HMCo #732s Sadie

"[1914-05-12] Tue 12: Very cold NE rain storm. ... No 732 floated [Sadie, which was probably built in the small boat shop, like Alerion] and taken into N[orth] shop.
[1914-05-25] Mon 25: Fine & warm [with] fresh SW [wind]. Launched #732 Sadie and made short trial in PM.
[1914-05-26] Tue 26: Fine SSW [wind]. Very warm inland. Tried Sadie [#732s] & Oleander [#710s] early and again in PM. Sadie [is] a little faster.
[1914-05-29] Fri 29: Very fine. Clear & cool SE wind. Made short trial of Sadie [#732s], taking John & Mr. Emmons.
[1914-05-30] Sat 30: Overcast [with] S [wind] & cold. ... Started in Helianthus [#288p] with Dr. Merriman, having 'Sadie' [#732s] in tow. Quite smooth trip. Anchored at Conn[ecticut] River for night.
[1914-05-31] Sun 31: Underway very early. Very fine & cool, with calm & light airs. Arrived [at] Indian Har[bor] at 3, and after taking Com[modore] Benedict for [a] sail in Sadie [#732s], delivered her to him. ..." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1914. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

"... After Capt. Nat first sailed ALERION III [#718s] in the windy water domains of Bermuda, upon his return home, my father asked his father how he liked the new boat. My Dad told me the reply was 'Fine, but she is awful damn wet, but I’ll fix that.' He did not actually change ALERION III, but when asked to produce a near sistership, which is the SADIE, now a property of the Museum on display here, he did make significant changes. The underbody of SADIE is nearly identical to that of ALERION, but the bow is drawn out longer by 6in., there is more wave shedding flair forward and the on-deck beam of SADIE was made 4in. more – all these changes to produce the same fine sailing small yacht but making her less wet for the crew sailing in a chop --- 'I’ll fix that.' ..." (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.)

"SADIE and ALERION III
by Michael J. Pesare
SADIE, a near sistership of Nathanael G. Herreshoff's personal daysailer ALERION III (1912), has been acquired by the Herreshoff Marine Museum from the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum of St. Michael's, Maryland. SADIE is a significant addition to the collection as she represents a family of related designs which are derived from ALERION III. These designs are among the most beautiful and widely admired creations of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company.
To fully appreciate the significance of SADIE, it is instructive to review the origins and history of ALERION III. ...
In March, 1914, SADIE (HMCo. #732) was ordered and this gave NGH an opportunity to make small refinements to ALERION's design. After sailing ALERION for a season, NGH found her to be tender and thus added about 670 pounds of internal lead ballast. He also noted that ALERION could be wet in choppy conditions. In SADIE, NGH sought to correct these minor shortcomings. SADIE was given more ballast externally and 4" more beam on deck, adding more flair to her topsides thus drawing her bow out 6". This made SADIE stiffer and drier than ALERION.
SADIE was commissioned by Elias Cornelius Benedict, a successful Wall Street investor and former Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club Commodore. Benedict took up yachting late in life and preferred the elegance and comfort of steam yachting. Described as the 'genial old tar' of the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, he was, however, an enthusiastic supporter of small boat racing. Often, his grand 201' ONEIDA served as committee boat for SCYC regattas.
Unfortunately, Benedict fell ill in 1919 and died shortly thereafter. James Greenway of Cos Cob, CT purchased SADIE from the Benedict estate in 1920 and for the next 53 years, he and his family actively sailed and cruised along the New England coast. SADIE was often winter stored at the Concordia Company in South Dartmouth, MA. In 1973, Greenway donated SADIE to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and they commenced a full restoration of the boat to her former strength. With the restoration substantially complete, the Board of Directors of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, decided that SADIE would receive wider appreciation as part of the newly expanded Herreshoff Marine Museum. SADIE was shipped back to Bristol, the site of her building 78 years ago, and she is now located in the museum's Hall of Boats. ... " (Source: Herreshoff Marine Museum Chronicle, 1992, p. 2.)

