HMCo #812s Nahma

"[1916-01-07] Fri 7: Have note that class of 16 footers for Seawanhaka Club has materialized.
[1916-01-16] Sun 16: Fair & cold [in] AM, moderating in PM. The young people off skating. I work on drawings of 788 class most of [the] day. SW wind in PM.
[1916-05-12] Fri 12: ... Have orders for 16 footer [#812s Nahma] for Butler Duncan.
[1916-06-15] Thu 15: Mod[erate] SE [wind] & cool. ... Launched & rigged 21st 16 footer [apparently #812s Nahma]." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1916. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

"Jan[uary] 1916. Fish.
No 788 & Class [#788s, #789s, #790s, #791s, #792s, #793s, #794s, #795s, #796s, #797s, #798s, #799s, #800s, #801s, #802s, #803s, #805s, #807s, #808s, #811s, #812s, #814s, #816s].
Keel sailing knockabout boats using same model as for 744 [#744s] class.
In making moulds use scale of 1" per ft (1/12).
For fore & aft measurements use scale 13" long for on foot (= 0.0769).
By common rule: Frame spaces = 9 3/4".
Timbers = 7/8" sq[uare].
Planking = 9/16 sq[uare].
Deduct in making moulds 1 7/16".
Deck = 1/2" + canvas.
Sheer heights are to top of deck.
Keel 1 5/16" (7/8" below rabbate).
Transom 1 1/8" thick.
Stem sided as per figures (1 3/8").
Sheer strake (moulded) 7/8".
[New page] #788 & Class. Lead.
Top of lead to follow under side of main keel from 1 1/2" aft of # 8 frame to 1 1/2" aft of # 14 frame, then in a diagonal straight line cutting # 18 frame, continuing to back of sternpost.
For increased depth see # s 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 & 18. Also 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 & 24 for back of rudder." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. Penciled notes in Offset Booklet HH.6.146-6.] January 1916. Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

"The following winter [1915-1916] proved a busy [one] and I had to carry on the work alone. Of the sailing craft, the eighty feet waterline steel schooner MARIETTE, the New York Yacht Club Forty Foot Class of eleven, the sixteen foot "Fish Class" of twenty-two [twenty-three boats built for the 1916 sailing season, plus three boats for the 1917 season, making a total of twenty-six], the Buzzards Bay Fifteen Foot Class of six, and several others were built." (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. 73.)

"George Nichols, of the Special Committee of the Seawanhaka-Corinthian Yacht Club, has received a letter from Captain Nat. G. Herreshoff, designer and builder of the club's new one-design class, stating that all twenty boats of the class originally ordered will be fitted and ready for delivery to the club's representative on Saturday, May 20 [1916]. The club committee will arrange to have them towed to the Oyster Bay anchorage of the club and delivered to members on the evening of Friday, May 26, when the clubhouse will be formally opened for the season with a reception and dance.
This late delivery will give the owners of the new boats little time to get acquainted with their craft before the day set for their first race, May 30, but unless something goes amiss they will have their initial competitive test on that day.
Three members of the club who neglected to get their orders for the new design placed in time for delivery with the first lot, have decided to order boats with delivery about the first of July." (Source: Anon. "New Boats Ready May 20. Seawanhaka One-Design Class to Race Ten Days Later." Boston Daily Globe, May 14, 1916, p. 18.)

"... W. B. Duncan races the Seawanhaka 16-footer Nahman [#812s] Nahma and his tender is the Waneche [#252p]. ...." (Source: Anon. "Power Tenders for Sailing Craft." Rudder Magazine, September 1916, p. 420.)

