HMCo #547s Oonagh [Onagh]

"[1901-02-01] Fri 1: Began planking #547, 21' raceabout [Onagh].
[1901-04-28] Sun 28: Very fine. Mod[erate] NE [wind] & clear. Off with boys to try Onagh #547 & Rogue #549, 21 footers.
[1901-04-30] Tue 30: Fine [with] light variable [wind]. Mr. Hyslop here to measure Onagh [#547] & Rogue [#549]. Rain in PM." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1901. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

"No. 547 [#547s Oonagh].
B3-3-m.
Sheer height given is to under side of deck.
Frame spaces 9".
Deduct for planking 3/4".
Deduct for frames 1" at[sic] increasing 3/32" per foot for full length.
Crown [of] [deck] beam 4" in 8ft (about).
Crown [of] house 3 1/2" in 5' (about). ..." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. [Penciled note in Offset Booklet HH.4.126.] No date [ca. January 1901]. Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

"J. Rogers Maxwell sold his thirty-foot sloop Oiseau to Gordon L. Pirie, and Mr. Pirie sold his new Herreshoff twenty-one-foot raceabout Oonagh to Mr. Maxwell. Oonagh has not been particularly successful in her races so far, and yachtsmen will watch with interest her future career in this lively class under a new skipper." (Source: Anon. "Steam and Sail Craft Change Hands." New York Times, July 13, 1901, p. 8.)

"John R. Maxwell, Jr., of the Seawanhaka-Corinthian Yacht Club has sold the raceabout Joker to W. G. Jennings of the Bridgeport Yacht Club. The Joker was known at the beginning of last season as Oonagh and was built for G. L. Pirie of the Indian Harbor Yacht Club.
It is the intention of John R. Maxwell, Jr., to sail a new raceabout this season. His brother, H. L. Maxwell, will also have a new yacht of that class." (Source: Anon. "Yachting Notes." New York Times, April 11, 1902, p. 10.)

"N/A"

"[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:
#547s [blank] (OONAGH)." (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:] Mimeographed typewritten specifications titled 'Memorandum from Contract for Fin keel Race-about, for John T. Pirie, New York. Shop No. 547 [#547s OONAGH]'." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co.. (creator). Specifications. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDW02_01150. Folder [no #]. No date (1900-08 ?).)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled pantograph hull sections titled '#548 [RADIANT]. Raceabout model for Buzzards Bay. 1st trial. Oct[ober] 1900'. With displacement curves marked '1st trial', '2nd trial', and '1 trial 547 [#547s OONAGH]'. With calculations arriving at a displacement of 95.4cuft = 6140lbs." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Pantograph Hull Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_04330. Folder [no #]. 1900-10.)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled pantograph hull sections titled 'No. 547 [#547s OONAGH]. 21ft Raceabout. Final. Jan[uary] 11, 1901'. With calculations arriving at a displacement of 83.25cuft = 5420lbs. On verso another set of penciled pantograph hull sections, untitled, with calculations." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Pantograph Hull Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_04410. Folder [no #]. 1901-01-11.)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled pantograph lead sections titled 'No. 547 [#547s OONAGH] Raceabout. Jan[uary] 14, [19]01. Scale 1/4in size'. With calculations arriving at a final result of 3360lbs lead at .521 of w.l." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Pantograph Lead Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_09180. Folder [no #]. 1901-01-14.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #547s Oonagh [Onagh] even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. "Memorandum from Contract for Fin keel Race-about, for John T. Pirie, New York. Shop No. 547 [Oonagh]." No place [Bristol], no date [August? 1900]. (379 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission. Copyright holder: Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum. Vessel specification memorandum for #547s Marchioness.

• Oonagh (HMCo-made index card)
• Oonagh (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: Onagh
Type: J & M
Length: 21'
Owner: Pirie, J. T.

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

• Onagh
• Joker ex-Onagh
• 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: Oonagh [sic, i.e. Onagh]
Type: 32' fin keel sloop
Owner: T. J. Pirie
Year: 1901
Row No.: 494

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: Aug
Day: 3
Year: 1900
E/P/S: S
No.: 0547
Name: Onagh
LW: 21'
B: 8'
D: 5' 4"
Rig: J & M
K: y
Ballast: Lead O.
Amount: 2750.000
Notes Bray: LFH: T.J. Pirie
Last Name: Pirie
First Name: J. T.

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.

"Built in 268 days (contract to finished; equivalent to $10/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.