"N/A"

"[Item Description:] Penciled sailplan and rig plan (both gaff and sliding gunter) with numerous calculations and notes added over at least 12 years. Titled 'ALERION No 718 [#718s]. SADIE No 732 [#732s]. 26ft 1in o.a. 21ft 9in w.l. 7ft 7in beam. 2ft 5 1/2in draft. Scale 1/2. July - 6d[??] [or: July - Oct 1912] [Unclear if date was written by NGH.]'. With detailed dimensions. With note 'New sails #718 1924. M[ain]s[ail] ... 283sqft. Jib ... 80.5sqft. [Total sail area] 363.5sqft. ...' and 'New suit of sails with Lug yard. July 1924, to be of 1.2[?] oz Wamsutta'." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Sailplan. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Acc. 2004.0001.0328. WRDT04, Folder 30, formerly MRDE09. 1912-07-06? (or July - Oct 1912?).)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled pantograph hull sections titled 'Aug 2, 1912. From finished model. NGH. #718. Model made for self and completed in July. Scale 1in per ft. OA 25ft 10on. W.L. 21ft 8in. Draft 2in 5 1/2in. Breadth 7ft 7in. do w.l. 6ft 10in. Q.b.l. 19ft 3 3/4in. ALERION'. With table of scantlings titled 'By NGH's rule [Rule for Wooden Yachts]'. With displacement curves comparing # 719 [sic, i.e. #718s ALERION III and not # 719 VAGRANT] and '25ft w.l. 1914[??] #732 class [This is difficult to read / interpret: Apparently a reference to 25ft Buzzards Bay 25 class (#734s VITESSA) but possibly also to #732 SADIE?]'. With calculations for displacement, stability, wetted surface and prismatic coefficient." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Pantograph Hull Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_00920. Folder [no #]. 1912-08-02.)
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"[Item Transcription:] [Penciled cost calculations:] No 732 [#732s] SADIE for Mr. Benedict.
Bill = $1,850.00
Record charges of
Material & Labor = 1307.26
Shop [overhead] 25% 326.82
[Subtotal] 1,634.08
15% [profit] 245.10
[Subtotal] $1,879.18
20% [why? Possibly to account for expected price increases in a following year?] 375.83
[Grand sum] 2,250.01
cb [centerboard] 2250
Keel 2200. [Undated (SADIE was built in March and April 1914).]" (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (?) (creator). Cost Estimate. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE03_01180. Folder [no #]. No date (1914-03 or later).)
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"[Item Transcription:] I am sorry to say my brother’s price in duplicating ALERION [#718s] is more than I guessed, and is to my mind a little high, and if you think the same, there is no reason why you need feel bounded by the order [for #732s SADIE].
He says $2,000. I guessed 15 or 16 hundred, not knowing at the time the shop costs in the job. I am convinced I was a little low.
I would like to see a boat like ALERION on Long Is. Sound and if you still think you want her, if you will kindly write the Herreshoff Mfg. Co. what you will pay, I will see the job properly started before I withdraw from my present position which will probably be before the boat will be finished.
I am writing this in a confidential way. I feel you have been very kind and friendly to me, and since our meeting last summer [I] have taken a great liking to you and will do for you as a friend should do, so don’t consider this a business letter but destroy it. My brother John is at the head of the business. He started it and holds 1/2 the stock, and my son and myself the other half. It is unfortunate we don’t always agree. I am getting tired of it and will give up my position as superintendent and designer as soon as the cup defender is completed. [Marked 'copy']" (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. Letter (copy) to Commodore Benedict. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_12360. Correspondence, Folder 36, formerly 191. 1914-03-25.)
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"[Item Transcription:] As you know, for the last year, some members of the Seawanhaka Club have been asking for a new one-design class to take the place of our present Crane design fifteen-footers.
At a meeting last night various plans were discussed, and it was suggested that it would be an advantage to have boats just like your one-design fifteen-footers that we might have inter-club racing with the Beverly Yacht Club, etc. For our use, however, it would probably be better to have the lead a little lower, and no centre board. With this change I suppose the boats would be near enough together so that knowledge of local conditions would be likely to offset any difference in the boats themselves. Several other plans were also discussed, and the type was not decided on.
I feel sure however, that your boats would have the preference, if the price were not too high.
