HMCo #537s Gee

"[1900-06-18] Mon 18: Very fine. NE [wind], fresh & clear. ... Launched #537, Gee, [a] 12-1/2’ spritsail [boat].
[1900-07-01] Sun 1: Fine & cool [with] fresh NW [wind]. ... John brought back Gee [#537s] from Woods Hole.
[1900-07-04] Wed 4: Very fine & hot. Mod[erate] NW [wind] & clear. ... Off sailing in Gee [#537s] & Kildee [#460s].
[1900-09-02] Sun 2: Went in Squib to West Falmouth to deliver #537 [Gee] just bought by Mr. [Charles? M?] Baker. Very fine but strong SW breeze returning. Trip up [took] 3 h[ours] 30 m[inutes]. Returning [took] 3 [hours] 55 [minutes]. Dist[ance] 50 miles. [Note: The reference to Mr. Baker of West Falmouth suggests this to be the Boston Banker Charles M. Baker who summered in Chapaquoit (West Falmouth) and had an almost insatiable appetite for Herreshoff boats, including #456s Edith, #486s Edith, #488s Alpha, #515s Blazing Star, #548s Radiant, #574s Arethusa and #611s Illusion.]" (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1900. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

"... On Monday [June 18, 1900] Nat Herreshoff launched a small skimming dish boat, not over 12 feet in length, and almost light enough for a person to lift alone. Her peculiarity is that the mast is stepped in a socket in the stem. She is fitted with a spritsall and sails close to the wind. ..." Boston Herald, June 24, 1900, p. 27.)

"BRISTOL, R.I,. June 23 [1900]. --- ... The new freak of the 'skimming dish' variety, with a mast stepped on top of the stem, goes through the water like a witch. It has been impossible to find out why she was built. She is only 12 feet long, and is of course in a class all by herself. It is generally believed that she was turned out by 'Nat' Herreshoff in the development of some idea which he will later turn to practical use. [Note: Though not identified by name, her description and the time and context strongly suggest this to be a reference to #537s Gee.]" (Source: Anon. "New Herreshoff Boats." New York Times, June 25, 1900, p. 3.)

"Newport, June 25 [1900] (Special). --- Nat Herreshoff is experimenting on a small 12-foot freak craft, which has her mast stepped at the stem and sails very fast. Apparently no order has been given for this boat, and from the fact that 'Nat' always works out big ideas on small boats, such as the Dilemma and other trial craft, it is said that he has had this one built with a view to further necessities in the way of speed for the next defender of the America's Cup. Prior to the building of the Columbia, it was said in several quarters that the general design of the Gardner Cartoon was faster than that of the Columbia, and it has been noted that the contour of the new skimming dish is nearer to the Cartoon than to the Columbia. ..." (Source: Anon. "New Designs At Bristol Yards. Herreshoff Experimenting With A Freak Craft." New York Tribune, June 26, 1900, p. 6.)

"... The most extreme of the Class A boats was Gee, built in 1900 for Thomas Hinckley. She was the first Woods Hole Spritsail to receive notice in a national magazine, although she was the least typical. In 1955 Howard Chapelle, the noted naval architect and historian, serialized 'The Search For Speed Under Sail' in Yachting magazine. A marvelous drawing of an extreme design built for racing in Woods Hole appeared in the April issue. Chapelle used Gee to illustrate the lengths to which Herreshoff would go. 'Who but Nathanael Herreshoff would have considered stepping the mast on the stemhead so as to place it far enough forward to obtain maximum practical sail area in an unballasted boat?'
In the summer of 1956 when I was steward of the WHYC, Prince Crowell and Charlie Grinnell told me about a boat they called a skimming dish that was probably Gee, the boat featured in Yachting. Charlie had been measurer for the club for several years and remembered her bronze centerboard. Unlike Dude which was designed without any tiller, Gee almost had two since her tiller was forked. Gee was the most expensive spritsail at $375. For comparison, the property tax on H.E. Hibbard's Long House on Penzance Point was about $100.
Which Thomas Hinckley owned Gee? There is a Thomas Hinckley on the Herreshoff list and the same name on the WHYC membership list. At least two generations of Thomas Hinckleys owned a house directly across Little Harbor from A.C. Harrison, the owner of Wiz [#498s]. In the archives of the Woods Hole Historical Collection are pictures of the Fay's boatman, named Tom Hinckley. They show an older man who looks the part of a family boatman. Would such a man have been able to afford the expensive Gee? Would he have been up to the physical demands of such an extreme racer? ..." (Source: Littell, Browne. "Early Days of Racing in Woods Hole." In: Woods Hole Historical Collection (Publisher). Spritsail, Volume 10, Number 2, Summer 1996, p. 18, 20. http://www.woodsholemuseum.org/woodspages/sprtsl/v10n2-EarlyRace.pdf, retrieved February 10, 2011.)

