
Owner: Jackson, A. H.

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

• Meneen
• 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: Meneen
Type: 24' 4" J & M
Owner: A. H. Jackson
Row No.: 429

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: 9
Year: 1893
E/P/S: S
No.: 0438
Name: Meneen
LW: 24' 4"
B: 6' 11"
D: 6'
Rig: J & M
K: [sic, i.e. FK]
Amount: $2450.00
Notes Constr. Record: shipped to England
Last Name: Jackson
First Name: A. H.

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.

"Exported to England." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 2, 2008.)

"Figure for LOA from NGH design booklet entry dated March 1893." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. September 17, 2014.)

"Built in 88 days (contract to delivered; equivalent to $28/day, 71 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

"Displacement 6250lbs from preliminary weight calculation in NGH design booklet entry dated March 1893." (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.