HMCo #491s Violet
Particulars
Name: VioletType: Racing Catboat
Designed by: NGH
Contract: 1897-12-31
Launch: 1898
Construction: Wood
LOA: 15' 0" (4.57m)
LWL: 14' 10.7777777777778" (4.54m)
Beam: 5' 6" (1.68m)
Draft: 1' 0" (0.30m)
Rig: Cat
Centerboard: yes
Ballast: Lead
Built for: Marston, Howard
Amount: $650.00
Note: Particulars are primarily but not exclusively from the HMCo Construction Record. Supplementary information not from the Construction Record appears elsewhere in this record with a complete citation.
Model
Model number: 224Model location: H.M.M. Model Room South Wall Center
Vessels from this model:
1 built, modeled by NGH
Original text on model:
"No. 491 1890 [1898?] scale 1/12 VIOLET" (Source: Original handwritten annotation on model. Undated.)
Model Description:
"15' lwl Violet, centerboard catboat of 1898." (Source: Bray, Maynard. 2004.)
Note: Vessels that appear in the records as not built, a cancelled contract, a study model, or as a model sailboat are listed but not counted in the list of vessels built from a model.
Offsets
Offset booklet number(s): HH.4.108
Offset booklet contents:
#491 [15' w.l. centerboard catboat Violet].
Offset Booklet(s) in Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection. Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass. (Restricted access --- see curator.)
Drawings
Explore all drawings relating to this boat.List of drawings:
Drawings believed to have been first drawn for, or being first referenced to
HMCo #491s Violet are listed in bold.
Click on Dwg number for preview, on HH number to see at M.I.T. Museum.
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Dwg 130-052 (HH.5.10355): Sails > # 491 Violet (1898-02 ?)
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Dwg 075-056 (HH.5.05449); Construction Dwg > Violet No. 491 (1898-02-09)
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Dwg 060-035 (HH.5.04258): Centre Board Alone (1898-02-19)
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Dwg 127-055 (HH.5.09923): Sails > No. 491 (1898-02-23)
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Dwg 091-051 (HH.5.07321): Blocks and Metal Work # 491 (1898-04-05)
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Dwg 078-046 (HH.5.05762): For # 491 [Rigging Details - Thimbles, Turnbuckles, etc.] (1898-04-15)
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Dwg 080-061 (HH.5.05973): Spars for 491 (1898-04-15)
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Dwg 080-060 (HH.5.05972): Spars for Worming Mainsail and Spinnaker (1898-04-29)
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Dwg 127-056 (HH.5.09924): Sails > Spinnaker and Working Sail for No. 491 (1898-04-29)
Note: The Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection is copyrighted by the Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections of the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Mass. Permission to incorporate information from it in the Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné is gratefully acknowledged. The use of this information is permitted solely for research purposes. No part of it is to be published in any form whatsoever.
Documents
Nathanael G. Herreshoff
"No. 491.
15ft c[enter]b[oard] racing cat
Frame spaces 6"
Moulds for even no frames only.
[Deduct] for planking 716"
[Deduct] for timbers 11/16"
[Total] 1 1/8"
Keel 1 3/8 (1" above rabbet)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. [Penciled note in Offset Booklet HH.4.108.] No date (ca. January 1898). Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)
L. Francis Herreshoff
"Painted violet color." (Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. "Violet." Handwritten note on vessel index card in the collection of the Herreshoff Museum, Bristol, R.I. No place, no date.)
Archival Documents
"N/A"
Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #491s Violet even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.
Images
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Further Image Information
Created by: Bray, Kathy.
Image Caption: "Violet." [Painted violet as confirmed by L. Francis Herreshoff.]
Image Date: 2012
Image is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission
Copyright holder: Kathy Bray.
Supplement
From the 1920 and earlier HMCo Index Cards at the MIT Museum
- 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.
From the 1931 HMCo-published Owner's List
Name: Violet
Type: Cat
Length: 15'
Owner: Marston, H.
Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. "A Partial List of Herreshoff Clients." In: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Herreshoff Yachts. Bristol, Rhode Island, ca. 1931.
From the 1930s L. Francis Herreshoff Index Cards at the Herreshoff Marine Museum
- 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.
From the 1953 HMCo Owner's List by L. Francis Herreshoff
Name: Violet
Type: 15' cat
Owner: H. Marston
Row No.: 725
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.
From the 2000 (ca.) Transcription of the HMCo Construction Record by Vermilya/Bray
Month: Dec
Day: 31
Year: 1897
E/P/S: S
No.: 0491
Name: Violet
LW: 15'
B: 7'
D: 12"
Rig: Cat
Ballast: Lead
Amount: 650.00
Last Name: Marston
First Name: 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.
Research Note(s)
"Howard Marston was a restaurant owner in Boston. He also owned extensive shore line property near Barnstable on Nine Mile Lake, Cape Cod's largest lake. In 1891, when helping to sponsor a regatta on this lake, Marston was instrumental in having it renamed from Nine Mile Lake to Wequaquet Lake. Marston's racing catboat #432s Viola was the 'queen of the lake' until it was replaced in 1899 by #491s Violet." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 30, 2015.)
"Dimensions from penciled note on construction plan 075-056 (HH.5.05449)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. September 2, 2020.)
Note: Research notes contain information about a vessel that is often random and unedited but has been deemed useful for future research.
Note
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