HMCo #816s Sculpin [Squid]

"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.)

"For the proper identification of the racing yachts of the Long Island Sound Yacht Racing Association it is necessary to know the various racing numbers used. For our readers' guidance we append the following table issued by the secretary of the association: ...
Seawanhaka Fish Class
[#788s] 1, Manatee, Albert Strauss
[#802s] 4, Periwinkle, M. G. Foster
[#790s] 5, Blue Fish, Edmund Putney
[#791s] 6, Shark, J. F. Bermingham
[#789s] 7, Cod, Chas. E. Pettinos
[#794s] 8, Anchovy, F. M. Weld
[#793s] 10, Whitebait, A. N. White
[#803s] 11, Barracuda, V. S. Merle-Smith
[#792s] 12, Veladore, George Nichols
[#795s] 14, Snapped, W. E. Roosevelt
[#796s] 15, Shrimp, F. D. M. Strachan
[#797s] 16, Pompano, Chas. G. West
[#800s] 17, Sabalo, Dr. U F. Bishop
[#807s] 18, Sea Robin, H. W. DeForest
[#811s] 20, Eel, Wm. Loeb, Jr.
[#814s???] 21, Fly, Arthur Iselin
[#816s] 22, Sculpin, Nelson Burr
[#819s] 24, Minnow, T. S. Williams
[#820s] 26, Cockle, S. R. Outerbridge and R. Harvey
[#821s] 27, Tuna, J. H. Ottley
[#???s] 28, [No Name] C. O'D. Iselin." (Source: Anon. "Long Island Sound Racing Numbers." The Rudder, July 1923, p. 66.)

"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.)

"In 1926 the Seawanahaka [Fish Class] fleet began to shift to Mattapoisett Ma. About eleven boats in total were owned at Mattapoisett between 1926 and 1938. The names of the eleven were: Cockle [#820s], Eel [#811s], Morrhue, Nautilus, Pompano [#797s], Sculpin [#816s], Shark [not #791s], Skate [#808s], Tarpon [#942s], Wahoo, and Xiphias [#826s]. Although many of the names appear to be the same as those listed in the Herreshoff shop records, it is known that some, such as Shark, were given these names upon arrival in Mattapoisett. Many of the boats were converted to marconi rig for the 1930 season. Three boats which were not converted were Skate, Tarpon, and Xiphias. By 1938, many of the Mattapoisett fleet had been sold and migrated away. About four boats appeared in Padanaram between 1930 and 1963. Their names were Harbinger, Hope, Xiphias [#826s] (later called Green Duck), and a fourth as yet unidentified.
The hurricane of Sept. 21, 1938 effectively ended the Fish boat activity in Mattapoisett. All of the remaining four boats are thought to have been wrecked. It is not known if any of the wrecked boats may have been repaired. The Padanaram Harbinger was totally destroyed in a boat yard fire and not repaired. The information pertaining to Mattapoisett was graciously provided by Edward Wood, Jr., author of The Early Days Of Sailing In Mattapoisett, and former Fish sailor. The Fish activities in Padanaram have become known through the help of Norman Fortier, marine photographer, the New Bedford Whaling Museum, the New Bedford Yacht Club, and Llewellyn Howland Jr. Llewellyn is a former Fish sailor, having owned Harbinger from 1933 until about 1937." (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.)

