HMCo #965s Avocet

"... in some ways the most interesting product of 1919 was the one-design class of 'S' boats, which came out early that spring.
While there were few of them built the first year, perhaps twenty, the company continued building them off and on for the next eight or nine years so that eventually there were perhaps a hundred and fifty or more of them, and besides being good little cruisers they have furnished active racing up to the present time in widely separated districts. If I remember right these little yachts cost less than two thousand dollars the first few years, so they have been a good investment for some owners for they were built well enough to last for years if handled carefully. Perhaps the 'S' boats would even have been more popular if they had been a little better looking but that defect should not be wholly blamed on Captain Nat for it was the request of the original sponsors of the class that they have short overhangs and full bows and sterns. This feature has made them rather queer-looking Universal Rule boats, and consequently they are not particularly fast for their rating. But there have been few all-around better boats for afternoon sailing, cruising, and racing, and perhaps also the last one-design class that was somewhat comfortable." (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. 306.)

"[Article on S-boat racing featuring Coquina.]" (Source: Herreshoff, Halsey. "Thoughts On Racing An S Boat." Yachting, Volume 125, 1969, p. 189 and p. 42.)

• Benfield, James W. "Reviving the 'S' Class." Yachting, May 1945, p. 56-57, 104. (3,516 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. How the Western Long Island Sound S-class fleet was built with a deliberate strategy.
• Upham, Kenneth B. History and Register of the S-Boat. Privately printed, no place, 1994. (13,553 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission. The definitive source of info on the S-class, but unfortunately current only up to its date of publication in 1994. History of the class and its various fleets, technical comments, detailed vessel-by-vessel provenance, owner and name indices.
• Bray, Maynard and Claas van der Linde. "The Origins of the S-Boat. A Remarkable Herreshoff One-Design." Wooden Boat #267, March/April 2019, p. 74-79. (1,201 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. A short history of how the S-Class came about, including new insights from recent research of original Herreshoff documents. With photos and reproductions of the original construction and sail plans.
• Silken, Alan (text). Silken, Cory (photos). "Setting Sail in America. The Remarkable Story of Herreshoff S Class Sailboats." Seapoint Books, Brooklin, ME.
  Appreciation of the S-Class, history of the design and local fleets, portraits of surviving S-boats and a catalogue of all S-boats
• Silken, Alan (text). Silken, Cory (photos). "A Century of S-Boats. The Enduring Appeal of a Classic Herreshoff One-Design." Wooden Boat #267, March/April 2019, p. 80-85. (1,510 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Appreciation of the S-Class and a history of the fleets in Narragansett Bay, Quisset and Long Island and a summary of the leading S-boat restorers.
• van der Linde, Claas. [No title. Note about S-Class Weight Discrepancies.] March 11, 2022. (11 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission. Copyright holder: Claas van der Linde. Note about discrepancies in published and unpublished sources of displacement of S-class boats and why 6030lbs is currently assumed to be the correct weight.

• Avocet (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: Avocet
Type: J & M
Length: 20'6"
Owner: Catherwood, D. B. C.

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

• Avocet
• 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: Avocet
Type: 20' 6" J & M
Owner: D. B. C. Catherwood
Row No.: 66

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.

"Coquina ex-Avocet #965s was owned by Halsey Herreshoff in the 1960s and moored in Marblehead when he was studying at M.I.T. In 1960, during Hurricane Donna, she broke her mooring, went on the rocks and was severely damaged, neccessitating her restoration in Bristol by Halsey Herreshoff and his father, A. Sidney deW. Herreshoff. Coquina was sold to Briggs S. Cunningham in San Diego who later donated her back to the Herreshoff Marine Museum." (Source: van der Linde, Claas (based on info written on back of envelope containing photo of Coquina on the rocks in 1960). November 15, 2008.)

"Note that Kenneth B. Upham, in his 1994 "History and Register of the S Boats" is unable to assign a HMCo hull number to Coquina. He notes her to have been from the #996 class and lists her as "Puffin" in Marblehead in 1950, having previously been part of the Sorrento fleet." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. November 15, 2008.)

"Sail number 6." (Source: Upham, Kenneth B. History and Register of the S-Boat. No place, 1994, p. 81.)

"[Coquina, #965s, as per recently located builder's plate.]" (Source: Langerman, Adam. Post to Herreshoff Forum on November 19, 2010, http://www.herreshoffregistry.org/forum/index.php?topic=202.45, retrieved November 20, 2010.)

"Restored in 2010 in Bristol, RI under the guidance of Adam Langerman and Halsey Herreshoff." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. November 20, 2010.)

"Donated by Briggs S. Cunningham to the Herreshoff Marine Museum." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 8, 2012.)

"Note that another S-boat competes for hull number #965s. The Herreshoff Registry lists this boat as 9032. It's current name is Silhouette and its history can also be traced back to the 1920s. Silhouette also has a builder's plate, but it is unclear if this was supplied during its 2005/2006 restoration at IYRS. Silhouette was owned in 2013 by Millard F. Coffin and she was moored in Patten Bay, Surry, ME in the summer of 2013." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 1, 2015.)

"A photo showing two wrecked S-boats on a breakwater was identified by Halsey Herreshoff in a communication to Adam Langerman on September 22, 2009 as showing at right the wreck of #965s Coquina ex-Avocet in Marblehead in 1960 during Hurricane Donna. Coquina's owner, Halsey Herreshoff, was said to stand at her stern wearing a black hat. His uncle, L. Francis Herreshoff, appeared in the foreground center. He was about to console his nephew by telling him not to worry, N. G. Herreshoff designed many fine craft, but the S-boat was not one of them. The story is certainly true, but apparently not shown by this photo because another copy of it in the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum, Samuel Chamberlain Photograph Negatives Collection, Chamberlain_006437 (see https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/7653cp65f) proves that this photo cannot have been taken in 1960 as it was published as early as 1944 in a publication named 'Old Marblehead: A Camera Impression by Samuel Chamberlain" on page 85. Instead, the photo quite certainly shows the situation after the storm of September 18, 1936 and was taken on September 19, 1936 in Marblehead after the two S-Boats Gale (ex-Rocket #971s, at left) and Curlew (ex-Alpha #1126s, at right) had stranded on the breakwater (Gale having been subsequently rebuilt and Curlew having been a total loss)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. June 23, 2024.)

"Sail area approximately 425 square feet, measured." (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.)

"See note about about weight discrepancies in published and unpublished sources under 'Further Reading' heading." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 11, 2022.)

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