HMCo #454s Lagopa [Lagofa]

"... 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.)

"[Item Description:] Printed leaflet titled 'Rules For the Class of One Rating Centre Board Boats'. Undated. [HMCo built only two One-Raters for export to England: #431s MORWENA (1892/1893 and #454s LAGOPA (1895). Both had fin keels, not centerboards. Nonetheless, one might speculate that this document was related to one of them.]" (Source: Royal Mersey YC (creator). Leaflet. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_76080. Measuring and Measurement Rules (Box 2), Folder B2F18, formerly MRDE15. No date (1895 ??).)
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"N/A"

Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #454s Lagopa [Lagofa] even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Lagofa (HMCo-made index card)
• Lagofa (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: Lagofa
Type: J & M
Length: 19'6"
Owner: Jevis, Sir A. C. and H. B. Webb

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

• Lagofa
• 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: Lagofa
Type: 19' 6" J & M
Owner: Sir A. C. Jarvis and H. B. Webb
Row No.: 367

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: Apr
Day: 20
Year: 1895
E/P/S: S
No.: 0454
Name: Lagofa
LW: 19' 6"
B: 5' 9"
D: 5' 0"
Rig: J & M
K: FK
Ballast: Lead
Amount: $1650.00
Notes Constr. Record: shipped to England
Last Name: Webb for Sir A.C. Jarvis
First Name: H. B.

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.)

"The name Lagopa may be derived from Lagopus Lagopus. As per Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_ptarmigan, retrieved February 15, 2022), this is the latin name for the willow ptarmigan, a bird in the grouse subfamily Tetraoninae of the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is also known as the willow grouse and in Ireland and Britain as the red grouse. It breeds in birch and other forests and moorlands in northern Europe, the tundra of Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska and Canada, in particular in the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebecand is the state bird of Alaska. The latin name is derived from Ancient Greek lagos 'hare' + pous 'foot', in reference to the bird's feathered feet which allow it to negotiate frozen ground." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 15, 2022.)

"Built in 62 days (contract to finished; equivalent to $27/day, 44 lbs displacement/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.