"Sculpin, an original 21ft Herreshoff Fish Class sloop that's listed in the Herreshoff records as Squid (hull #816), was delivered to the Seawanhaka Yacht Club in Oyster Bay, Long Island, for a Franklin Remington in April of 1916. Mr. Remington lived on the Driftwood estate on Centre Island and was an avid sailor/racer. He owned the boat (whose name he changed to Sculpin while she was being built) until 1921 after which she switched hands several times. From 1932 to 1937 she was owned by John Foster Dulles (Secretary of State under Dwight D. Eisenhower) who sailed the boat out of Cold Spring Harbor until the next owner moved her to South port, CT. Her history goes on, and includes time spent in Brooklin, ME, as West Wind, and a donation to Mystic Seaport. Her complete history is well documented, and a search of the New York Times archives results in many pages describing her successful early racing career.
Sculpin requires a rebuild, but the majority of her planking and her ballast keel are reusable. We have all of her original bronze hardware as well as her original Marconi rig (she was gaff-rigged in the beginning). This is one of the few original Fish boats that can be traced back to her original hull number. A museum-quality rebuild could be undertaken for significantly less than the cost of building a new Fish.
It would be wonderful if this important historical artifact, once restored, could eventually find its way back to either Oyster Bay or the Herreshoff Museum in Bristol, Rl. The Seawanhaka Yacht Club, in particular, has such a rich history of classic yachting that Sculpin would be a welcome and prestigious link to its past noble heritage.
We want the restoration of Sculpin to demonstrate our respect for and commitment to historical accuracy and the preservation of as much of the original material as it's practical to recycle. ..." (Source: Artisan Boatworks. [For Sale Advertisement.] http://www.artisanboatworks.com/wooden-boat-service/save-a-classic/save-a-classic-sculpin, retrieved March 9, 2013.)

"In late August [2015], ... at Artisan Boatworks in Rockport, Maine ..., N.G. Herreshoff-designed Fish Class yacht's full restoration was well under way ...
The Fish-class boat, SCULPIN, 20ft 9in LOA, 16ft LWL, with a beam of 7ft 1in and a draft of 3ft 1in, was ... conceived for one-design racing --- in 1916. The class is a straightforward enlargement of Nathanael Greene Herreshoff's very popular Herreshoff 12 11/2. SCULPIN was the 23rd of the class to be built. As of late August, the boat had been set up for the early stages of a thoroughgoing restoration to original specifications. Previous owners, of Mystic, Connecticut, had worked on the boat but chose to sell it to Artisan Boatworks for $1 --- on the condition that it be professionally restored. 'They loved the boat, and they knew how important it was, and they came to appreciate that they were not going to be the ones to finish the job,' Brainerd said.
With the hull braced to hold its shape, reframing was well underway. Steam-bent 7/8in-square white oak frames were being installed. At some point in the boat's life, intermediate frames had been installed, but the yard will return the boat to the original framing schedule. Meanwhile, Tim Jacobus had glued-up a white-oak transom blank, ready to be shaped to replace the deteriorated original one. The original planking was saved, with the exception of the garboards and the sheer-strakes. Her deadwood and stem will remain, but the plank keel and all floor timbers will be replaced. The interior, too, will be rebuilt, replicating the original configuration. The boat is expected to be ready to sail in time for her centennial next year." (Source: Jackson, Tom. "Currents." WoodenBoat #247, November/December 2015, p. 18.)

"N/A"

Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #816s Sculpin [Squid] even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Squid (HMCo-made index card)
• Squid (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: Squid
Type: J & M
Length: 16'
Owner: Remington, F.

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

• Squid
• 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: Squid
Type: 16' J & M
Owner: F. Remington
Row No.: 654

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.: 0816
Name: Squid
LW: 16'
B: 7' 1"
D: 3' 1"
Rig: J & M
K: y
Ballast: Lead
Amount: 925.00
Last Name: Remington
First Name: 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.

