HMCo #728s Mischief

"[1914-01-22] Thu 22: Very fine & cold. NW & clear. ... Have orders for 2 29'wl cruising knockabouts a B class & power launch. [Note: The two 29' wl cruising knockabouts are references to the Newport 29s #727s Dolphin and #728s Mischief. Note however, that the Construction Record lists these two boats as having been contracted for much earlier: on November 27, 1913. The B class might be a reference to a B class schooner which would have been a big schooner the size of #657s Queen or #706s Elena. No such schooner was built in 1914. Likewise, except for the already mentioned power launch #295p for the steam yacht Tarantula no power launch seems to have been contracted for until August 1914.]
[1914-06-14] Sun 14: Very fine [with] l[igh]t [?]ain [in] AM. Fresh SSE [wind in] PM. Off trying #733 [Mink], Buzzards Bay 25' and 29' cruisers [Newport 29s #727s Dolphin and #728s Mischief]. ...
[1914-06-15] Mon 15: Fine, The 2 29' cruisers [#727s Dolphin and #728s Mischief] were delivered today." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1914. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

"... The Newport 29 Class boats are scaled up by the proportion 4/3 from the ALERION [#718s] size. Since that long ago time, there has been speculation as to whether Npt. 29s are ALERIONS or SADIES [#732s]. Both aficionados and builders of copies and sailors have adamantly stated one way or the other; none of them are entirely correct. Notes in pencil on the back of my original ALERION design model and reference to Captain Nat’s design notes solve the riddle (with thanks to John Palmieri). The actual fact is that Capt. Nat did apply the scale of 16in. to the foot for the #727 Class instead of 12in. to the foot, making the Newport 29 boats 4/3 larger than the original ALERION III underbody. He again altered the ALERION lines by bow extension, more forward flair, plus greater on-deck beam amidships and aft. His design notes reveal that these changes were along the lines of the thinking for the earlier SADIE changes but not necessarily scaled exactly the same as for SADIE. Of course, the geometry of the original keel-centerboard boats was modified to a deeper full keel without centerboard and with completely outside low ballast. Also Capt. Nat shortened the stern overhangs of the four Newport 29 boats. It is unclear why he did that, but the result seems not to have harmed the dynamic racing successes of those boats. ..." (Source: Herreshoff, Halsey C. "The 2014 CYS Commemorates the Great Herreshoff year of 1914." In: Herreshoff Marine Museum (publ.). Proceedings. The 6th Classic Yacht Symposium. May 2- 3, 2014. Bristol, RI, 2014, p. 5.)

"... Herreshoff is very busy at present, for in addition to the Vanderbilt syndicate sloop [#725s Resolute], the Tod schooner [#722s Katoura], and a number of power boats, two 31-raters for New York yachtsmen are in frame. These boats are being constructed, one at either end of the cup sloop. ... [The two 31-raters are apparently the two Newport 29 sloops #727s Dolphin and #728s Mischief.]" (Source: Anon. "Notes from the Week's Log." Boston Globe, February 8, 1914, p. 49.)

"... The two rating sloops building at Herreshoff's, one at either end of the Vanderbilt America Cup sloop, are nearly completed. One is to be launched within the week and the other will follow a few days later ..." (Source: Anon. "Notes from the Week's Log." Boston Globe, March 29, 1914, p. 63.)

"Herreshoff is building a new class of boats, to be known as the Newport Cruising Class. They are to be comfortable little cruisers of about 27 feet water line with a sail area of about 600 [?] square feet to carry about 700 pounds of lead and have a draft of five feet, which will give good head room in the cabin and a safe, comfortable boat. They will be a trifle under the Newport Thirties [#463s Asahi et al] and a trifle over the Jamestown Twenty Fives [#688s Senta and #689s Hyepus] both from Herreshoffs. One [#728s Mischief] of the boats is for Mr. H. D. Aunchincloss Jr and one [#727s Dolphin] for Mr. Benjamin Brewster Jennings. They should be fine little cruisers and have speed enough to go into class racing. It is expected that there will be others when these are seen by those who like a small but safe and comfortable cruiser, with some speed." (Source: Anon. "Newport Cruising Class. Herreshoff Building New Boats for Messrs. Aunchincloss and Jennings." The Newport Daily News, June 3, 1914, p. 11.)

