HMCo #768s Kiddie

"[We built] also the first lot of about twenty-five [fall and winter of 1914-15] of the Buzzards Bay Twelve and One-Half Footers." (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. 72-73.)

"On June 27 [2001] the Long Island Maritime Museum received a Herreshoff Twelve-and-a-Half all wood, gaff-rigged sloop called the Avalon. Featured at the Antique Boat show at LIMM last weekend, the boat was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Hard of Stamford, Connecticut. The boat, number 768, was built in 1909 [sic, i.e. 1915].
LIMM Director Doug Shaw said, 'With the acquisition of the Avalon we are making a departure from our usual policy of collecting boats that are designed or built on Long Island. This boat's history was here. It was sailed only between Oakdale and West Sayville before going to Martha's Vineyard.' The Avalon has a three foot keel, unusual for a Long Island boat this size. It draws more water than other, much larger bay boats.
Built for Commander Frederic (sic) Bourne, the Avalon was used at his Indian Neck Estate in Oakdale for many years. When his daughter, Florence, married Mr. Hard, Commodore Bourne presented the couple with 250 acres of land and 50 acres of wetlands as a wedding gift, and hired Mr. Green, the famous local architect of the era, to design a house for them. This mansion is now part of the West Sayville Golf Course. The Avalon was used by the Hard children and docked at the estate, known as Meadow Edge. The land comprising the estate is now the LIMM.
From there the boat went to Florence's son, Frederick Hard, who kept it in Martha's Vineyard. He sold his house this spring and decided the boat should come back home. On June 27 it was transported to the LIMM on an 18 wheel tractor trailer.
The Avalon has never been restored, only maintained to the highest standard. 'It is in fantastic condition,' said Shaw. 'This boat will not go in the water. It will be a permanent part of the small craft exhibit in the Lawrence Everitt Small Craft Exhibition Hall.'
The Avalon was built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, which was established on New Year's Day in 1878 in Bristol, Rhode Island by brothers John B. and Nathaniel Herreshoff. The company built steamships, military craft, super yachts, small recreational boats and America's Cup defenders. Between 1893 and 1914, for the Defense of the America's Cup, Captain Nat designed, and the company built, seven of the largest, most complex racing sloops the world has ever seen. Of that seven, five were selected as defenders and all were victorious. During more than 40 years of production over 360 twelve-and-a-half footers were built by the company, making them Herreshoff s most popular product. The original design has been adapted and changed to meet the needs of different communities. Those with wider decks and buoyancy tanks were called 'Long Island Sound Bullseyes.' Newer models made of fiberglass are Cape Cod H-12s and 'Doughdishes.' The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company closed its doors in 1946, all the while maintaining its reputation for the highest quality boat design and construction.
Shaw said, 'This boat proves that wooden boats, if properly maintained, will outlast fiberglass. They are alive, and have a spirit of their own. We can't say that about fiberglass." (Source: Whitehouse, Elaine K. and LIMM Director Doug Shaw. "LIMM Receives Gift of Historic Boat." Suffolk County News, July 12, 2001, p. 5.)

"This boat was contracted very early (July 1915), and has a combination of both oak trim and a mahogany transom. The original owner was Commodore Bourne, who made his fortune as the President of Singer Sewing Machines. You may remember that 'The Commodore' was the Commodore of the New York Yacht Club around the turn of the century, when Captain Nat was knocking out some rather exceptional Cup Defenders. His house still stands not to far away from his 12, as the former home of the LaSalle Military Academy, and is now home to the Sayville Campus of Saint John's University.
Hull #768 was purchased for the Commodore's daughter to sail. In order to bring it with them on their Mediterranean vacations, #768 was equipped with two rather large ring bolts through the fore and after decks. With these, the 12 was lifted aboard the Commodore's rather large steam yacht. After all these years, the lift rings are still present, as is the transom design with the interior bracing. There is no rowing thwart, but the usual bench seats. The forward end of the cockpit has an open arch cut into the bulkhead, with varnished wood trim pieces framing the opening." (Source: Brooks, Jon. "Thoughts on Herreshoff 12 Hull #768." http://www.herreshoffregistry.org/forum/index.php?topic=306.0, July 3, 2010. Retrieved October 1, 2014.)

