HMCo #677s Dad [BB15 for St. Y Iolanda]

"(Special Dispatch to the Sunday Herald.) BRISTOL. R. I., March 28 --- A shipment was made this week from the Herreshoff shops of a motor boat [#262p Launch for St. Y. Iolanda], as a tender to the new steam yacht recently built in Scotland for Morton F. Plant, and also a new racing sloop 20 feet in length [#677s Dad]. The motor craft is elaborately finished in mahogany, and her trial in Bristol harbor demonstrated a speed of 15 miles an hour. The racing sloop was also tried in the harbor and proved very-speedy and quick in stays. Capt. Charles Barr, the well-known racing skipper, was present at the tests, representing Mr. Plant, and arranged for the sending across the Atlantic of both craft. Both the motor boat and the sloop will swing upon davits on board Mr. Plant's new palatial steam yacht. ..." (Source: Anon. "Two Boats Sent Abroad for Plant. Motor Craft and Racing Sloop Intended for Use on His Palatial Yacht." Boston Herald, March 29, 1908, p. 13.)

"N/A"

Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #677s Dad [BB15 for St. Y Iolanda] even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• 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.

• Dad (HMCo-made index card)
• Dad (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: Dad
Type: J & M
Length: 15'9"
Owner: Plant, M. F.

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

• Dad
• 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: Dad
Type: 15' 9" J & M
Owner: Morton F. Plant
Row No.: 145

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
Day: 21
Year: 1907
E/P/S: S
No.: 0677
Name: Dad
LW: 15' 9"
B: 6' 9"
D: 3' 4.5"
Rig: J & M
K: y
Ballast: O. Lead
Amount: 1600.00
Last Name: Plant
First Name: M. F.

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.)

"#674s Flicker, #677s Dad and #682s Marjorie were modified deep-draft Buzzard Bay 15s without centerboard, a draft of 3' 4 1/2" and a sheer that was raised 2 inches. All three boats were fitted with recessed hoisting shackles to facilitate hoisting the boats on the davits of a steam yacht. #677s Dad and #682s Marjorie were double-planked with mahogany outside and all-mahogany trimmings as per notes in the Construction Record and the special construction plan HH.5.05490 (076-031). Still deeper with a draft of 4' 3" and also no centerboard was #559s Little Robin, a cruising boat based on the Buzzards Bay 15 model." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 19, 2014.)

"Dimensions from special construction plan HH.5.05490 (076-031)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 19, 2014.)

"... I give and bequeath to my granddaughter Louise H. DeWolf, my sailing boat named 'Dad'. ..." (Source: Rhode Island Hospital Trust Co., Executor of the Will of John B. Herreshoff. "Exhibit B. Agreement of Compromise relating to Last Will and Testament of John B. Herreshoff of Bristol, R.I. Died July 20, 1915." Herreshoff Marine Museum Correspondence, Subject Folder 78 (new), 188 (old). Access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff. February 19, 1916.)

"1957 owner: Miss. Louise H. DeWolf, Bristol, R.I." (Source: Anon [Herreshoff Manufacturing Company staff with additions by MIT Museum curators William A. Baker and others]. Vessel Name Index Card from the Series I Catalog Cards, s. v. "Dad". Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass. No date [ca. 1900 or earlier until ca. 1930s, with later additions by non-Herreshoff staff].)

"Dad was used on Morton Plant's 318ft LOA steam yacht Iolanda, built in 1908 by Ramage & Ferguson in Scotland and owned by Plant until 1911. Mystic Seaport Museum holds a period model of Iolanda (ID # 89.115) which clearly shows both #677s Dad and #262p Launch hanging from the davits on Iolanda's starboard side." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. June 6, 2017.)

"Built in 186 days (contract to delivered; equivalent to $9/day, 13 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

"Sail area 330 sq ft estimated from a letter in the Seawanhaka Collection in the collection of Mystic Seaport Museum by NGH to George Nichols, dated September 2, 1914 in which NGH offeres to build a deep draft Herreshoff 15-footer: 'The '15 footer' dimensions are 24 1/2ft over all, 15ft water line, 6ft 9in extreme breadth, 3ft 6in draft with keel, about 39 cubic feet displacement, sail area 330 square feet.' (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 22, 2015.)

"Displacement 39 cu ft estimated from a letter in the Seawanhaka Collection in the collection of Mystic Seaport Museum by NGH to George Nichols, dated September 2, 1914 in which NGH offeres to build a deep draft Herreshoff 15-footer: 'The '15 footer' dimensions are 24 1/2ft over all, 15ft water line, 6ft 9in extreme breadth, 3ft 6in draft with keel, about 39 cubic feet displacement, sail area 330 square feet.' (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 22, 2015.)

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