"The two new Herreshoff boats of the Newport special cruising class arrived this morning from Bristol. They had a fair wind down and were reported to have shown up well, but when they reached here every one agreed they were the homeliest things that ever came out of Herreshoff's yard. Still, they are built for comfortable cruisers and 'handsome is that handsome does.' Anchored close by yawl Gannet [#409s], 24 years old, they do not look as trim as she does. They have a flaring bow and stern; the bow seems like a pig nose compared with the bow of the Gannet, and the stern is very short, with what would be called a counterstern behind and above the little overhand.
It is evident that in them Herreshoff is working out some new ideas. The mast is well aft, giving a large foresail. There is no bowsprit and the boom is only just aft of the taffrail. They are not as high out of water as the Jamestown 25-footers [#688s Senta and #689s Hyepus], nor as good-looking. They are 27 feet long, and are built for Mr. Auchincloss and Mr. Jennings. The latter is not expected here before the middle of July, so that a meeting between the boats cannot be looked for before then. Mr. Auchincloss will probably try his boat out against the Jamestown boats soon." (Source: Anon. "Not Good-Looking. Two New Herreshoff Boats of Newport Class Arrive from Bristol." Newport Daily News, June 16, 1914, p. 1.)

"... The Conanicut Yacht Club is holding its regular weekly races Friday afternoons, and the coming Friday [August 7, 1914] it is expeceted the Thelema, Mr. Charles Wharton's 21-footer, will be in racing against the Quakeress and Amarita. ... It is possible, also, that the two Newport Herreshoff specials [#728s Mischief and #727s Dolphin], owned by Messrs. Auchincloss and Jennings, will take part at this race. A third one of this class [#737s Comet] has been completed at Herreshoff's for young Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Captain George Barr, one of the famous family, has charge. The third craft is one frame, 12 inches, longer aft than the others and this gives her a finer look." (Source: Anon. "Jamestown. Annual Water Sports to Take Place on the Morning of August 20." Newport Daily News, August 5, 1914, p. 8.)

"... A History of Mischief, an Appearance of Rogue.
As steeped as Dolphin has been in Southern New England sailing, Mischief started as a Chesapeake Bay [sic, i.e. Newport, then New Bedford] boat. Delivered with a gaff rig, a photo from 1927 shows a huge 170% overlap genoa with her new Marconi rig. Although not raced as heavily as Dolphin [#725s], whose Shelter Island owners the Lockwood family, dominated from the 1940s to the ‘70s, Mischief had her own race record of note. She took first place in the 1931 Bayside-Block Island Race. She vanished south, resurfacing under new owner David Cabot who raced her occasionally.
In 1973, Classic Rating Formula (CRF) founder Chris Wick bought Mischief. He preferred steering with a tiller, so out went the wheel and pedestal. That arrangement turned the cockpit around, placing Mischief’s trimmers in the back of the boat as opposed to Dolphin’s layout with sail trimmers up front, driver in back, and the operator of the running backstays and traveler riding the transom. Wick restored the original tall rig with a new mast and came back in 1985 to take elapsed and corrected fleet trophies in Off Soundings. In spring 2019, Chris donated her to Oakcliff. ..." (Source: Darling, Tom. "Dolphin and Mischief: The Herreshoff Twins and Their Rogue Cousin." https://www.windcheckmagazine.com/article/dolphin-and-mischief-mischief-the-herreshoff-twins-and-their-rogue-cousin/. October, 2019, retrieved January 15, 2024.)

