HMCo #951s No. 14

"N. G. Herreshoff "Fair Haven" Cocoanut Grove, Florida April 16, 1925. {1925/04/16} Dear Francis, ... The shop built a class of 12 - 14 ft- sailing skiffs for the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club. This winter (+ spring). and they have prooved a great success -- being safe fast and able and handle beautifully. They are ballasted and have an air - tight compartment. & c.b. [centerboard] - so they only draw 12". - a necessity here." (Source: Mystic Seaport Museum, L. Francis Herreshoff Collection, Box 17, Folder 1: Letter from N. G. Herreshoff to L. F. Herreshoff.)

"... Captain Nat was now getting too old to do much work, but he did design a class of small sailboats for the shallow waters of Florida." (Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. The Wizard of Bristol. The Life and Achievements of Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, together with An Account of Some of the Yachts he Designed. New York, 1953, p. 312.)

"Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, Bristol, Rhode Island.
May 15th, 1925.
Mr. N. G. Herreshoff, 'Fair Haven', Coconut Grove, Florida.
Dear Mr. Nat:
Was very glad indeed to get your letter of the 11th, this morning and to learn that you will come home soon.
I wrote to Mr. Burbank several weeks ago that we had received assurance that the Clyde Line would take the two skiffs [apparently the Biscayne Bay 14s #950s No. 13 and #951s No. 14] through Boston and asked him for permission to ship them that way. I have not heard from him, but had a letter yesterday asking if we could now make arrangements to ship the boats.
I have written the Clyde Line at New York asking them if they will now take them through New York, and if so will get them away immediately. If not I will take up the matter of shipping from Boston.
I am sorry about your mail; we also have received a good deal of broken package mail recently. I will see that the balance of your mail is securely packed.
Thank, you for the pictures of the 'PLEASURE' [#907s]. She strikes me as being about the ideal boat for two people to sail in.
Looking forward to seeing you at home soon, I am
Very Truly Yours, [Tom Brightman]." (Source: Brightman, Thomas P. [Letter to N. G. Herreshoff.] Herreshoff Marine Museum Correspondence, Folder 69 (new). Access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff. May 15, 1925.)

