HMCo #462s Sally

"[1896-06-19] Fri 19: Launched #462 Sally. ...
[1896-06-28] Sun 28: Went to Newport in Puck [#465s] & towed Sally [#462s Half-rater]." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1896. Manuscript (excerpts). Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection.)

"BRISTOL, R I, May 17 [1896] --- ... In the north shop strapped up in the west end is a small half rater, built for Starling Burgess, a son of the late Edward Burgess, the well-known designer of fast yachts. This boat was built last fall and is about 17 feet on the water line. Her fin and bulb [sic, she was a centerboard boat] are ready, and it is expected that she will be taken out of the shops the coming week. She resembles in lines the 30-footers and is painted white. ..." (Source: Anon. "From Bristol Shops. New York 30-Footers Being Delivered to Their Owners." Boston Globe, May 18, 1896, p. 7.)

"... Starling was a senior at Milton Academy, when, in the early winter of 1896, Herreshoff Manufacturing Company began work on his 17' jib-and-mainsail sloop SALLY II. The building of SALLY II gave Starling a pretext for spending a succession of weekends at Bristol with Uncle Nat , a toddling L. Francis, and the rest of the Herreshoff household. At some point during this last semester of school, Starling told Uncle Nat of his ambition to become a yacht designer, and Uncle Nat banished him from the model room at Bristol. ..." (Howland III, Llewellyn. "The Burgess Legacy. Part II." Wooden Boat #72, September/October 1986, p. 45.)

"... Starling's own fascination with sailing canoes dated back at least to his Milton Academy days. It was reflected in his sloop SALLY, as designed and built for him by Herreshoff in 1895. Though not a sailing canoe, SALLY had many comparable features, of which extreme lightness and fineness of construction and extreme tenderness under sail were most obvious. ..." (Howland III, Llewellyn. "The Burgess Legacy. Part III." Wooden Boat #73, November/December 1986, p. 37-38.)

"N/A"