"The Newport 29-footers have occasionally been hailed as the best all-around design ever created by NGH or any other designer; certainly it is one of the most beautiful. Their reputation for speed comes largely from the hundreds of races won by Dolphin [#727s], the first boat of the class, and a boat that seems even today to be unbeatable in any kind of competition; she has proven herself a winner over the many decades she's been campaigned by the Lockwood family. Although Mischief [#728s] has not sailed as many races, she too has proven to be a formidable competitor. As of this writing, both Dolphin and Mischief still sail and have long carried Marconi rigs.
Comet [#737s] was the third boat of this class that was built for the 1914 sailing season, and she was stretched out aft about 7 inches for a less abrupt ending at the transom. (Comet was lost in the hurricane of 1938.) The Herreshoff Mfg. Co. built a fourth Newport 29-footer in 1926, Paddy [#999s], also with the added length of Comet; as of this writing, she is still going strong in Cape Cod waters as Tiana.
The Newport 29s stand out as cruisers and daysailers as well as racers. They are just big enough for four berths, a galley, and an enclosed toilet room. Under the self-bailing cockpit there is space for an auxiliary engine. The rig is small enough to be easily handled, and the hulls are seakindly and of moderate draft --- a far cry indeed from the Herreshoff Mfg. Co. one-designs of 1897 with nearly the same name. Those boats, the Newport 30s ..., were low-sided, high-strung fin-keelers that were strictly for 'round-the-buoy racing.
One might think that NGH worked especially hard to create such an outstanding design as the Newport 29-footers, but that was apparently not the case at all. He simply used the half model he'd made for the building of his own Alerion and changed its scale so the new design would be about a third larger than the old, then added a deeper ballast keel for sufficient lateral plane without a centerboard. (He also worked minor alterations in bow profile and beam that were incorporated into Alerion's near-sister Sadie [#732s].) One can't help speculating how many more of these magnificent designs NGH would have come up with had he lived into the family racer/ cruiser era of the last half-century, and been able to concentrate on that type." (Source: Bray, Maynard and Carlton Pinheiro. Herreshoff of Bristol. Brooklin, Maine, 1989, p. 82.)

"N/A"