"[Item Transcription:] [Handwritten (in ink) specifications memorandum:] Jan[uar]y 4, 1900
Memo of Order Shop No 537 [#537s GEE]
1- Sailing Boat for the 13ft spritsail class of Woods Hole, Mass. To be complete with two sails, mast and oars.
To have wash board as wide as one put on WIZ #498.
'I think the large sail should not be over 11ft or 12ft hoist. I want her if possible to be faster than the WIZ'.
Delivery May 1st, 1900." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Specifications. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDW02_00810. Folder [no #]. 1900-01-04.)
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"[Item Transcription:] [Handwritten (in ink) letter marked in pencil by NGH 'Information for 13 1/2ft Spritsail boat #537 [GEE]:] Woods Hole Jan 11 - 1900
Herreshoff & Co
In regards to the Rules.
The largest sprit sails shall not be any longer on the luff than the length of the boat when she is measured, shall not have any battens or club or boom, no shroud, but can carry a head stay, the width of the boat has nothing to do with the measurement, they are allowed to carry what [p. 2] ballas[sic] they want (ballas is not restricted), the measurement of the boat shall be from the wood ends furtherest forward to her stern, if she is one inch over 13ft she must give allowance to a 13 footer, 1 sec to 3/10 to a mile as near as I can remember the WIZ [#498s] is 13ft 4 inches she would have to give a 13 footer 5 sec 2/10 to a mile, most of the boats measure 13ft 2 inches to 6, if you do well on this one the chances are you will mul[?].
Yours truly,
Thos. Hinckley" (Source: Hinckley, Thos. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDW02_00790. Folder [no #]. 1900-01-11.)
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"[Item Transcription:] Typewritten (carbon copy) table with penciled additions listing boats built 1899/1900 with columns labeled 'Design [in pencil]', 'Shop. No.', 'Length', 'Planking', 'Delivery', 'Owner' followed by penciled data for Boat Name and Actual Delivery Date. Relevant contents:
#537s [Length:] 13ft [Planking:] Cedar [Delivery:] May 1 [1900] [Owner:] Thos. Hinckley (GEE)." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co.. (creator) and Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Table. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDW02_01290. Folder [no #]. No date (1900-02).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #537s Gee even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Gee (HMCo-made index card)
• Gee (MIT Museum-made index card)
• Gee (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.

• Gee
• 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: Gee
Type: 12 1/2' spritsail
Owner: Mr. Hinckley
Row No.: 246

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: Jan
Day: 4
Year: 1900
E/P/S: S
No.: 0537
Name: Gee
LW: 12 1/2'
B: 5' 8"
D: 5'
Rig: Sprits'l
CB: y
Ballast: none
Amount: 375.00
Last Name: Hinckley
First Name: Theo.

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.

"See also: Mystic Seaport, Daniel S. Gregory Ships Plans Library, Miscellaneous Yachts Collection. 29.123. GEE; 12.5 ft. spritsail racing boat. Designer, Nathanael G. Herreshoff; Design #537; Builder, Herreshoff Manufacturing Company; 1900." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 13, 2011.)

"See also: Chapelle, Howard. "The Need For Speed." Yachting, April 1955." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 13, 2011.)

"Plan 76-22 from which this boat was built was drawn 1900-04-30." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 26, 2009.)

"Built in 165 days (contract to launch; equivalent to $2/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.