HMCo #579s Bobtail

"[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.]
[1902-02-21] Fri 21: Fine at sunrise. Cloudy forenoon [with] l[igh]t snow [in] afternoon & evening. Set up 30 footer #572 [Wahtawah]. Also 27 ft #579 [Bobtail]. ... Snowing hard in evening.
[1902-03-19] Wed 19: Very heavy NNW [wind] last night. Cold. Began snowing at 9AM. Regular blizzard. Wind hauled to NE in PM & very heavy. Bar[ometer] fell to 29.10. ... Set No. 579 [Bobtail] on to lead.
[1902-04-07] Mon 7: Easterly drizzle & cool Launched #579 Bobtail.
[1902-04-10] Thu 10: Overcast with some rain in AM. Off on preliminary trial of Bobtail [#579s]. ...
[1902-04-11] Fri 11: Overcast [with] l[igh]t NW [wind]. Mr. Scott [owner of #579s Bobtail] here. Made trial of Bobtail. ..." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1901 to 1902. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

"Jan[uary] 1902.
No. 579.
C[enter] b[oard] with outside lead.
Frame spaces 10 1/2".
Sheer height given is to under side of deck.
Planking 1"
Timbers 1 1/2" at head tapering 1/8" per foot.
Timbers sided 1 7/16".
Keel bent around 1 7/8" above rabbate 7/8" below rabbate = 2 3/4".
Centreboard slot 2 1/4".
Note: Model is measured off for 11" frame spaces, but No. 579 is shortened up to 10 1/2" frame spaces." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. [Penciled note in Offset Booklet HH.4.136.] Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

"Two other fine little racers built that year were the almost sister ships 'Bobtail' and 'Alert,' both bright mahogany and very pretty excepting they had rather short sterns, as the name 'Bobtail' suggests. They both won many important races during their lives. 'Bobtail' was built for Edgar Scott, and 'Alert' for J. W. Alker. [sic, orginally called Bogey and built for Herbert M. Sears]." (Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. The Wizard of Bristol. The Life and Achievements of Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, together with An Account of Some of the Yachts he Designed. New York, 1953, p. 226-227.)

"... The new racing centreboard sloop Bobtail [#579s Bobtail], launched Thursday [April 10, 1902], has had several trial spins, proving to be not only a fast craft on wind work, but a Tartar in going in stays quickly. The boom and gaff extend beyond the leech of the mainsail a foot and a half above and below, arranged in such a way for the purpose of taking out on the crosscut sail if necessary. The name Bobtail is fitting because the craft has a short overhang aft. She is finished bright above the water line and is a cruiser as well as a racer. ..." (Source: Anon. "Yachting News of Bristol." New York Times, April 14, 1902, p. 10.)

"Bristol, R. I., June 28, 1902. ... The Bobtail, owned by C. Scott, has received a thorough overhauling for racing at the Herreshoff Shops. She is a 25-footer. ..." (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.)

"The races for the challenge cup for 30-footers, offered by the Manhasset bay yacht club, will commence tomorrow off Port Washington, in Long Island sound. There will be three races. ...
Bobtail, which will carry the colors of the Bensonhurst yacht club, is a Herreshoff production. She is a centreboard boat, 40 feet 5 inches over all, 26 feet, 5 inches on the water line, and 9 feet, 4 inches beam. She is owned by E. F. Luckenbach. ..." (Source: Anon. "Manhasset Races." Boston Globe, June 28, 1903, p. 40.)

"... Bobtail [Boat], E. F. Luckenback [Owner], Bensonhurst Y. C. [Club Represented], N. G. Herreshoff [Designer], Herreshoff Mfg. Co. [Builder], 1902 [Year], 40.5 [O.A.], 26.5 [L.W.L.], Breadth [9.4], Draft [4.3], 29.83 [R. L'gth.] ..." (Source: Anon. "Description of Boats that Participated in the Races for the Manhasset Bay Challenge Cup." Forest and Stream, July 11, 1903, p. 32.)