• Bray, Maynard. "Restoration of 12 1/2 Footers. Part I." Wooden Boat #56, January/February 1984, p. 93-101. (1,293 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission. Copyright holder: Maynard Bray (text). Detailed Buzzards Bay 12 1/2 restoration step by step as performed by the Ballentine shop. Part I. Stem restoration, transom and frame replacement.
• Bray, Maynard. "Restoration of 12 1/2 Footers. Part II." Wooden Boat #57, March/April 1984, p. 93-100. (1,036 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission. Copyright holder: Maynard Bray (text). Detailed Buzzards Bay 12 1/2 restoration step by step as performed by the Ballentine shop. Part II. Keel timber and coamings replacement.
• Bray, Maynard (with photos by Benjamin Mendlowitz). "12 1/2 Footers." Nautical Quarterly, no. 37, Spring 1987, p. 47. (608 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission. Copyright holder: Maynard Bray (text), Benjamin Mendlowitz (photos). Short class portrait. Part of the larger article "Herreshoff Legacies."
• Nagy, Steve. "The Herreshoff 12 1/2 Footer. Evolution Of The Class." In: Herreshoff Marine Museum (publ.). Proceedings. The 6th Classic Yacht Symposium. May 2-3, 2014. Bristol, RI, 2014, p. 1-23. (4,425 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Copyright holder: Steve Nagy / Herreshoff Marine Museum. Short class history of the 12 1/2 as built by HMCo, Quincy Adams, Cape Cod Shipbuilding and others. Different models: Gaff, marconi, wishboom, Fishers Island. Detailed description of changes in configuration and equipment as boats were built over time. Identification guide for 12 1/2s missing their builder's plate. Photos. Original promotional material.

• Avalon ex-Kiddie (HMCo-made index card)
• Avalon ex-Kiddie (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.

Month: July
Day: 01
Year: 1915
E/P/S: S
No.: 0768
LW: 12 1/2'
Rig: J & M
K: y
Ballast: Lead O.
Amount: 550.00
Last Name: Bourne
First Name: F. G.

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.

Hull No.: 768
Contract Date: 1915-07-01
Org. Name: Kiddie
Org. Owner: F.G. Bourne
Org. Rig: J&M
Current Rig: Gaff
Home Port: Sayville, NY
Prior Owners: Fred Hard - ? - 8/2001 - Stamford, CT -
Current Name: Avalon
Current Owner: Long Island Maritime Museum
Owner Since: 8/2001
Sheer-strake: Oak
Note: Now known as Avalon, 768 is on display at the Long Island Maritime Museum. It was donated to the museum on August 2001 by Mr. Frederick Hard, grandson of the original owner, Mr. Fred Bourne of Oakdale, NY. Mr. Bourne was the president of Singer Sewing Machine Company.

Source: Nagy, Steve. "The Herreshoff 12 1/2 Footer Registry." Version 2.0. August 2007. (http://h12.orrsford.com/H12_Registry_Ver_2-0.pdf, last visit May 23, 2008.)

"The first 20 12 1/2-footers (#744s to 765s) were built with thinner masts than subsequently built boats (#768s and following) as per a note and changed dimensions on spar plan 081-111 (HH.5.06203) 'Spars for #744 and Class (11 Boats)'. The early boats had a mast diameter of 2 7/8in at the top of the deck and 2 3/4in at the gaff jaws. This compares to 3 3/8in and 2 13/16in, respectively, for the later boats.
Plan 065-064 (HH.5.04659 'Rudder and Hanging for #744 Class' also shows that beginning with #768s 12 1/2s had a different tiller and tiller attachment." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 30, 2020.)

"Sail area approximately 140 square feet by rule." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Yachts by Herreshoff. The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company: Designers and Builders of Sailing and Power Craft since 1861. Bristol, Rhode Island, 1937.)

"Displacement to waterline 24.6 cuft. = 1575 lbs." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. [Design notes.] October 27, 1914.)

"Displacement 24.6 cu.ft. [= 1575 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.)

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