HMCo #900s Iris [Isis]

"Feb[ruary] 18, 1924
6 Meter Boat for W.A.W. Stewart.
Length OA [blank]
Beam 7'-1/2"
Draft 5'-1 1/2"
Scale of model 3/4" = 1'.
Sheer is at upper side of deck.
Deck 1/2" thick.
Planking 11/16" thick.
Timbers molded 13/16" at head, increasing 1/16" per ft.
Rabbet at middle part of boat is about 7/8 above bottom of keel.
Frame spaces 7"." (Source: Herreshoff, A. Sidney DeW.? [Penciled note in Offset Booklet HH.4.188.] Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

"... The boat building at Herreshoffs for Commodore W. A. W. Stewart of the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club will be called Iris. ..." (Source: Anon. "Elder Announces Star Class Dates." New York Times, April 27, 1924, p. S4.)

"The six-metre boat Isis, designed by Sidney Herreshoff, and built at the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company's boatshops this winter, for W A W Stewart, of New York, was launched on Saturday [May 3, 1924] and given a trial spin in the harbor on Sunday. The boat is 30 feet over all 22 feet on the waterline, seven feet beam and draws five feet and one inch. She will soon be taken to Long Island Sound, where she will enter the elimination races to pick a name to race the English six-meter boats next September." (Source: Anon. "Bristol and Vicinity." Bristol Phoenix, May 6, 1924, p. 2.)

"... The six-meter yacht Isis [sic] was launched at Herreshoff's Saturday, May 3 [1924], and tried out that afternoon under sail. This racer was designed by Sidney Herreshoff and built for W. A. W. Stewart of the Seawanhaka-Corinthian Yacht Club. Although no boat was available for comparison of speed Tom Brightman, manager of the Herreshoff yard, who was at the stick, was very well satisfied with the Isis' performance. ..." (Source: Anon. "Notes From The Week's Log." Boston Globe, May 11, 1924, p. 72.)

"The six-meter yacht Iris, built last year to try for a place on the British-American Cup team, was sold yesterday by Commodore W. A. W. Stewart of the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club to Madison Haythe of the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club, who will race the yacht during the coming season. The brokers in the transaction were R. M. Haddock & Co., 50 East Forty-second Street. Iris was built by Herreshoff, and although she is believed to be an excellent racing craft, met very strong competition in the trial races last August, and did not get a place on the American team. ..." (Source: Anon. "6-Meter Yacht Iris Is Sold To Haythe. Commodore Stewart Disposes of Craft to Manhasset Bay Club Member." New York Times, May 26, 1925, p. 28.)

