HMCo #443s Adelaide

"[1894-04-23] Mon 23: ... Mr. Iselin here & ordered 21' fin keeler #443 [Adelaide].
[1894-05-11] Fri 11: ... Mr. Iselin here [apparently to inspect his new 21' fin keeler #443s Adelaide].
[1894-06-04] Mon 4: ... Launched #443 (21' for Mr. Iselin) [Adelaide].
[1894-06-12] Tue 12: ... #443 [Adelaide] left in charge of W. P. Douglas's sailing master.
[1894-08-11] Sat 11: ... 4 21 footers here to overhaul [probably #442s Houri, #443s Adelaide, #444s Vaquero I and #445s Dorothy].
[1894-08-15] Wed 15: Fine & sultry. ... 4 21 footers left for Newport [probably #442s Houri, #443s Adelaide, #444s Vaquero I and #445s Dorothy].
[1894-08-20] Mon 20: Sultry a.m. Thunder shower in early a.m. Fresh. Went to Newport in Alerion [#446s] to see 21 ft race.
[1894-08-21] Tue 21: Fine & cool. Strong NNE [wind]. Went to Newport in Alerion [#446s] to see 21 ft race." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1894. Manuscript (excerpts). Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection.)

"... BRISTOL, R.I., May 23 [1894]. --- The Herreshoff shops have started up, after quite a shutdown, and a good force of men is busy in finishing the three twenty-one-footers so far ordered for the Larchmont's new class. Mr. C. Oliver Iselin's boat [Adelaide #443s] is about ready for a trial. She is a fin keel of 21 feet water line, 31 feet over all, 6 1/2 feet beam, and 5 feet draft, with Tobin bronze fin and balance rudder. She will carry the full 600 feet of sail allowed by the class rules and will have about 2,500 pounds of lead on her fin. She is lightly yet strongly built, with oak frames and single planking of white cedar. She has an open cockpit. Her topsides are white, deck bright, and bottom green. The other boats are for F. W. Butler Duncan, Jr. [#442s Houri], and Herman B. Duryea [#444s Vaquero I], and are like Mr. Iselin's. They are well along. ..." (Source: Anon. "The Twenty-One-Footers. Herreshoff Shops Opened to Complete the New Yachts for Larchmont." New York Times, May 24, 1894, p. 3.)

"The Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., launched the first 21 ft yacht built by them for the Larchmont Yacht Club, on Monday [May 28, 1894] last, leaving one more in process of construction. The boat was built for W. Butler Duncan and is a fin keeler, constructed of yellow pine, is a substantial looking little craft and has a racy look from stem to stern. The fin is of Tobin bronze metal, with a bulb of lead attached to the lowest point. Her name is the Honira [sic, i.e. #442s Houri].
In a short time the second one [#443s Adelaide] now building for C. Oliver Islin, will be launched and the others will follow. All these boats will measure 21 ft water line, 31 ft over all and will carry a mainsail, jib, and spinaker." (Source: Anon. "Yachts and Yachting." Bristol Phoenix, June 2, 1894, p. 2.)

"PROVIDENCE, R I, June 5 [1894] --- C. Oliver Iselin's new 21-footer, which was launched yesterday, bids fair to outshine anything in this class which the Herreshoffs have put out from their yards at Bristol. It is the second of this particular style and class, and she is the same dimensions as the Houira [sic, i.e. #442s Houri].
No name has been given the Iselin boat but it is stated that Miss Hope Goddard who will become Mrs Iselin next Saturday, will have the honor of naming the flyer.
The new one showed great speed about Bristol bay today in her trial spin under the guidance of Nat Herreshoff, and the prediction is made by her owner that she will out foot everything she runs across this season, here or abroad.
Her first race will be had at the Larchmont yacht club, New York, on Saturday but owing to the wedding of yachtsman Iselin the owner will not be aboard. A third 21-footer will come off the ways at Herreshoff's tomorrow." (Source: Anon. "Iselin's New 21-Footer. Trial Spin Leads to the Opinion That She Will Beat All in Her Class." New York Times, June 6, 1894, p. 4.)

"... The second of the twenty-one-foot water-line racers was launched from the Herreshoff dock at Bristol yesterday. She resembles W. Butler Duncan's Houri and is sloop-rigged, with a sail area of 600 square feet. She is 31 feet over all, 21 feet water line, and 8 feet draught, including: fin. ... [Though not named, the launching date indicates this fin keel to have been #443s Adelaide.]" (Source: Anon. "Yachting Odds and Ends." New York Times, June 6, 1894, p. 7.)