The intention is to decide on a type of boat during the next 2/3 weeks and then to canvas the members to see who will build. If we could get fifteen or more subscribers, the Class would go through; otherwise the present boats, of which there are about that number in commission, but pretty soft, would be continued. Would it be agreeable to you to build that number of boats, and at what price ---the order to be given by Oct. 1st for delivery the following Spring?
A keel boat of the general type of the one you built Commodore Benedict [#732s SADIE] would seem to me preferable in model, and if the matter could be swung that way, would it be practical to build a Class of such reduced size as to bring the price about the same as a fifteen-footer?
I have just spent an hour this morning with George Cormack, who is now in conference with the America's Cup Committee, so I trust we may get something definite before long. [This appears to relate to the Fish Class of which 19 boats (#788s, #789s, #790s, #791s, #792s, #793s, #794s, #795s, #796s, #797s, #798s, #799s, #800s, #801s, #802s, #803s, #805s, #807s, #808s) would be ordered on January 10, 1916 for Seawanhaka YC members.)" (Source: Nichols, George. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_05500. Correspondence, Folder 19, formerly 135. 1914-08-11.)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled table, untitled, with data for OA, Extreme Beam, Breadth at wl, Draft, Freeboard, Displacement, Lead, and sail area for 15 footer [#503s class], OLEANDER [#710s], SADIE [#732s] and 'Proposed' [design] --- the latter being 24ft LOA, 19.3.LWL, 6ft 11in beam, 3500lbs displacement of which 2000lbs are lead and a sail area of 320sqft. Undated (might this be in response to George Nichols letter dated August 11, 1914 asking for a reduced SADIE-like design for the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club for what would become the Fish Class? 19 boats (#788s, #789s, #790s, #791s, #792s, #793s, #794s, #795s, #796s, #797s, #798s, #799s, #800s, #801s, #802s, #803s, #805s, #807s, #808s) would be eventually ordered on January 10, 1916 for Seawanhaka YC members)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Table. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE03_01150. Folder [no #]. No date (1914-08-11 or later ??).)
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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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"[Item Description:] Penciled sailplan sketch of a Fish Class [#732s, #788s, #789s, #790s, #791s, #792s, #793s, #794s, #795s, #796s, #797s, #798s, #799s, #800s, #801s, #802s, #803s, #805s, #807s, #808s] boat titled in lower right corner '20 1/2ft oa. 16ft w.l. Scale 3/8'. With list of particulars 'Oa 21ft. 16ft'. Beam 7ft. Draft [question mark]. From model of 12 1/2 footer [at] 1in per ft except lengths increased 9/12in using 13in cale and frame spaces 9 3/4in. Dis[lacement] 46cuft = 2940lbs. Lead = 1370lbs. Sail area 262[sqft]. By rule (265)[question mark]. Rating ... 13.05'. With scantling calculations. With sail area calculations (210 + 51 = 261sqft). On inside of envelope from Dupont Magazine to 'Mr. Herreshoff. Herreshoff Mfg. Co. Brsitol, R.I'. On verso four penciled detail sketches. Undated, this may well be the original sketch which lead to the design of the Fish Class (the offset booklet entry for the class is dated January 1916 --- the same time that the first boats were contracted for --- and figures in the offset booklet appear to match the numbers on this sketch)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Sketch. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE05_00290. Folder [no #]. No date (1916-01 ???).)
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"[Item Description:] HMCo Plan HH.5.08080 (096-120). Blueprint sailplan proposal showing a hull that identical with #732s SADIE with two alternative underwater bodies (keel and centerboard) and two alternative rigs (gaff and Marconi rig). Titled 'From Herreshoff Mfg. Co. Inc. 26 1/2 o.a. 21ft 9in w.l. 7ft 11in beam. 2ft 8in dr[aft]' and marked 'For W.B. Duncan Esq. etc.' " (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Blueprint. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Acc. 2004.0001.0005. WRDT08, Folder 1, formerly MRDE08. 1919-09-08.)
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"[Item Transcription:] [Penciled draft letter:] Clifford D. Mallory, Esq.
11 Broadway, New York
Dear Mr. Mallory,
Knowing you sent BONNIE DUNDEE [#370p ex-TYARA] to Key West by one of your steamers a few years ago, I am wondering if I could have a small sailing boat [#718s ALERION III] taken there by one of your vessels that I am considering taking to Coconut Grove for use in Biscayne Bay. The boat in question is 26’ o.a., 7’6” beam, and weighs about 6,100 lbs. [and] is a sister boat to the one we built for Comm. Benedict some years ago named SADIE [#732s] and you have probably seen her about Greenwich.