"Provenance, Herreshoff Fish #816.
Herreshoff Builders Records, April 21, 1916. #816 Squid for F. Remington.
She was the 23rd Fish boat built for SCYC, the last of the 2nd batch, delivered in April 1916.
The following information is copied from research by Rick Meyer in August of 1991.
1917 - 1921 Franklin Remington, renamed Sculpin. SCYC.
1921 - 1926 Nelson B. Burr
1926 - 1930 Parkman P. Howe, Mattapoisett, MA. Sail # 22. Converted to marconi rig in 1930.
1932 - 1937 John Foster Dulles, Cold Spring Harbor, NY. Sail #15.
1937 - 1950 German H. H. Emory, Southport, CT, moved to Brooklin, ME renamed West Wind.
1950 - 19?? R. Keith Kane [Wickford, RI and New York City], Narragansett Bay.
19?? - 1968 Mystic Seaport.
1968 - 1979 Kenneth Cook, converted for cruising.
1979 - 1981 Robert Nelson.
1981 - 2009 Peter Carlin.
Quoted from Peter Carlin: 'I have discovered in my files a copy of the signed bill of sale transferring ownership of the Fish Class Sloop Westwind on October 15, 1968 to Kenneth Cook from the Marine Historical Association [precursor of Mystic Seaport Museum] of Mystic Ct.
Kenneth Cook sold Westwind to Robert W. Nelson in July 1979 who kept it at Brown Boat in Stratford, Ct.
Bob Nelson sold Westwind to me on October 4, 1981. I kept Westwind at the Housatonic Boat Club in Stratford in the summer and at Brown Boat in the winter until October 20, 1992 when I had it delivered to my home at 525 Prayer Spring Rd. Stratford, Ct. because it was no longer seaworthy. It is still at this address in a covered tent.
In 1981 I contacted Mrs. Virginia C. Jones at Mystic to see if she could locate the Deed of Gift transferring the Westwind to Mystic but she was unable to locate that document.' " (Source: Brainerd, Alec. [Private Email to Claas van der Linde.] January 28, 2010.)

"The following articles (and many more) contain some regatta news about Sculpin:
1917/08/19 New York Times, p. S4
1917/09/04 New York Tribune, p. 9
1917/09/16 New York Times, p. S6
1919/08/17 New York Tribune, p. 18
1920/06/06 New York Times, p. 94
1920/08/08 New York Times, p. 23
1920/08/22 New York Times, p. 16
1920/09/07 New York Times, p. 23
1920/09/19 New York Tribune, p. 21
1921/06/26 New York Tribune, p. 21
1921/09/03 New York Tribune, p. 8
1923/08/12 New York Times, p. 25
1923/09/23 New York Times, p. 20
1924/07/05 New York Times, p. 11
1925/06/14 New York Times, p. S
1932/09/04 New York Times, p. S3
1933/09/04 New York Times, p. 15." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 29, 2010.)

"The HMCo-made vessel index card in the Hart Nautical Collections states that this boat was built on speculation ('for stock') as Squid Breeze by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. It was 'sold 9/18/16 to F. Remington' and presumably immediately renamed Sculpin. Note that at the same time that the Fish class was established at the Seawanhaka Yacht Club, another (non-Herreshoff) Fish Class with similar 'fishy' names was established at the Corinthian Yacht Club in Marblehead which may have lead Remington to forego the name Squid for Sculpin which had not been taken yet at Marblehead. Note that there is also confusion regarding #799s Grunt / Squid." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 1, 2010.)

"Note that in 1947 Franklin Remington owned the Fish class #821s Tuna as per the 1947 Lloyd's Register." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 27, 2014.)

"Sail. no. 22 in 1923 as per a Long Island Sound Yacht Racing Association sail number summary in The Rudder, July 1923, p. 66." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 18, 2015.)

"Thoroughly restored by Artisan Boatworks in 2015/2016. Originally built with a gaff rig, converted in (ca?) 1930 to marconi (apparently by HMCo), Sculpin continued to carry her old marconi rig after the restoration. Ballast keel, deadwood, rudder, tiller, mast and planking could be retained. Sheer strakes, garboards, plan keel, all frames, floors, transom, sheer clamps, deck frame, and all fastenings were renewed. Decked with plywood under canvas." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 1, 2016.)

"Sculpin's date of delivery is presumed to be the date of her sale to F. Remington by the HMCo as per her vessel index card held by the Hart Nautical Collections at M.I.T." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. November 14, 2015.)

"Built in 150 days (contract to delivered; equivalent to $6/day, 20 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.)

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