HMCo #554s Nora

"... Buzzards Bay 15 [Name], 503+ [Building Number], 16.8 [Rating], 15 [Waterline], 16.56 [L = length at 1/4 beam as for Universal Rule], 5.98 [B = breadth of waterline as for Universal Rule], 2.4 [d = draft of water as for Universal Rule], 38 [D = displacement in cubic foot as for Universal Rule (= 2,432 lbs or 1.1 long tons)], 352.5 [Sail Area], 500 [Sail limit Present rule], -147.5 [Diff.], 326 [Sail limit Proposed rule], 26.5 [Diff.], Requires crew to windward [Notes] ..." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. "Formula for Obtaining the Limit of Sail-Area in Yachts when Measured by the Universal Rule Formula." Bristol, R.I., July 13, 1907 with later additions. Original handwritten (in ink) document with penciled additions. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE06_00080.)

"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.)

"... The Fiddler, one of Capt Herreshoffs speedy, 15 1/2-f t Class is another interesting design represented at the Seaport. Designed and built originally in 1898 for use in shoal water, this class was widely raced on Cape Cod, Newport and Watch Hill waters. A few of these handsome craft are still in existence and racing.
The Fiddler, now a dry land display was owned by the Parke family of Marion and Boston Massachusetts during her entire career. ..." (Source: Anon. "Herreshoff Boats Displayed At Mystic Seaport." Bristol Phoenix, October 16, 1964, p. 20.)

• 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.

• Nora (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.

Type: J & M
Length: 15'
Owner: Brooks, L.

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

Name: No Name
Type: 15' Buzzards Bay
Owner: L. Brooks
Row No.: 832

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: 28
Year: 1901
E/P/S: S
No.: 0554
LW: 15'
B: 6' 9"
D: 2' 3"
Rig: J & M
CB: y
Ballast: Lead O.
Amount: 750.00
Last Name: Brooks
First Name: 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.

"Regular Buzzards Bay 15s had a 15-foot waterline, 6' 9" beam, 2' 3" draft plus a centerboard, gaff rig, and a coaming that curves around the front of the cockpit." (Source: Nagy, Steve. June 1, 2008.)

"[The Beverly Yacht Club] published a yearbook each year listing all the boats in the club, with the owner's name and other information. This book was published in the spring, so it was a list of the boats as they were the previous year, plus, I suppose, any that were purchased over the winter.
... of the first 11 boats, the sail numbers were assigned in the same order as their hull numbers, so with the [Beverly Yacht Club] records, it is possible to name all of them." (Source: Beardsley, Bill. Email to Claas van der Linde, September 16, 2008.)

"In the 1902 [Beverly Yacht Club] yearbook, Nora is listed as belonging to Loring Brooks, with sail number E-11. This makes her the first boat to come to BYC since the original ones, whose sail numbers were E-0 thru E-10. There also was a second one, Catspaw, #577, with sail number E-12.
... the Herreshoff record has no name for #554, but the owner is given as L. Brooks. so this positively relates #554 to Nora.
In the 1903 BYC yearbook, Nora is gone, and Fiddler now has sail number E-11. Catspaw is still there, still with E-12. The original 11 are also still there, and they also all have their original sail number. Since all other boats kept their original number, this also shows that Fiddler is Nora." (Source: Beardsley, Bill. Email to Claas van der Linde, September 16, 2008.)

"554 Nora BB15 Brooks, Loring." (Source: Beardsley, Bill. Email to Claas van der Linde, September 16, 2008.)

"Sail number E-11 (1901-1959)." (Source: Nagy, Steve. "The Herreshoff 15 Footer." http://www.herreshoffregistry.org/doc/15_Fleet_Register.pdf, retrieved April 1, 2009.)

"Fiddler at Mystic was originally owned by Loring Brooks and named Nora when she was built. I always thought that the people who named her Fiddler and owned until she was donated to Mystic must have bought her a year old, and the BYC yearbooks prove that is true." (Source: Beardsley, Bill. http://www.herreshoffregistry.org/forum/index.php?topic=140.0, retrieved March 13, 2010.)

"Fiddler's provenance can only be traced back to 1903 when the Beverly Yacht Club yearbook listed her with with sail number E-11. The 1902 yearbook does not show a Fiddler, but a Nora, owned by Loring Brooks, with sail number E-11. The Herreshoff construction record has no name for #554s, but the owner is given as L. Brooks. Because all the other early Buzzards Bays 15s SEEM to have been accounted for this would suggest #554s is Nora/Fiddler. And this seems to be the conventional wisdom. HOWEVER: The Rudder, January 1901, p. 61, shows a great photo of a BB15, no sail number discernable, with the caption: "Nora, designed by Herreshoff." The problem with that is that #554s was contracted for at the Herreshoffs on January 28, 1901, thus cannot have been sailing at the time this photo was published. Is Fiddler really #554s?" (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 12, 2010.)

"Note also that correspondence between Walter G. Ladd and HMCo leading to the contract for the deep-draft BB15 #674s Flicker refers to a Herreshoff 15-footer Nora that was used by Ladd in 1906 --- a year when Nora/Fiddler should have already been named Fiddler. For details see HCR entry for #674s Flicker. (The W. G. Ladd/HMCo correspondence could also have referred to #527s Nova/Nora." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. July 4, 2018.)

"[Sail area 352.5 sq.ft.]" (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. "Formula for Obtaining the Limit of Sail-Area in Yachts when Measured by the Universal Rule Formula." Bristol, R.I., July 13, 1907 with later additions. Original handwritten (in ink) document with penciled additions. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE06_00080.)

"[Displacement (38 cubic feet = 2432 lbs).]" (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. "Formula for Obtaining the Limit of Sail-Area in Yachts when Measured by the Universal Rule Formula." Bristol, R.I., July 13, 1907 with later additions. Original handwritten (in ink) document with penciled additions. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE06_00080.)

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