HMCo #675s Caprice

"Crown [of deck for] #675 = 32" in 7' 1 1/2". June - [19]07." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. [Penciled note in Offset Booklet HH.4.067.] Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

• Caprice (HMCo-made index card)
• Caprice (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: Caprice
Type: J & M
Length: 16'4"
Owner: Astor, J. J.

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

• Caprice
• 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: Caprice
Type: 16' 4" to carry on steamer
Owner: J. J. Astor
Row No.: 101

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.

"LOA 18ft 9in from note on HMCo-made index card (Series I Catalog Cards) in the collection of the Francis Russel Hart Nautical Collections at MIT." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. September 28, 2014.)

"A transom that is believed to be from #675s Caprice is in the collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum. Further research using both plans and offset booklet should be made to verify that the transom in the collection matches the shape of that in plans and offsets. Note that an HMCo-made index card (Series I in the collection of MIT) describing Caprice says 'Shipped to England JJ Astor' which may support the notion that the transom at HMM is not that of Caprice which may have been in England. Was J J Astor John Jacob Astor? If so, he might have been John Jacob 'Jack' Astor IV, who owned the 262ft steam yacht Noma and died in April 1912 on the Titanic." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 25, 2015.)

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