"[Item Description:] HMCo Plan HH.5.10540 (130). Blueprint sailplan with midship section and plan view titled '14ft Sailing Skiff [Biscayne Bay 14 Class: #924s, #925s, #926s, #927s, #928s, #929s, #935s, #936s, #937s, #938s, #946s, #947s, #950s, #951s]'. This blueprint was made for NGH by HMCo on March 14, 1925 as per the original plan at MIT. On verso pencil note '14ft skiffs'." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. (creator). Blueprint. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Acc. 2004.0001.0044. WRDT08, Folder 5, formerly MRDE09. 1924-10-31.)
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"[Item Transcription:] Was very glad indeed to get your letter of the 11th, this morning and to learn that you will come home soon.
I wrote to Mr. Burbank several weeks ago that we had received assurance that the Clyde Line would take the two skiffs [apparently the Biscayne Bay 14s #950s No. 13 and #951s No. 14] through Boston and asked him for permission to ship them that way. I have not heard from him, but had a letter yesterday asking if we could now make arrangements to ship the boats.
I have written the Clyde Line at New York asking them if they will now take them through New York, and if so will get them away immediately. If not I will take up the matter of shipping from Boston.
I am sorry about your mail; we also have received a good deal of broken package mail recently. I will see that the balance of your mail is securely packed.
Thank, you for the pictures of the 'PLEASURE' [#907s]. She strikes me as being about the ideal boat for two people to sail in.
Looking forward to seeing you at home soon, I am ... [Incl envelope to Coconut Grove, FL.]" (Source: Brightman, Thomas. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_23560. Correspondence, Folder 69. 1926-05-15.)
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"[Item Transcription:] Yes, I know I am behind in my letters both to you and other friends but things are somewhat strenuous hereabouts the steady noise of dredges night & day and notwithstanding that the various parties interested are supposed to have their representatives and engineers on the job I find plenty of loose work going on that keeps me busy. Have just been phoning our attys that a sub contractor is piling up spillway silt so near the edge of the bulkhead that the first rain will wash half of it back into the Bay ans as I look out my window a string of pipes & pontoons is foul of SUNSET's mooring buoy. She in in the new internaste[?] east basin and can't get her out for another week.
Will have to make a drag line sounding of our whole frontage soon as the work stops in order to locate shoals made by pipe connection breaks. There being so little natural depth that unless the pump is stopped at once an island appears. Still do not now of any provision for a channel to the Bay proper. Expecting Swetland back this week and will very likely know more about the plans. The Camp fill is about done (half done). Our [marine] R[ail] W[ay] continues to work finely. Have attached nipples for grease gun lubrication and the center shaft on hoist is ready to attach and will probably rig up the electric motor. Find it still hard to make the wire rope ride the drum properly. Patty & Bill have been overhauling their [Biscayne Bay] 14 fters. These boats are now cared for (rigging, sails, etc.) by the parties sailing them. No more swapping. And good results are at once apparent. Patty asks for information about the over due boats [apparently #950s No. 13 and #951s No. 14] leaving[?] customs[?], so I think, for them. Have been sort of on the shelf for the past several days with supposed sciatica. Kept me in the house over day. First experience with the darn thing since I was a boy. Think I acknowledged your description of the obstacle racing on RESOLUTE's [#725s] deck. We have been having quite a bit of financial excitement in the closing of several 'chain' banks of which our Coconut Grove one was a member. A new one was immediately organized to take its place & act as receiver in order to protect the depositors. Not a bad affair and if handled right will pay in full. The trouble was not in Fla. loans at all, but in having dumped on them a lot of doubtful Ga. farming paper.
Regards to all & sincerely ..." (Source: Munroe, R.M. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_40990. Correspondence, Folder 85, formerly 102. 1926-07-10.)
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"[Item Transcription:] [On R.M. Munroe, Coconut Grove, Florida ' stationery:] Your last letter of the 15th re[ceive]d and should have been answered sooner by reason of your enquiry about the Bank closing, but each day we thought to have possibly better news to report to so far it is apparently not very serious. A statement should be due soon. It has put lots of folks to great inconvenience anyway. The home affairs are reported as being in good condition. being one of a chain bank seems [to have] caused the trouble. An unscrupulous party in the management dumped a lot of Georgia farming paper into a number of these chain banks and [these] were apparently not noticed by the various Directorates til too late. This paper is not considered valueless by any means as this season's crops are considered good but such security is not looked upon with favor much outside of the locality where issued & by conservative bankers generally. Therefore as a cautionary measure it was thought best to close the doors for a conference. At this point some of our most interested citizens made a move to take over this Coconut Grove Bank with the aid of the Miami Trust Nat. and the Bank of Bay Biscayne and continue business. However, they found this impractical from legal & other standpoints and then started a new bank of 150000 capital all subscribed for in a few days and with assurance of being made receivers of the closed concern and thus conserving matters in the best manner for all concerned. There has been no excitement in any counter moves whatever so everyone is taking the affair as they should. Personally I had only a few dollars involved but subscribed to the stock of the new bank as a matter of community welfare. Coral Gables has but trough a new loan of $110 000 000 & claims no debt to offset it. We have 'TALLAHASSEE' Hugh Matheson's ketch, 3 1/2ft D[raft]. Put her on the cradle with tide 3in below our M.H.W. mark. Barrows is busy over her & the bulk heads in the [Biscayne Bay] 14 fters. The two new ones [possibly #950s No. 13 and #951s No. 14] arrived yesterday.
All clear of the dredge except pipe & pontoons moored to S.E. face of Camp bulkhead. They left our sailing bottom pretty ragged in places so that I've had to stake it but have put the U.S. Engineers on to it to jack up the D.Co. into removing the obstructions. We have more depth but more intricate[?] out to the N.Y.Y.C. flag and no change out beyond. By way of Dinner Key however, 5ft can be carried at low water. I expect Swetland to do something about this when he comes. Squalls for two weeks past & today a steady rain with fresh breeze S by W. as[?] promised a change by tomorrow. 'PLEASURE' [#907s] reported O.K. by Barrows last Sunday. Wirth at last reports still in Nantucket.
Regards to all ... [No year. Though filed with other 1925 Munroe correspondence, discussuion of local banking troubles and references to responses by NGH indicate this letter to have been written in 1926.]" (Source: Munroe, R.M. Letter to N.G. Herreshoff. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_40640. Correspondence, Folder 84, formerly 102. (1926 ?)-07-22.)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled table titled '[Time] Allowances of A-Fl [Adirondack-Florida] School Races, Spring 1929'. With tabulated data for 'Name', 'Length o.a', 'Length w.l., with crew', 'Mean length', 'Sal area', 'Rating Boston Y.C. Rule', 'Rating Seawanhaka Rule' and various allowance scenarios for four boats: '14 footers [Biscayne Bay 14 Class: #924s, #925s, #926s, #927s, #928s, #929s, #935s, #936s, #937s, #938s, #946s, #947s, #950s, #951s]', 'Development Class [probably Atkin-designed Suicide boats]', 'Star Class' and 'WATER LILY [#982s]'. With calculations. On both sides of envelope from Cruising Club of America to NGH in Bristol that had been forwarded to him to Coconut Grove, FL, postmarked Mar[ch] 2 [1929]." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Table. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE15_01310. Folder [no #]. 1929-03.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #951s No. 14 even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Biscayne Bay 14 (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.

Type: J & M
Length: 14'
Owner: Biscayne Bay Yacht Club

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

• No10 No11 No12 No13 No14 Biscayne Bay 14
• 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.

Year: 1925
E/P/S: S
No.: 0951
Name: No. 14
LW: 14'
Rig: J & M
CB: y
Amount: 430.00
Last Name: Biscayne Bay Y.C.

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.

"Dimensions from construction plan 76-145." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. December 11, 2014.)

"The BB14s did not have a sail track. Instead, the mainsail was bent with a spiraling lace line to the mast below shroud attachment. Above, it was set free flying with the halyard passing through a hole at the top of the mast." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 18, 2015.)

"Contract date and month were blank in the construction record. Surrounding dates in the construction record suggest a contract date of between March & September 1925. A May 15, 1926 letter by HMCo superintendent Tom Brightman to NGH suggests that #950s No. 13 and #951s No. 14 were ready for shipment to Florida at the time of writing the letter." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 14, 2017.)

"[Sail area 125sqft.]" (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. Penciled table titled '[Time] Allowances of A-Fl [Adirondack-Florida] School Races, Spring 1929'. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE15_01310. Ca. 1929-03.)

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