If I decide to take the boat down I would also want passage for myself and wife at the same time, leaving the middle or early part of November. Will you kindly have someone give me information about this shipment and passage i.e. [sic: &c]. Has one of your ships sailing from Key West in November space on deck to carry the boat and [a] derrick boom that could lift her from afloat alongside and deliver her afloat alongside at Key West?
What would be the probable freight charge and what would be the fares for passage of self & wife? Would the boat be shipped at the owner’s or carrier’s risk?
I would furnish a cradle to set the boat in on deck. This is the same boat I had in Bermuda several years and was carried very nicely by the SS Fort Hamilton. In returning she was carried with the rig all standing and was ready to start for Bristol the moment she was put afloat in New York. I would like to have her shipped that way to Key West." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. Letter to Mallory, Clifford D. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDED1_00310. Folder [no #]. 1924-09-10.)
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"[Item Description:] what sort of boat is it that I hear you are building to take South with you? [#907s PLEASURE], looking for a boat for an old gentleman to sail around in single handed & not to race, what has become of that boat [#732s SADIE] you built for Commodore Benedict on the lines of your [#718s] ALERION?, don't you think she would be just about what I want?, how do you like the new [gunter] rig you put on ALERION?, was sorry to see the old yard sold out but am glad a part of it is still going, for the last 30 years I have sailed on the best there was & all of them of your design, and I think that these 30 years were the best that yachting ever had or will have." (Source: Duncan, W. Butler, Jr. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_21080. Correspondence, Folder 61. 1924-10-28.)
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"[Item Description:] Handwritten (in pencil and ink) table titled 'Examples in Formulating Measurement Rule, Sept 1933' and providing data for LOA, LWL, Length quarter beam plane, Q.B.L., Mean beam, Draft, Freeboard, Displacement, Sail Ara, Rating by Universal Rule, Corrected length, Sailing Length, Power Number Pn, Draft Limits for Racing and Cruising Yachts and others for a #722s KATOURA, #692s WESTWARD, #719s VAGRANT, #698s QUEEN MAB ex-VAGRANT I, #499s COLUMBIA, #725s RESOLUTE, New York 50 Class, #703s FLYING CLOUD, New York 30 Class, #461s COCK ROBIN, #732s SADIE, and Buzzards Bay 15 Class. Undated (part of NGH's Power number (Pn) measurement rule from September 1933)." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Table. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_74060. Measuring and Measurement Rules (Box 2), Folder B2F09, formerly MRDE15. No date (ca1933-09).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #732s Sadie even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Palmieri, John. "The Alerion Revolution. What Nat Herreshoff Started in 1912." Presentation held at the 5th Classic Yacht Symposium. In: Herreshoff Marine Museum (Publisher). Proceedings. The 5th Classic Yacht Symposium 2012. Bristol, R.I. April 28, 2012. (2,189 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Copyright holder: John Palmieri / Herreshoff Marine Museum. Very detailed vessel description and history

• Sadie (HMCo-made index card)
• Sadie (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: Sadie
Type: J & M
Length: 21'9"
Owner: Benedict, E. C.

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

• Sadie
• 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: Sadie
Type: 21' 9" J & M
Owner: E. C. Benedict
Row No.: 586

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: Mar.
Day: 17
Year: 1913 [sic, i.e. 1914]
E/P/S: S
No.: 0732
Name: Sadie
LW: 21' 9"
B: 8'
D: 2' 8"
Rig: J & M
Ballast: Lead O.
Amount: $1,850.00
Last Name: Benedict
First Name: E. C.

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.

"A yachting biography of Sadie's first owner E. C. Benedict appears in Summers, James C. 'Commodore E. C. Benedict, Veteran Yachtsman.' Rudder, June 1916, p. 261-266." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 2, 2012.)

"Acquired in April 1990 by the Herreshoff Marine Museum from the Chesapeake Maritime Museum." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 8, 2012.)

"Built in 69 days (contract to launch; equivalent to $27/day, 84 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

"Sail area 408 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 90.5 cu.ft. [= 5792 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 6169 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.