"[Item Description:] Penciled construction plan with plan view, midship section and inboard profile titled 'No 455 [#455s OLITA] Scale ... May 15th [18]95'. Superimposed over the profile is a slightly altered profile in ink. With note 'No 462 [#462s SALLY. Ordered Nov[ember] 15, 1895' followed by a detailed list of scantlings." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Inked Plan. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Acc. 2004.0001.0263. WRDT04, Folder 24, formerly MRDE08. 1895-05-15.)
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"[Item Description:] Will visit Bristol to talk about his boat [this will be the half-rater #462s SALLY]." (Source: Burgess, W. Starling. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_02420. Correspondence, Folder 1_14, formerly 232. 1895-10-27.)
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"[Item Description:] Uncle Sidney permits to build boat if cost not over $100; enjoyed visit to NGH; please notify when boat building has begun [this will be the half-rater #462s SALLY and will cost $700]." (Source: Burgess, W. Starling. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_02360. Correspondence, Folder 1_14, formerly 232. 1895-11-03.)
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"[Item Description:] Typewritten contract for #462s SALLY." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co.. (creator). Contract. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDW02_00920. Folder [no #]. 1895-11-08.)
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"[Item Transcription:] Here are all the dimensions and information as I got them from Mr Eustis, owner of GRILSE [a centerboard sloop built by W. F. Mayberry of Quincy, Mass. in 1894 and owned by A. H. Eustis]. Also drawing as well[?] I can make them at sight after seeing the model.
Yours,
Robert Emmons 2d
GRILSE's measurements
overall 24-6
LWL 16-11
beam 6-1
draught 6 inches
Sail area 360 feet (all she can carry in a breeze)
Weight of Hull originally 626 lbs now 560
Centreboard a bronze daggerboard about 4 feet wide wight 100
She has only about 2 feet overhang aft - next is forward - carries her beam well to the end and sides that flare 10 inches to a foot just tunnelling[?] in on plank shear - freeboard is about 10 inches to 1 ft
Her entrance lines are sharp not at all like the present bluff lines like the boat from Canada or even the SALLY [#462s] as I understand her.
The 'CERO' [30ft knockabout owned by W.E.C. Eustis] which beat the HANDSEL [#422s] last summer is an enlarged model of the GRILSE.
Mr Eustis says that SALLY could beat the GRILSE always in 2 reef breeze but in light and whole sail breezes could not. [Sketch]
My idea is that a boat of a little larger rig and more powerful model will beat GRILSE. From what I hear and have seen daggerboard seems to be good and I do not see why with lead at bottom and made of wood would not be better than bronze. You get your weight lower when either up or down and it seems to give a little which I have a theory favors a boat.
Any of the information you require I will gladly get if possible, and I will bring my young brother [William B. Emmons?] down on Saturday Dec 26 if convenient to you and I can tell you what our racing rules will be as they talk of making a change and the meeting is today. Hoping we can arrange designs and price later,
Yours sincerely ...
[Next page:] [Sketch] This is a rough draught of what the midship section looks like as I saw it on the model an hour ago. Of course as she goes forward her sections get very extenuated[?] as her great plane[?] does not. [Sketch] allow[?] the[?] lines[?] to be drawing in too quickly. I send you a rough[?] idea of what I think her deck and [?] lines look like. RWE 2d [Undated. Given the mention of GRILSE the letter must be from 1894 or later. Given the mention of Saturday Dec 26 the letter is quite certainly from 1896, the only year between 1894 and 1903 when December 26 fell on a Saturday. Given Emmons were to visit NGH on Dec 26 we may assume this letter was written shortly before and quite certainly in December 1896. This may make this letter the earliest R.W. Emmons letter in the HMM collection, Emmons (December 28, 1872 – April 18, 1928) being just 23 when he wrote this letter. It also strongly suggests this letter to have been written in preparation for the ordering of #484s OPPOSSUM, the first of many boats to be built by HMCo for Emmons.]" (Source: Emmons, Robert W. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_42530. Correspondence, Folder 90, formerly 105. No date (1896-12 ?).)
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"[Item Transcription:] [Penciled specifications memorandum re #462s SALLY:]
Mem[orandum] of Requirements for proposed Racing Boat for W. Starling Burgess
Price $700
To be made on moulds of #453[sic, ie #455] (OLITA) but with frame spaces increased from 10in to 11in. Length overall 22ft. Length w.l. about 11ft 9in with about 240lbs of lead on keel and no crew.
The boat is intended to be measured for the 1911 class recently adopted by the Beverly Y.C. i.e. to not exceed 19in on a line 2in above the w.l. without crew.
Hull to be about 20% heavier built than OLITA, to have shallow watertight cockpit about 5ft long, 18in wide & 8in deep, with c.b. box opening into it. To be hatches in deck just forward and aft of cockpit.
Rudder to be hung to outside of stern, with blade of bronze arranged to be raised when in shallow water.
Rig to have about 300sqft sail in jib & mainsail and to have also small jib, baloon jib & spinnaker with all necessary spars & rigging for racing purposes. Undated (SALLY was contracted for November 15, 1895)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (?) (creator). Specifications Memorandum. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDW02_00940. Folder [no #]. No date (ca 1895-11-15).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #462s Sally even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. [Contract for #462s Sally, Half-Rater for Starling Burgess.] Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum, MRDW02. Bristol, RI, November 8, 1895. (1,401 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission. Copyright holder: Halsey C. Herreshoff. Original building/sales contract. Vessel description, scantlings, payment terms, specifications.

• Sally (HMCo-made index card)
• Sally (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: Sally
Type: J & M
Length: 17'
Owner: Loring, A. P.

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

• Sally
• 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: Sally
Type: 17' J & M
Owner: A. P. Loring
Row No.: 588

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: Nov
Day: 15
Year: 1895
E/P/S: S
No.: 0462
Name: Sally
LW: 17'
B: 6' 9"
D: -6"
Rig: J & M
CB: y
Ballast: Lead
Amount: $700.00
Notes Constr. Record: for St. Burgess
Last Name: Loring
First Name: A. 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.

"Sally was ordered by A. P. Loring, a lifelong friend of the Burgess family (together with his brother W[illiam] C[aleb] Loring) and trustee for W. Starling Burgess, who was seventeen when Sally was ordered. Starling Burgess' father, the famous yacht designer Edward Burgess, had died in 1891, hence the need for a trustee. W. Starling Burgess would go on to become a celebrated yacht designer himself." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. June 4, 2014.)

"Built in 217 days (contract to launch; equivalent to $3/day, 5 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

"… Rig to have about 300 square feet sail in jib and mainsail. ..." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Contract for #462s Sally [excerpt]. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum. November 8, 1895.)

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