HMCo #573s Terrapin

"[1901-10-11] Fri 11: Very fine & nearly calm. Clear & warm. Mr. Edgar Scott & Mr. Dabney here in PM talking about new boats. [Edgar Scott would subsequently order #579s Bobtail, L. S. Dabney #573s Terrapin.]
[1902-03-25] Tue 25: Very fine & clear [with] NE [wind]. Set up 21 footer #573 [Terrapin].
[1902-04-08] Tue 8: Heavy NE rain storm all day. Some thunder & lightning in afternoon. Very high tide. ... Turned over ... #573 [Terrapin] 21 footer.
[1902-05-30] Fri 30: Gale from SW with rain early. 5 [Buzzards Bay] 30 footers and 2 21 footers [probably #573s Terrapin and #574s Arethusa ] started for Buzzards Bay, all stopping at Newport." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1901 to 1902. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

"No. 573.
21ft w.l. c[enter] b[oard].
Frame spaces 9".
Planking 5/16" lapped.
Timbers not less than 1 sq in section finished.
Moulded 1 1/8", sided 15/16".
Planking 3/4" finished. Double. Outer course of mahogany.
Timbers # 22 to 30 inclusive to be moulded 1 1/8" at head and increasing 1/8" per foot for full length.
Centre board does not pass through keel.
Sheer height given is to under side of deck.
Keel 1 5/8" --- 1 3/8" above rabbate.
To use lead mould made for #501 [Quakeress] and for deadwood sections into it.
Bottom of lead also forward end (as nearly as possible) to conform with the figures in this [offset] book. Add 2 to the numbers of frame spaces in #501 to coincide with those in this book and subtract 9.20 from height in #501 to make bottom of lead coincide, i.e. bottom of lead in #573 is raised 4" or vessel is 4" less draft and base[?] line is 6" higher." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. [Penciled note in Offset Booklet HH.4.133.] Undated, ca. October 1901? Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

"The 21 footer Terrapin was launched from Herreshoff's north shop today." (Source: Anon. "Bristol and Vicinity." Bristol Phoenix, May 23, 1902, p. 2.)

"... A number of racing craft smaller in measurement than the 30-foot Beverly Yacht Club class are in various stages of construction at the Herreshoff shops, and a few are already launched and ready for the final sailing tests. Among the latter is a new 25-foot knockabout named Terrapin, designed and built by Nat Herreshoff for Harold Vanderbilt [sic], owner of the knockabout Alyce, now stored in the Walker' s Cove yard.
The Terrapin was launched last Tuesday [May 27, 1902], and since has been rigged and the sails bent. She is a beamy looking craft, shallow of body, low freeboard, and with ends of moderate length. The deck room is almost as good as that of Havemeyer's new freak racer Electra [#582s]. Of oak frames, deckbeams, stem and stern post, she is planked with pine and painted white above the waterline. Terrapin has a pole mast, short bowsprit, and will carry mainsail and forestaysail. She looks like a craft of high speed. ... [It appears as if Harold Vanderbilt originally contracted for Terrapin, then changed his mind and had Trivia built.]" (Source: Anon. "Herreshoff Builds Three Crack Yachts. Bristol Expert Devises a Speedy Looking Knockabout for Harold Vanderbilt, and Arethusa and Catspaw for Other Inside Sailors." New York Sunday Telegraph, June 1, 1902, p. B1.)

"... Harold Vanderbilt's 25 footer Terrapin has been towed to Newport to remain there until Mr. Vanderbilt leaves school on his vacation, June 21.
Capt. Isaiah Crowley, of this city, is skipper of the Terrapin. Mr. Vanderbilt's knockabout Alyca is in the Herreshoff yard here, and is to be sold. ..." (Source: Anon. "Herreshoff Preparing for a Long Vacation." New York Telegraph, June 8, 1902, p. B1.)

"Bristol, R. I., June 28, 1902. A new cruising sloop [#580s Trivia] is being constructed at the Herreshoff shops for Harold Vanderbilt, to be completed and ready to go in commission in 10 days. Young Mr. Vanderbilt placed an order with Capt. Nat Herreshoff for a new pleasure craft several weeks ago, but the 25-foot waterline craft, the Terrapin [#573s], went to another party. ..." (Source: Anon. "Harold Vanderbilt's Boat. Fine Sloop Under Way at Herreshoff's. Other Boats in the Yard." Boston Herald, June 29, 1902, p. 21.)