"[Item Description:] Handwritten table "Estimate of Weights of 6-Meter Boat No. 900" [#900s IRIS]." (Source: MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.016. Table. Box HAFH.6.1B, Folder Hull No. 900s IRIS. No date (1924).)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled pantograph hull sections titled '6-Meter Boat. #900 [IRIS]. Jan[uary] 31, 1924'. With calculations arriving at a displacement of 120.1cuft = 7690[lbs]." (Source: Herreshoff, A. Sidney deW. (?) (creator). Pantograph Hull Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_03500. Folder [no #]. 1924-01-31.)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled pantograph lead sections titled 'Lead for #900 [IRIS]. 6-Meter boat. Scale 2in = 1ft. March 1, 1924'. With notes and several sets of calculations, concluding with required lead of 4201lbs. The drawing shows 'lead added May 3, 1924'." (Source: Herreshoff, A. Sidney deW. (?) (creator). Pantograph Lead Sections. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE04_03700. Folder [no #]. 1924-03-01.)
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"[Item Description:] Regarding sale of #378p HELIANTHUS III to Mr. Peters, would have liked to see the 6mR boat [#900s IRIS]." (Source: Emmons, Robert W. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_16360. Correspondence, Folder 43, formerly 125. 1924-05-10.)
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"[Item Description:] Handwritten notebook titled on outer cover 'Droughting Room. Blue Prints Record' providing a list of drawings with information in columns titled 'Issued To', 'For Job', 'Date', 'Date Returned', '[Date] Destroyed', and 'Remarks'. Vessels mentioned are #1266s BELISARIUS, #1267 FROSTFISH, #395p Owner Launch for St.Y. VIKING, #1265s NITRAMON, #1204s SILVERHEELS, #1233s RAINBOW, #1276s PRIM, #1275s MITENA, #907s PLEASURE, #931s NASSAU, #711s VENTURA, #900s IRIS, #982s WATER LILY, #891s WILDFIRE, #1147s WEETAMOE, #954s MARY ROSE, #880s JOSEPHINE, #788s MANATEE, #1146s ENTERPRISE, #1212s TRONDA, #1282s 12 1/2 for H. V. Reed, #1302s Amphicraft for N. F. Ayer, #1304s Amphicraft for Charles A. Welch, #1286s 12 1/2 for Mr. Maitland Alexander, #1311s Amphicraft for Dr. Seth M. Milliken, #1313s Dinghy for #663s RAMALLAH ex-ISTALENA, #1314s HMCo Yard Skiff, #408s PELICAN, #1315s BRENDA, #396p Power Tender for FONTINALIS, #397p Power Tender for FONTINALIS, #329p CAROLA, #1318s Sailing Dinghy for Henry S. Morgan; #1316s NOVA, #1319s Tech Dinghy, #1317s MANDOO II, #405p Surfboat, #1379s Fish Class for H. M. Lautmann (MERRY HELL), #1385s TINKER TOO, and #1384s AVANTI. 23 pages were used. Undated, the dates range from October 1934 to September 1936." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. (creator). Notebook. MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.106. Box HAFH.6.3B, Folder Blue Print Record Book. No date (1934-10 to 1936-09).)
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"[Item Description:] Modern envelope with black and white slides of several HMCo construction plans, including HMCo Plan HH.5.05579 (076-143) for #900s IRIS." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. (creator). Photograph. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE14_02640. Folder [no #]. No date.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #900s Iris [Isis] even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Iris (MIT Museum-made index card)
• Iris and P00900 P626 (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: Iris
Type: Marconi 6 Metre
Length: 6 Metre
Owner: Stewart, W. A. W.

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

• Iris
• Lone Star ex-Iris
• 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: Iris
Type: [N/A]
Owner: W. A. W. Stewart
Year: 1924
Row No.: 303

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: Feb.
Day: 24
Year: 1924
E/P/S: S
No.: 0900
Name: Iris
Rig: Marconi
K: y
Notes Constr. Record: Six metre.
Last Name: Stewart
First Name: W. A. W.

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.

"[See also:] Estimate of weights. In: Technical and Business Records pertaining to the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, Series VI, Folder HH.6.16 (Hull No. 900), Box HAFH.6.1B." (Source: Hasselbalch, Kurt and Frances Overcash and Angela Reddin: Guide to The Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection. Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass., 1997, p. 63-79.)

"a. Sail no.: US 25
b. Names: Lone Star, then Iris
c. Béchard register: later owner = M. Haythe" (Source: Carmody, Basil. Private email to Claas van der Linde. September 20, 2010.)

"Dimensions from 1925 Lloyd's Register." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 14, 2014.)

"[See also inlaid note titled '6-metter #900' with what appear to be estimates for hours to build, costs and weights for #900s Iris.]" (Source: Note inlaid in Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1924. Access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff. No date, ca. October 1924.)

"Built in 69 days (contract to launch; equivalent to 110 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

"Sail area 475 sq ft from 1925 Lloyd's Register." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 14, 2014.)

"Actual weight complete with equipment 7580 lbs." (Source: Anon (Herreshoff Manufacturing Company: A. S. deW. Herreshoff?). Construction plan 076-143, HH.5.5579, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum Cambridge, MA.)

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