"The season of 1916 was active indeed, marked by the appearance of a great small racing class, the Herreshoff Fish Boats, and a Cruising Race Week in company with other clubs but sponsored by Seawanhaka. An enterprising Race Committee published a little booklet of the racing results, which gives us an unusually clear record.
First mention of the Fish Class appears in the minutes of an October 1914 Trustees Meeting. From among several designs submitted, they chose a Herreshoff model to cost about $1000, similar to a boat HerreshofT had built for former Commodore Benedict. Due to financial depression the next year, Seawanhaka members did not order any boats and the cheap Nut Class boats may have been substitutes. However, in the winter of 1915-16 a class of 18 Herreshoff Fish Boats were built for Club racing. A Special Fish Class Committee, which consisted of William H. Appleton, Secretary, Daniel Bacon, Henry R. Hayes, George Nichols and Franklin Remington, published an excellent circular describing them. They were 21 feet overall, 16 waterline, 7 beam, and 3 feet 3 inches draft, with 262 feet of sail area in a gaff mainsail and club jib. There was also a proportionate spinnaker. They were short-ended, able little vessels, with all their 1200 pounds of ballast outside, a large open cockpit, and a watertight bulkhead forward of the mast. As the committee pointed out, they were ideal for teaching children to sail, pleasure sailing, and Saturday racing. They were very popular elsewhere, especially at Mattapoisett in Buzzards Bay, where the smaller but very similar Herreshoff 12-footers have raced in large classes for many years at various clubs. W. Butler Duncan is said to have owned an earlier model, which influenced the selection of the class, and David Duncan raced Nahma in it. The names of original boats and their owners follow:
SEAWANHAKA CORINTHIAN SIXTEENS (FISH CLASS )
Shark [#791s] --- J. P. Morgan
Pompano [#797s] --- W. H. Appleton
Skate [#808s] --- H. L. Smith and John Good
Grunt [#799s] --- Samuel T. Shaw
Manatee [#788s] --- Albert Strauss
Periwinkle [#802s] --- Henry R. Hayes
Bluefish [#790s] --- Howard C. Smith
Cod [#789s] --- H. S. Shonnard
Anchovy [#794] --- F. M. Weld
Whitebait [#793s] --- Alexander M. White
Barracuda [#803s] --- De Forest Hicks
Volodor [#792s] --- Daniel Bacon
Snapper [#795s] --- W. Emlen Roosevelt
Shrimp [#796s] --- W. A. W. Stewart
Sabalo [#800s] --- A. R. Whitney, Jr.
Sardine [#807s] --- Bertram G. Work
Eel [#811s] --- Cecil O. Stewart
Nahma [#812s] --- David Duncan
During the 1916 season the Fish Class Periwinkle (H. R. Hayes) won the First Series prize and the Leland Cup, which was successfully defended against Appleton's Pompano. Samuel T. Shaw's Grunt won the Second and Third Series and a Maxwell Cup. The Ladies' Race was won by Miss Nourse in Barracuda. Nearly every Saturday there were large racing classes of over twelve boats, and the Fishes may be called a success from the beginning. The Club charged Fish owners only $20 to haul, store and put the yachts back into the water in the spring, together with their moorings. A new cradle cost $13 and a HerreshofT winter cover $23. The boats themselves cost $925." (Source: Parkinson, John, Jr. The Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club. The Early Twentieth Century. 1897-1940. New York, 1965, p. 105-106.)

