HMCo #544s Eaglet

"[1900-04-04] Wed 4: Very fine [with] mod[erate] NW [wind] & clear. ... W[illiam] Grossinor here and ordered a 15-footer [#544s Eaglet].
[1900-07-10] Tue 10: Very fine & clear. Mod[erate] NW to W [wind]. Launched & delivered #544 Eaglet & delivered to Mr. Grossinor Jr. ..." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1900. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

"Also in 1899, the Buzzards Bay Fifteen Footers started, first with an order of seven, but augmented to seventeen. This class has been added to for thirty-one years, so there have been about eighty built." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. "Some of the Boats I Have Sailed In." Written 1934. In: Pinheiro, Carlton J. (ed.). Recollections and Other Writings by Nathanael G. Herreshoff. Bristol, 1998, p. 67.)

"BRISTOL, R. I., May 12, [1900] ... There is no end of small racers to be built in Bristol before July. Orders have been received for four more fifteen-footers of the type adopted in the Beverly Yacht Club in 1899 [probably #535s Moya, #540s Sand Piper, #543s Hawk, and #544s Eaglet]. One has been begun and is one-third planked. ..." (Source: Anon. "In The Bristol Yards. Work on the Seventy-Footers Progressing Rapidly. New Small Craft." New York Times, May 13, 1900, p. ?)

"... The unusual interest in the five-mile race of the fifteen footers was due to the fact that three of them were sailed by girls. The Eaglet [#544s] was handled by Miss Caroline Grosvenor, daughter of J.B.M. Grosvenor, and came in second. The Echo [#588s] and Whisper [#587s] were cleverly sailed by daughters of E.D. Morgan. There was a strong breeze from the northwest, and the water was more than usually rough, but the fair skippers stuck to their posts and brought their boats about smartly. ..." (Source: Anon. "Miss Grosvenor and E. D. Morgan's Daughters Sail Fifteen Footers." New York Times, August 19, 1904 (p. 5?).)

"On Monday the 15-footers started racing. Among them are the Eaglet [#544s], owned by William Grosvenor; Echo [#588s], owned by Miss Elizabeth S. Morgan; Murmur [#671s], owned by Miss Meredith Cunningham; Swan [#?s], owned by Robert Walton Goelet; Whisper [#587s], owned by Edwin D. Morgan, Jr., and the Glimmer [#656s], owned by Frederick Cunningham, Jr. The two ladies are clever yachtswomen. Harold Vanderbilt is having the 15-footer Breeze [#525s] placed in commission to use for the rest of the season. ..." (Source: Anon. [No title.] New York Times, August 29, 1909, p. ?)

"... Gilbert Congdon's Herreshoff 15-footer 'Eaglet' is overboard. ..." (Source: Anon ["See Weed"]. "Ship Shape 'n Bristol Fashion." Bristol Phoenix, July 15, 1949, p. 3.)

"The Buzzard's Bay 15-Footer class that was designed by N G Herreshoff back in 1898 and built by the Herreshoff Mfg Co, is well worthy of notice. These sturdy, well built boats have been popular all through their long history and now at the halfway mark of the century are most all in existence. They are scattered around from Cape Cod to Long Island Sound, five being owned by Taber Academy at Marion, Mass., for training students in the rudiments of sailing. One of special interest to Bristol people is the 'Eaglet' owned by G. Maurice Congdon. She was built in 1900 for Mrs. Congdon's brother, William Grosvenor, and sailed by him in Newport. In 1905 Mr. Grosvenor gave her to his sister and she has been in Mrs. Congdon's family ever since. She has always been kept winters at the Williams and Manchester Yard in Newport and Mr. Williams used to remark that he felt she was his own because he helped build her when he was employed at the Herreshoff Yard in Bristol. She was moored in Bretton's Cove during the 1938 hurricane and came through without any damage. Except for some re-planking in 1925 and some new suits of sails she is as good as new. She has had a remarkable history of achievements to her credit, having won practically all the time being raced by Mrs Congdon in the early 1900s, by her son Gilbert after 1923 and her son Robert from 1930 on. The cups marking her success are many in number and give those who see there is a feeling of awe to see so many beautiful trophies won over the 50 years by one of the finest of racing sailboats." (Source: Anon ("See Weed"). "Ship Shape 'n Bristol Fashion." Bristol Phoenix, September 15, 1950, p. 3.)