"[Item Description:] Penciled note with calculations, comparing ratings and time allowances for PUCK [#465s] and 29 foot Newport Class [#727s, #728s, #737s]." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Calculations. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE03_03570. Folder [no #]. No date (1914 or later).)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled pantograph lead sections titled 'Nos. 727 [#727s DOLPHIN] & 728 [#728s MISCHIEF]. Scale 1 1/2in & 1/4 size'. With calculations and note 'Required 7100lbs with c.g. at .549 of w.l. ...' and concluding with note 'Result. 7160lbs, with c.g. [at] 19.2 frame = .555 of w.l.' and further related calculatons and note 'found to be incorrect Feb[ruary] 18, 1914 ... 5400lbs approx. correct result' and note 'Lead changed as dotted. Results --- 9.96cuft or 7060lbs. Position of c.g. .13ft aft of # 19'." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Pantograph Lead Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_08230. Folder [no #]. No date (1914 ?).)
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"[Item Transcription:] Would you please to let me know the cost of the thirty footers [Newport 29s #727s DOLPHIN and #728s MISCHIEF] you are building for Jennings, also when a new boat [#737s COMET] could be delivered, if ordered. I practically have the order so write for details. This boat will be for Commodore Vanderbilt's son, Nealy.
Sincerely, ...
[PS:] Have the boats fair cabin accomodations. G.A.C. [Incl NGH reply note:] Ans[wered] 14th [of April]. Also letter for office ($4200. Del[ivery] July 15.)" (Source: Cormack, George A. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_26030. Subject Files, Folder 5, formerly 96-100. 1914-04-13.)
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"[Item Description:] Ink on linen midship section showing cabin height (6ft 0in) and folding berths of an unnamed Newport 29 [#727s DOLPHIN, #728s MISCHIEF]. Marked in lower right corner '30 Pine St., New York' [which in 1934 was the address of the banking house of Roosevelt and Sons with among others Philip J. Roosevelt and Emlen Roosevelt]." (Source: Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Acc. 2004.0001.0244. Inked Drawing. WRDT04, Folder 23, formerly MRDE08. No date (1914 or later).)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled pantograph hull sections titled 'Nos. 727 & 728 [#727s DOLPHIN & #728s MISCHIEF]. June 25, 1914. Scale 3/4. ALERION's (719 [sic, i.e. #718s] model changed & 1in deeper in water. Q.b.l. 26ft 3in. Length w.l. 29ft 5in'. Weight calculations show a total of 249.5cuft or 15910lbs. (These sections were drawn 10 days after DOLPHIN & MISCHIEF had been delivered.)" (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Pantograph Hull Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_00710. Folder [no #]. 1914-06-25.)
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"[Item Transcription:] Order book with carbon copy duplicates of instructions given by NGH. Relevant contents:
§75: Work Order [For] #727s, #728s. [When wanted] Soon. Rigging [3 pages] (1914-01-28)
§78: Work Order [For] #727s, #728s. [When wanted] Soon. Blocks (1914-01-29)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Order Book. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE08_04730. Folder [no #]. 1909-10 to 1914-11.)
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"[Item Description:] Handwritten (in ink) rating rule-related table on two pages with dimensions LOA, LWL, overhang fore & aft, mean length, freeboard fore & center & aft, breadth deck & w.l., draft, cube-root (displacement), 1st mast mean length, 1st to 2nd mast, J, P1, H1, B1, G1, V1, T1, P2, P2a, H2, B2, Q2, Y2,T2, sail area, sqrt(SA), sqrt(SA - NYYC Rule) for #605s RELIANCE, #499s COLUMBIA, #725s RESOLUTE, #529s MINEOLA, #663s ISTALENA, #666s AVENGER, New York 50s (#711s, #712s, #713s, #714s, #715s, #716s, #717s, #720s, #721s), #411s GLORIANA, #685s ADVENTURESS, #617s COCK ROBIN II, #586s NELLIE, #709s JOYANT, #708s CORINTHIAN, #670s SENECA, Bar Harbor 31s (#592s, #593s, #594s, #595s, #596s, #597s, #598s, #599s, #600s, #601s, #602s, #603s, #604s), New York 30s (#626s, #627s, #628s, #629s, #630s, #631s, #632s, #633s, #635s, #636s, #637s, #638s, #639s, #640s, #642s, #643s, #647s, #648s), Newport 29s (#727s, #728s, #737s), #691s MORE JOY, #446s ALERION II, Buzzards Bay 550s (#733s, #734s, #736s, #738s, #741s), #617s COCK ROBIN II, #493s JILT, #732s SADIE, #460s KILDEE, Buzzards Bay 15s (#503s Class), Buzzards Bay 12 1/2s (#744s Class), #703s FLYING CLOUD, #669s ELEANOR, #722s KATOURA, #692s WESTWARD, #657s QUEEN, #719s VAGRANT II, #698s VAGRANT, #663s ISTALENA, and #743s HASWELL. With penciled note 'Measurements in ft & inches. Results in ft & decimals'. Undated (the youngest boat on this list is from 1914/1915 and this was probably prepared in preparation for NGH's sail area rating rule of 1914/1915)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Handwritten Table. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE15_00100. Folder [no #]. No date (1914 / 1915 ?).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #728s Mischief even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Wick, Chris. "Mischief's Rebuild." In: Herreshoff Marine Museum (publ.). Proceedings. The Classic Yacht Symposium. April 1 - 3, 2005. Bristol, RI, 2005, p. 181-192. (3,655 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Copyright holder: Chris Wick / Herreshoff Marine Museum. Restoration report. Slide presentation with numerous annotated images. A 'how to restore a Herreshoff-built vessel' report.
• McClave, Ed. "Mischief. 36' Herreshoff Newport 29. HMCo #728 (1914). Rebuilt 2001-2003 by MP & G." Slide presentation, http://mpgboats.com/PhotoGalleries/Rebuilding%20Mischief/index.html, retrieved March 13, 2013. (4,081 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Copyright holder: Ed McClave. Restoration report. Slide presentation with numerous annotated images. A 'how to restore a Herreshoff-built vessel' report.

