HMCo #496s Spook

"[1898-07-01] Fri 1: Fog last night. Very hot with wind ch[anging] to NW in p.m. Launched #496 [Spook], Francis L. H[erreshoff]'s fin keel.
[1898-07-02] Sat 2: Very fine & warm. Mod[erate]N & SW [wind]. Francis [L. Herreshoff, owner of #496s Spook] here. ..." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1898. Manuscript (excerpts). Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection.)

"... A twenty-one foot knockabout is being built at the Herreshoff yards, at Bristol, for Frank [sic] Herreshoff, who lives in New-York. The planking is almost completed, and the fin and lead bulb are ready. ..." (Source: Anon. "The Craft And Those Who Sail Them." New York Tribune, June 29, 1898, p. 5.)

"The 12th annual open regatta of the Rhode Island Yacht Club was held Wednesday [August 26, 1898] off the club house at Pawtuxet and was a success in every way. Fall River and Bristol boats were well represented. In the second division, 20-foot class, sloops or cutters, the Bristol boats entered were Miss Flossie DeWolfs Kildee [#460s] and F. L. Herreshoff's Spook [#496s]. Steam yachts Eugenia [#182p] and Squib [#188p] went up from Bristol with parties on board to see Miss DeWolf and the Herreshoff boy sail their boats They were in the same class and sailed well. The Spook beat Miss DeWolf's Kildee on time allowance, although the latter crossed the line first. The distance sailed was 12 miles." (Source: Anon. "Rhode Island Yacht Club Regatta." Bristol Phoenix, August 26, 1898, p. 3.)

"N/A"

"[Item Description:] Penciled dimensioned sketch with a sail cutting plan titled 'Spin[naker] #496 [SPOOK] of finest Berkeley'. Undated, SPOOK was built in June 1898." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. (creator). Penciled Sketch. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Acc. 2004.0001.0457. WRDT08, Folder 37, formerly MRDE09. No date (1898-06 ??).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #496s Spook even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Spook (HMCo-made index card)
• Spook (MIT Museum-made index card)
• Runaway Girl ex-Spook (HMCo-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: Spook
Type: J & M
Length: 14'
Owner: Herreshoff, F. L.

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

• Spook
• 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: Spook
Type: 16' J & M
Owner: Francis Lee Herreshoff
Row No.: 647

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: June
Year: 1898
E/P/S: S
No.: 0496
Name: Spook
LW: 14' 5"
B: 4' 7"
D: 3' 8"
Rig: J & M
K: FK
Ballast: Lead
Notes Constr. Record: Moulds of 457. F.L.H. [obsc.] Running Girl. In 1934 belonged to David Crompton, Belleville, N. J.
Last Name: Herreshoff
First Name: F. L.

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.

"LOA 22-6ft from Manning's Yacht Register." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 3, 2023.)

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