"[Eaglet, sailed by Gil Congdon, participated in the Bristol Yacht Club's Regatta of August 27, 1955.]" (Source: Anon. "BYC Regatta Draws Bay's Largest Turnout Despite Poor Weather." Bristol Phoenix, August 30, 1955, p. 3.)

"[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:
#544s 15ft. class [Length:] 15ft W.L. [Planking:] Cedar [Delivery:] July 2 [1900] [Owner:] Wm. Grosvenor (EAGLET)." (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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"[Item Description:] Microfilm print of an entire page (p. 5?) of The New York Times. Yachting related articles are titled "Kaisers Yacht Cup Coming. Big Ocean Race Next Year Likely to be a Big Affair", "New Motor Boat Record. Newport Yachtsmen Witness Fast Time by VINGT-ET-UN [which had beaten #243p SWIFTSURE by three seconds (the article also described a race won by #190301ep NEON)]. No Entries for Hauoli Cups. Miss Grosvenor [#544s EAGLET] and E. D. Morgan's Daughters Sail Fifteen Footers [#587s WHISPER and #588s ECHO]. Astor Cups Today", and "Bensonhurst Yacht Won Cup"." (Source: New York Times (creator). Newspaper Clipping. MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.135. Oversize Folder, Folder Races. 1904-08-19.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #544s Eaglet even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Cheever, David. "The Herreshoff Fifteens." The Log of Mystic Seaport, v. 24, No. 2., Summer 1972, p. 38-44. (106 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Short class history, detailed vessel description and appreciation and a thrilling account of a typical race of Buzzards Bay 15 at the Beverly Yacht Club. Special focus on #554s Fiddler ex-Nora, now in the collection of Mystic Seaport Museum.
• Brainerd, Alec with Bernard H. Gustin and Steven K. Nagy. "The Herreshoff 15 is Alive and Well." In: Herreshoff Marine Museum (Publisher). Proceedings. The Classic Yacht Symposium 2010. Bristol, R.I. 2010. (5,834 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Copyright holder: Alec Brainerd, Bernard H. Gustin, Steven K. Nagy / Herreshoff Marine Museum. Class history, construction and restoration comments, building and sailing a replica, detailed class register (including replicas). Photos, drawings.
• van der Linde, Claas. "Herreshoff 15-Footers: Building Dates and Model Variations." December 7, 2021. (380 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission. Copyright holder: Claas van der Linde. Tabular summary of Herreshoff 15-footer construction dates and model variations. Together with information of BB15 sail numbers, boat names and boat owners from various year books of the Beverly Yacht Club.

• Eaglet (HMCo-made index card)
• Eaglet (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: Eaglet
Type: J & M
Length: 15'
Owner: Grossinor, W.

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

• Eaglet
• 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: Eaglet
Type: 15' Newport J & M
Owner: W. Grossinor
Row No.: 178

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: 4
Year: 1900
E/P/S: S
No.: 0544
Name: Eaglet
LW: 15"
B: 6' 9"
D: 2' 10"
Rig: J & M
CB: y
Ballast: Lead O.
Amount: 750.00
Notes Constr. Record: As 503. Lead dropped 6".
Last Name: Grossinor
First Name: W.

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.

"Newport 15s were the same as Buzzards Bay 15s, except for a keel that had been deepened by 6 inches for a draft of 2' 9" with centerboard up." (Source: Nagy, Steve. June 1, 2008.)

"See research note for #506s Eaglet suggesting #506s may in fact be #544s Eaglett. More research needs to be conducted." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 27, 2018.)

"Built in 97 days (contract to delivered; equivalent to $8/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.