"NEWPORT, R. I., Aug. 16 [1894]. --- The twenty-one-footers are nearly all ready for the Corinthian Yacht Club's race, which is scheduled tor Saturday. The prize is a silver cup valued at $300, and the race is being managed by Mr. August Belmont. Four of the boats have been at the Herreshoff yards at Bristol for more than a week, having some slight changes made and being thoroughly overhauled.
W. P. Douglas's Adelaide has had an extension of nine inches placed on her fin. Her hull has been smoothed and is now painted blue. She was formerly white. Her sails, too, have been recut and her rigging has been thoroughly overhauled. ..." (Source: Anon. "Twenty-One-Footers To Race. Four Have Been Overhauled at Herreshoff's for Tomorrow's Event. " New York Times, August 17, 1894, p. 6.)

"Gordon Bennett Douglas's fin-keel sloop Adelaide, which has been out of commission for the past three years, has been thoroughly overhauled and repainted and launched from the Woods yard to-day. The Adelaide was the first of Herreshoffs' fin-keel boats, and was built for C. Oliver Iselin a number of years ago." (Source: Anon. "City Island Yacht News." New York Times, July 3, 1900, p. 8.)

"... In the Larchmont Yacht Club 21-foot one-design class the racing was particularly interesting, as all four boats took part in about 12 races. This class was built by Herreshoff several years ago, and has raced consistently each season since. Dorothy [#445s] won the class honors for the past season with 6 firsts, 3 seconds, and 1 third, and was disabled twice. Vaquero II [sic, i.e. Vaquero I #444s] took second place with 3 firsts, 4 seconds and 4 thirds. Houri [#442s] beat Adelaide [#443s] for third place, having 3 firsts, 2 seconds and 3 thirds. ..." (Source: Granberry, G. P. "Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound." Rudder, May 1905, p. 343.)

"The 'Newport thirties' mentioned under one-design classes, were originally started as a restricted class, but the Herreshoff boats which were all alike proved so much superior to the others that the latter soon dropped out and it became to all intents and purposes simply a one-design class; the same thing applies to the 'Larchmont twenty-ones,' originally a very large class built a few years before the thirties, and four Herreshoff members of which are still racing, but for about the last ten years as one-design boats." (Source: Hoyt, C. Sherman. "The Professional and the Amateur in Yacht Racing." Outing Magazine, September 1907, p. 755.)

"... One of the oldest of the one-design classes, the Larchmont 21-footers of 1894, open fin-keel sloops, had four survivors; Dorothy, Houri, Vaquera and Follette; this class has shown a wonderful vitality, the hulls lasting well and retaining their popularity. ..." (Source: Anon. [Title?] Power Boating, vol. 3, 1907, [p. 33?].)

"The fin keelers reached their zenith in the so-called Newport thirties. Members of the fashionable Newport colony had a one design class of these boats built from mahogany, thirty feet long on the waterline, in 1896 by the Herreshoff Mfg. Co. and for many years after this class gave excellent racing. The Vaquero III [#468s] owned and sailed by Herman Duryea was the champion in this class.
The year before, in 1895 [sic, i.e. 1894], members of the Larchmont Yacht Club had a class of 21 footers, that were the prototype of [the Newport 30] class, built by the Herreshoffs.
These boats were 21 feet long on the water, 30 feet on deck, 6ft 6ins wide and drew 5ft 3 inches [and] were named Vaquero [#444s], Celia [#447s], Houri [#442s] and Adelaide [#443s]." (Source: Davis, Charles G. "Recollections of Boats and Boatbuilders about New York. 1884 to 1914." Handwritten manuscript in the Collection of Mystic Seaport Museum. No date (1920s), p. 40.)

"N/A"