"Manhasset Bay Challenge Cup. By C. D. Mower The first special event of importance on Long Island Sound this season was the series of races for the Manhasset Bay Challenge Cup, sailed for by the Y. R. A. 30-foot class. The cup, which was offered last year as a perpetual challenge trophy, is a handsomely-wrought piece of silver, valued at five hundred dollars, and the Alert [HMCo #580], owned by James W. Alker, of the Manhasset Bay Y. C, successfully defended it against six challengers from the different clubs along the Sound. ... Bobtail [HMCo #580], Nike[HMCo #512] and Alert were Herreshoff productions, and Mimosa a Crowninshield craft. Alert and Bobtail were built for the Bar Harbor thirty-foot class when the Hyslop rule was first adopted and are quite similar in design and general appearance. ... The Mimosa is owned by Commodore Trenor L. Park, of the American Y. C, and was built from a design by B. B. Crowninshield in 1902. [Mimosa won the cup, followed by Alert, Bobtail, and Nike.]" (Source: Rudder, August 1904, p. 453-455.)

"[Bobtail was advertised for sale with photo.]" (Source: Rudder, March 1907, p. 302.)

"No. 3077 --- For Sale --- Racing and cruising sloop; dimensions 40 1/2 ft. on deck, 28 ft. w. l., 9 ft. beam, 4 1/2 ft. draught; built by the Herreshoffs, 1902; construction double-planked mahogany; centerboard in keel; ballast lead, all outside; full headroom under skylight; sleeps four; three suits of sails, one new last season. Probably the fastest boat of her inches. In A-1 condition. Frank Bowne Jones, Yacht Agent, 29 Broadway, New York City. [Though not listed by name, Bobtail can be clearly identified as she is the only Herreshoff-built boat of the described dimensions in the described timeframe.]" (Source: Anon. "For Sale." Rudder, March 1910, p. 261.)

"N/A"

"[Item Description:] Penciled pantograph hull sections with pinpricks and displacement curve titled 'No 579 [#579s BOBTAIL]. w.l. 28ft 4in. Reduced to 27ft 0in. Jan[uary] 15th 1902. Bar Harbor Class. 3rd model'. With calculations arriving at a displacement of 237cuft = 15150lbs." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Pantograph Hull Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_04190. Folder [no #]. 1902-01-15.)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled pantograph lead sections titled 'Lead for No. 579 [#579s BOBTAIL]. 1/8 size. Jan[uary] 25 1902'. With calculations and note 'w[ei]g[h]t 7850 lbs [with] c.g. [of] lead [at] .562 of w.l.', further calculations and notes regarding centerboard slot and concluding with '7840lbs at 26 frame = 4 1/4in'." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Pantograph Lead Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_09300. Folder [no #]. 1902-01-25.)
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"[Item Description:] wanted to visit but measles broke out in family and I became head nurse, we passed the new racing rules last night, did you notice we allow the measurer to take the designer's certificate without compelling the designer to give full lines of boat, [Long Island] Sound people have taken step in right direction [by adopting the precursor Universal Rule] but have kept the Hslop measurement for [class] L, think next fall we can get all the clubs together & agree on a definite system, Sound People have left out penalty on draft & sail area, would one of the Newport 30s measure under their rule under 30 feet?, if it does I think I will get the [#475s] ESPERANZA [owned by Havemeyer at the time] out & go for the #581s ALERT [ex-BOGEY, owned by James W. Alker at the time] & [#579s] BOBTAIL [owned by E. Luckenbach at the time] outfit, decided criticism on new [precursor Universal] Rule is that with current 80% time allowance big boats have no chance" (Source: Duncan, W. Butler, Jr. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_22110. Correspondence, Folder 65, formerly 87. 1904-03-25.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #579s Bobtail even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Bobtail (HMCo-made index card)
• Bobtail (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: Bobtail
Type: J & M
Length: 27'
Owner: Scott, Edgar

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

• Bobtail
• 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: Bobtail
Type: 28' 4" sloop
Owner: Edgar Scott
Year: 1902
Row No.: 87

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: 18
Year: 1902
E/P/S: S
No.: 0579
Name: Bobtail
LW: 27'
B: 9' 8"
D: 4' 3"
Rig: J & M
K: y
CB: y
Ballast: Lead O.
Amount: $4580.00
Last Name: Scott
First Name: Edgar

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 for the Bar Harbor class when the Hyslop rule was first adopted, but sailed a lot in Manhasset Bay." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 2, 2008.)

"Built in 79 days (contract to launch; equivalent to $58/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.