"The first 16 footers were designed and built by N. G. Herreshoff in 1916 for the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club of Oyster Bay, Long Island. These boats were known as the Fish class. A total of twenty three boats were built for the 1916 sailing season, seventy five years ago this year. The first nineteen boats were delivered in January of 1916 at a cost of $875. The second group of four were delivered April 11, 1916, the last three of which were at a cost of $925. Three additional boats were delivered for the 1917 season, bringing the fleet to a total of twenty six. All of the Seawanhaka fleet carried fish names, a gaff rig and were trimmed with oak, but were built without the characteristic Herreshoff moulded sheer strake. A half round oak rub rail was used on these boats, likely as a cost savings measure. The top strake was white cedar, the same as the normal planking. The transoms, rub rail, coamings, and toe rail were all oak. The Seawanhaka sail numbers appear to have been consecutive, but not in the sequence of the hull number assignments from the Herreshoff yard. The sail numbers were preceded by the letters 'SC'.
The Fish boat was designed at the request of the Seawanhaka selection committee 'to be a safe and seaworthy boat in varying weather conditions, ideal for teaching children to sail, for pleasure sailing and Saturday racing.' The design developed by Nat Herreshoff was an enlarged version of the 1914 Herreshoff 12 footers with a small cuddy cabin forward of a very large cockpit. The longitudinal scaling ratio was thirteen to ten and the transverse was twelve to ten. An additional 3 1/2 inches was added to the bow after scaling accounting for the proportionately longer overhang. Communications from the committee indicate that the decision to purchase the fleet was delayed a year, but then went forward based on a price of $875." (Source: Meyer, Richard. "Herreshoff 16 Foot Class History." (History written on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Fish Class.) Norwell, Massachusetts, January, 1991. In: http://www.herreshoffregistry.org/doc/Fish_History_Meyer.pdf, retrieved August 19, 2010.)

"N/A"

"[Item Description:] little [Fish Class] boats arrived all right at Oyster Bay, had not much chance to try her [#812s Nahma] out as wind was too light, like her very much, please make me a tiller a little longer" (Source: Duncan, W. Butler, Jr. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_21030. Correspondence, Folder 61. 1916-05-23.)
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"[Item Description:] I took Saturday, Sunday & Monday off & spent most of the time in the little boat [#812s Nahma] & am delighted with her. She is just what I wanted & handles splendidly, my mast stands up all right without any spreaders though I suppose I might as well put them on when they arrive, the [newly built one-design] 40s [New York 40s] had a good race, they seem very satisfactory & fast down wind, but compared to the NY50s did not do so well on a wind" (Source: Duncan, W. Butler, Jr. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_21040. Correspondence, Folder 61. 1916-06-01.)
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"[Item Description:] think you are right as to the size of the halliards & sheet, please send me a set of the blocks next size larger & I will change them, I was out [in #812s Nahma] in a strong breeze last week & the mast stood all right except off the wind, then it went forward a good deal but I do not suppose that spreaders would help this, NY50s raced on Saturday, I was on #721s CAROLINA, we won over #717s BARBARA, what chance has [#667s] AURORA as to saving her time against the NY50s in the big cups?, think the NY50s can give their time to the 40s but have not had a good chance yet" (Source: Duncan, W. Butler, Jr. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_21050. Correspondence, Folder 61. 1916-06-05.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #812s Nahma even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Nahma (HMCo-made index card)
• Nahma (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: Nahma
Type: J & M
Length: 16'
Owner: Duncan, W. B.

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

• Nahma
• 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: Nahma
Type: 16' J & M
Owner: W. Butler Duncan
Row No.: 458

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: Apr
Year: 1916
E/P/S: S
No.: 0812
Name: Nahma
LW: 16'
B: 7' 1"
D: 3' 1"
Rig: J & M
K: y
Ballast: Lead
Amount: 925.00
Last Name: Duncan
First Name: W. 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 HMCo-prepared index card for Nahma lists C. P. Stewart as owner who ordered on May 4, 1916, while the Construction Record lists Butler Duncan with a contract date of April 21, 1916." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 19, 2016.)

"Built in 55 days (contract to launch; equivalent to $17/day, 54 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

"Sail area actual 271.2. By NYYC rule 285.7." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. "Fish Class. 788 Class." Design and construction notes, dated Jan. 1916.) Also: "262 feet of sail area in a gaff mainsail and club jib" (Source: Parkinson, John, Jr. The Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club. The Early Twentieth Century. 1897-1940. New York, 1965, p. 105-106.)

"Displ. 46.5 cuft. = 2975lbs." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. "Fish Class. 788 Class." Design and construction notes, dated Jan. 1916.)

"Ownership info from Steve Nagy's Herreshoff Registry." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 8, 2014.)

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