• Mischief (HMCo-made index card)
• Mischief (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: Mischief
Type: J & M
Length: 29'
Owner: Auchincloss, E. B.

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

• Mischief
• 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: Mischief
Type: 29' sloop
Owner: Mrs. Hugh D. Auchincloss
Year: 1914
Row No.: 441

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: Nov.
Day: 27
Year: 1912 [sic, i.e. 1913]
E/P/S: S
No.: 0728
Name: Mischief
OA: 36'
LW: 29'
B: 10' 4"
D: 5'
Rig: J & M
K: y
Ballast: Lead O.
Amount: $3,900.00
Last Name: Auchincloss
First Name: E. B.

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.

"The Herreshoff Construction Record lists #727s Dolphin to have been ordered by Oliver G. Jennings and #728s Mischief by his sister E. B. Aunchincloss (born Jennings). The real beneficiaries, however, were their respective sons for the Newport Daily News of June 3, 1914 (p. 11) reported that #727s Dolphin was built for Mr. Benjamin Brewster Jennings and #728s Mischief for Hugh D. Aunchincloss Jr. They were cousins and almost the same age, Benjamin Brewster Jennings having been born in 1898 and Hugh D. Auchincloss Jr. a year earlier in 1897. Auchincloss was born at Hammersmith Farm in Newport, R.I. and would eventually become the second husband of Janet Lee Bouvier, the mother of First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (wife of President John F. Kennedy)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 8, 2014.)

"LOA 36ft and LWL 29ft as per Construction Record and 37ft and 29.4ft as per untitled two-page rating-rule-related table handwritten (in ink) by N. G. Herreshoff with multiple dimensions for the most important Herreshoff-designed yachts. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum. MRDE15, Folder [no #]. Undated (the most recent boat dates 1914/1915 and the table was probably prepared in preparation for NGH's sail area rating rule of 1914/1915)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. September 16, 2020.)

"Trialled on June 14, 1914 and delivered June 15, 1914." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 4, 2012.)

"Built in 200 days (contract to delivered; equivalent to $20/day, 80 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

"Sail area main 569sqft plus jib 159sqft = 728sqft total as per notes on sail plan 130-138." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 15, 2014.)

"Sail area 760.5 sqft from untitled two-page rating-rule-related table handwritten (in ink) by N. G. Herreshoff with multiple dimensions for the most important Herreshoff-designed yachts. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum. MRDE15, Folder [no #]. Undated (the most recent boat dates 1914/1915 and the table was probably prepared in preparation for NGH's sail area rating rule of 1914/1915)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. September 16, 2020.)

"Displacement 249.5 cu.ft. [= 15,970 lbs] from untitled two-page rating-rule-related table handwritten (in ink) by N. G. Herreshoff with multiple dimensions for the most important Herreshoff-designed yachts. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum. MRDE15, Folder [no #]. Undated (the most recent boat dates 1914/1915 and the table was probably prepared in preparation for NGH's sail area rating rule of 1914/1915)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. September 16, 2020.)

"Displacement 15970 lb from NGH design notes quoted in Herreshoff, Halsey C. 'The 2014 CYS Commemorates the Great Herreshoff Year of 1914.' In: Herreshoff Marine Museum (publ.). Proceedings. The 6th Classic Yacht Symposium. May 2- 3, 2014. Bristol, RI, 2014, p. 9." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 29, 2014.)

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