HMCo #656s Muriel

"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.)

"One of the new 15-foot racing sloops [possibly #656s Muriel which was the last 15-footer ordered before this date] was launched at the Herreshoff boat shops Wednesday [April 11, 1906] morning." (Source: Anon. "Bristol and Vicinity." Bristol Phoenix, April 13, 1906, p. 2.)

"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. ?)

"I have had three of the your fifteen footers. [The first was #504s Flickamaroo in 1906 as per the same letter.] I still have one, Mischief, No. 656 in your records, which I bought in 1921. She is still in excellent condition, apparently as good as ever. The third one was the Anita, No. 672 [#672s], which I bought in 1924 and sold in 1930. ..." (Source: White, Henry C. Letter to N. G. Herreshoff. February 15, 1937. Mystic Seaport Collection. Quoted in: Bray, Maynard. Aida. N.G. Herreshoff's finest Shallow-Draft Yawl. Bristol, R.I., 2012.)

• 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.

• Muriel (HMCo-made index card)
• Glimmer ex-Muriel (HMCo-made index card)
• Glimmer ex-Muriel (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: Muriel
Type: Cutter
Length: 15'
Owner: Oelrichs, H.

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

• Muriel
• 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: Muriel
Type: 15' J & M
Owner: Herman Oelrich
Row No.: 455

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: Oct
Day: 2
Year: 1905
E/P/S: S
No.: 0656
Name: Muriel
LW: 15'
B: 6' 9"
D: 2' 9"
Rig: J & M
K: y
CB: y
Ballast: Lead O.
Amount: 950.00
Notes Constr. Record: Sold to Fred (?) Cunningham 1909 & named "Glimmer"(?)
Last Name: Oelrich
First Name: H.

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.)

"Note that there may be some confusion between the two Newport 15s #656s Muriel from 1905 and #671s Murmur from 1907. The HMCo Construction Record reports #656s Muriel to have been sold in 1909 to Frederic Cunningham and renamed Glimmer. Lloyd's Register from 1912 reports a 15-footer built by Herreshoff in 1907 as Murmur as being named Glimmer and owned by Frederic Cunningham. A further entry from that Register reports a 15-footer built by Herreshoff in 1907 as Murmur and also owned by Frederic Cunningham. Lloyd's Register from 1917 only reports a 15-footer built by Herreshoff in 1907 as Murmur but with no ex-name and now being owned by John N. Brown of Newport. In the absence of further contradictory information it will be assumed that the HMCo Construction record was right and the 1912 Lloyd's Register was wrong and that the 1912 Lloyd's entry should have made reference to Glimmer ex-Muriel rather than Glimmer ex-Murmur." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 3, 2014.)

"Built in 191 days (contract to launch; equivalent to $5/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.