HMCo #893s Comet Jr.

"... By the mid-1930s a number of sailors who were members of both Quissett and Woods Hole yacht clubs raced regularly in both clubs’ races. The 12 1/2s, or Buzzards Bay knockabouts, as they were called in Woods Hole, Seal [#1007s], Tunch [#?s, probably owned by Du Bois in 1935, still extant under this name in 2014], Viking [#1237s] and Coot [#893s?] sailed to Quissett. Conversely the Quissett 12 1/2s Cutlass [#1140s] and Shrimp [#749s] and the Quissett S boats sailed to Woods Hole. ..." (Source: Quissett Yacht Club (publ.). Glorious Good Times. The First Hundred Years of the Quissett Yacht Club. Quissett, 2012, p. 44.)

"[Item Description:] Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, Inc. Tentative Financial Statements for the Period from January 1, 1923 to June 27, 1923. Tentative Comparative Balance sheet as at June 27, 1923 and December 31, 1922. Tentative Statement of Profit and Loss for the Period of January 1, 1923 to June 27, 1923. Including detailed profitabilty statements for several contracts including #380p ESMONDA (C. Whitman), Watch Hill 15s (#880s JOSEPHINE, #881s MISS Q., #882s SHANENDOWA, #883s THISTLE, #884s FANTASY, #885s VIKING I, #886s ALERT, #887s PIXIE, #888s HOW COME, #889s ALTHEA, and #890s TOBASCO), #891s WILDFIRE (C.L. Harding), #892s GRAYLING, 12 1/2-footers #893s COMET Jr. and #894s WREN" (Source: Lybrand, Ross Bros. & Montgomery Accountants (creator). Financial Statement. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_50550. Subject Files, Folder [no #], formerly 124?. 1923-07-02.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #893s Comet Jr. even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• 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.

• Comet Jr and other 12pt5 class (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: Comet Jr.
Type: Knockabout
Length: 12'6"
Owner: Merriman, I. B.

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

Name: Comet Jr.
Type: 12 1/2-footer
Owner: I. B. Merriman
Row No.: 986

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.
Day: 26
Year: 1923
E/P/S: S
No.: 0893
Name: Comet Jr.
LW: 12 1/2
B: 5' 10"
D: 2' 5"
Rig: J & M
K: y
Ballast: Lead
Amount: 900.00
Last Name: Merriman
First Name: I. 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.

Hull No.: 893
Contract Date: 1923-04-26
Org. Name: Comet Jr.
Org. Owner: Isaac B. Merriman
Org. Rig: J&M
Mast Partner: hinged
Home Port: Lake Champlain
Current Name: Comet Jr.
Current Owner: Selby Turner
Owner Since: 1982
Sheer-strake: Oak

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.)

"[Toot. Owned since 1982.] The boat is kept on Isle La Motte Vermont and sailed on Lake Champlain. The builder's plate was stolen while the trailer was being repaired. The boat has never needed total restoration, though the transom has been replaced and decks recanvassed by a boat shop associated with the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum some 15 years ago. She is sailed regularly." (Source: http://www.herreshoffregistry.org/detail.php?hull=893, retrieved May 8, 2014.)

"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.)

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