"[Item Description:] Printed class rule titled 'Rules to Govern the Special 21 Foot Class' defining max LWL (21ft), max LOA (31ft, 3/4 of which must be decked), length of cockpit, crew (max 3), ballast, centerboard (if used), sail area between 600 and 500sqft, jib and mainsail and spinnaker allowed, sail area to be measured as follows, no time allowance given to any boat, Rules of the Road to govern all races. Undated (this is believed to be the rules under which the Larchmont 21s #445s, #442s, #443s, #444s, #447s were designed and built in 1894)." (Source: Larchmont Yacht Club. Correspondence (printed leaflet) to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE15_03110. Folder [no #]. No date (1894 ?).)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled sailplan of a fin keel boat, titled in lower right corner "#442 [HOURI] #443 [ADELAIDE]. Not used'. Note the two different keels, the construction plan shows the shallower one to have been for #443s ADELAIDE. Undated, the Larchmont One-Design class was designed in April 1894." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. (creator). Penciled Sailplan. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Acc. 2004.0001.0454. WRDT08, Folder 36, formerly MRDE09. No date (1894-04 ?).)
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"[Item Description:] Handwritten (in ink) regatta report with tabulated data showing regatta performances for HOURI [#442s], VAQUERO [#444s], ADELAIDE [#443s], DOROTHY [#445s], CELIA [#447s], MAYSIE, BLONDE & B., MINNETONKA, FLIRT, HOODOO, and SKIMMAUG at the following races: June 9. Larchmont, June 16. Knickerbocker, June 30. New Rochelle June 25. S.C.Y.C. June 23. Douglaston, July 13. Larchmont July 7. Country Club July 4. Larchmont, July 14. Mosquito, July 21. Indian Harb[or], July 28. Larchmont, Aug. 4. Larchmont, Aug. 18. Newport ([Trophy donated by] Belmont), Aug. 20. Newport ([Trophy donated by] Belmont), Aug. 21. Newport Sub[cription]s.), Aug. 22. Newport ([Trophy donated by] Duryea), Aug. 23. Newport (Sub[cription]s.), Aug. 27. Newport ([Trophy donated by] Ellis), Aug. 28. Newport (Sub[cription]s.), Aug. 11. Sea Cliff, Aug. 25. Indian H[arbor], Aug. 4. Indian H[arbor], Sep. 1. Larchmont, Sep. 3. Indian H[arbor], Sep. 8. Larchmont, Sep. 11. Larchmont, Sep. 15. Larchmont, Sep. 22. Larchmont. Created by W. Butler Duncan, owner of HOURI, as per newspaper clipping 'What The 21-Footers Did' from the New York Sun of October 1, 1894." (Source: Duncan, W. Butler (creator). Regatta Report. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDW02_04480. Folder [no #]. No date (after 1894-09-22 ?).)
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"[Item Transcription:] [Newspaper clipping beginning with:] What The 21-Footers Did.
A. Full Record of Their Performances and Their Position In Each Race.
The little 21-foot racing fleet, with limited sail area and restricted dimensions, which were introduced to the yachting public this summer through the Larchmont Yacht Club, in spite of a rather inauspicious beginning, have proved by far the most interesting class of the year. At first a number of these tiny racers were conspicuous more for the easy manner in which they fell apart than for their racing capabilities. Later on some of the other designers discovered that piano wire, paper muslin, and broken twine were hardly the proper material to rig a racing boat with, even if it was light, and from that time on there was some great racing in this class, in fact the best racing of the year.
The Herreshoff boats, five in number, as usual covered themselves with glory, finishing one, two, three, four, and six out of eleven starters.
A full list of the 21-footers, with their owners and designers, follows:
Boat. Owner. Designer.
HOURI [#442s], W. Butler Duncan.Jr., Herreshoff.
VAQUERO [#444s], Herman Duryea, Herreshoff.
ADELAIDE [#443s], William Douglas, Herreshoff.
DOROTHY [#445s], H. P. Whitney, Herreshoff.
CELIA [#447s], C. A. Gould, Herreshoff.
MAYSIE, William Osborn, Jr., Gardner.
BLONDE & BBRUNETTE, Herbert Seeley, Gardner.
MINNETONKA, George Work, Dyer.
FLIRT, W. Gould Brokaw, Gardner.
ROODOO, Howard P. Adams, Whitebouse & Chesborough.
SKIMMUNG, Thomas Clapham, Clapham. [Followed by detailed race report and tabulated results data.]" (Source: New York Sun (creator). Newspaper Clipping. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDW02_03980. Folder [no #]. 1894-10-01.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #443s Adelaide even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Adelaide (HMCo-made index card)
• Adelaide (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: Adelaide
Type: J & M
Length: 21'
Owner: Iselin, C. O.

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

• Adelaide
• Follette ex-Adelaide
• 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: Adelaide
Type: 21' fin keeler
Owner: C. O. Iselin
Year: 1894
Row No.: 4

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.

"LOA 31ft." (Source: Anon. "The Twenty-One-Footers. Herreshoff Shops Opened to Complete the New Yachts for Larchmont." New York Times, May 24, 1894, p. 3.)

"Owned by L. J. Garcey as Follette in 1910 as per L. F. Herreshoff index card at Herreshoff Marine Museum." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 27, 2011.)

"Plan 75-37 shows that the Larchmont 21s carried two different sail plans, one with 500 square feet, the other with 600 square feet." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 16, 2013.)

'Construction plan 75-36 shows #443s ADELAIDE to have been fitted with a shallower keel." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 27, 2019.)

"Built in 48 days (contract to launch; equivalent to $27/day, 84 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

"[Sail area 600sq ft.]" (Source: Anon. "The Houri A Fast One." New York Times, June 2, 1894, p. 3.=

"Displacement 4052lbs calculated as the average of three figures for displacement in NGH design booklet dated April 19, 1904: 4020lbs (obtained by formula), 4186lbs (by tabular weight study) and 3950lbs (by model weighing)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. November 16, 2021.)

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