"N/A"

"[Item Description:] Penciled pantograph lead sections titled 'No. 573 [#573s TERRAPIN] R(21ft Buzzards Bay). Have decided to use keel & lead patterns of #502 [CYRILLA]. Jan[uary] 5, [19]02'. With no further calculations or notes." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Pantograph Lead Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_09340. Folder [no #]. 1900-01-05.)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled table titled 'Anchors. Nov[ember 22, 1901' with tabulated data for 'Straight stock [anchors]' and [not named, but presumably folding anchors] showing unit data for 'Class. W[ei]g[h]t' (from 10 to 260lbs) on the x-axis and 'On hand', 'Required' and 'To make' on the Y-axis. With note 'This does not include anchors of 30ft class [Buzzards Bay 30s], 2 21 footers [#573s TERRAPIN and ??], Nos 213 [#213p QUICKSTEP], 214 [#214p Launch for St. Y. Isis], 215 [#215p ROAMER], which are already ordered." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Table. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE08_03100. Folder [no #]. 1901-11-22.)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled pantograph hull sections titled 'No 573 [#573s]. 21ft Buzzards Bay Class. Jan[uary] 5 1902. TERRAPIN'. With calculations arriving at a displacement of 85.5 plus 9.8cuft [= 95.3cuft] = 6097lbs and a note 'Using #501 [QUAKERESS] lead portion and keel plan[:] Disp[lacement] hull 5470[lbs]. Keel & rudder 600. Total 6070[lbs]'." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Pantograph Hull Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_04210. Folder [no #]. 1902-01-05.)
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"[Item Description:] Brokerage listing (File No. 1378) for #573s TUNA ex-TERRAPIN. Dimensions, particulars (Rig: Knockabout, Designer: Herreshoff, Builder: Herreshoff, Year built: 1904, Sails, Maker and Build: 3 mainsails, 2 jibs, 1 spinnaker, 1 mainsail by Herreshoff first used in 1935, others good). Remark 'A very fast Knockabout, able and stiff. Deck recanvassed; new rails; new hollow mast by Pigeon in 1925. New oak centerboard; new stem; butts refastened and hull recaulked; all new standing rigging 1935. Has complete inventory of cushions, life preservers, lights, 2 sail covers (one almost new), new cockpit awning, Herreshoff anchor, horn, etc. Was out of commission for a few years, hence improvements made in 1925 show very little wear. Boat has always had best of care and looks it. Her lines have held true despite her age. In the 1935 racing season she was the most photographed boat in Narragansett Bay. A good action picture of the TUNA may be seen on page 29 of the January 1936 issue of Yachting'." (Source: Belknap & Paine, Yacht Brokers (creator). Broker Listing. MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.111. Box HAFH.6.3B, Folder Brokers Listings. No date (1938 ??).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #573s Terrapin even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Terrapin (HMCo-made index card)
• Terrapin (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: Terrapin
Type: J & M
Length: 21'
Owner: Dabney, L. S.

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

• Terrapin
• Gryllida ex-Terrapin
• Tuna ex-Terrapin
• 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: Terrapin
Type: 20' 9" sloop
Owner: L. S. Dabney
Year: 1902
Row No.: 679

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: Sept. [sic, i.e. no month]
Year: 1901
E/P/S: S
No.: 0573
Name: Terrapin
LW: 21'
B: 9'
D: 3' 7 1/2"
Rig: J & M
K: y
CB: y
Ballast: Lead O.
Amount: $2500.00
Last Name: Dabney
First Name: L. S.

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.

"[Sail number C-7 (Twenty-One Foot Restricted Class).]" (Source: Beverly Yacht Club. 1902 Yearbook. Boston, 1902, p. 61.)

"21-foot restricted class of the Massachusetts Yacht Racing Association" (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 2, 2008.)

"Raceabout. In 1915, sailed in the Beverly Yacht Club 21' Restricted Class (assigned the letter C as sail number prefix). Terrapin's sail number was C-7. See Beverly Yacht Club yearbooks for more information on class." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 23, 2009.)

"LOA 36ft from Lloyd's Register of American Yachts, 1903-1904, p. 311." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. November 17, 2009.)

'Possibly Terrapin was initially intended for Harold S. Vanderbilt (for whom #580s Trivia was subsequently built), as is indicated by several newspaper reports. This would suggest that Terrapin's owner Dabney took over Vanderbilt's contract." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. June 5, 2017.)

"Contract year and month were estimated from NGH diary entry of October 11, 1901 in which he notes that Edgar Scott and Mr. Dabney (who would soon order #579s Bobtail, L. S. Dabney #573s Terrapin) were visitng to talk about new boats." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. 2008.)

"Sail area 300sq ft." (Source: Lloyd's Register of American Yachts, 1903-1904, p. 311.)

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