HMCo #1017s [Newport 15 for Lanier]

"Also in 1899, the Buzzards Bay Fifteen Footers started, first with an order of seven, but augmented to seventeen. This class has been added to for thirty-one years, so there have been about eighty 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. 67.)

"It is hereby agreed by and between the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company of Bristol, Rhode Island, party of the first part, and Mrs. George T. Walker of Marion, Massachusetts, party of the second part, that the party of the first part will sell the party of the second part one Herreshoff Buzzards Bay used Fifteen Footer, built in 1928 on contract #1017; same to be painted one coat on the bottom, and top-sides, and deck, and varnish one coat on spars and bright work and to be launched and rigged and equipped as regularly furnished with a new boat and the name changed to 'Kiki'.
The boat to be ready for delivery in the water at Bristol, Rhode Island on or about July 3rd, 1933. ..." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. [Sales Contract for #1017 Kiki.] Bristol, RI, no date [1933].)

"[Item Description:] Spreadsheet listing original contracts (from 1923 to 1940) by HMCo in the collection of HMM (apparently from the gift of Everett Pearson). Listed boats are: #380p, #381p, #388p, #389p, #391p, #392p, #393p, #395p, #886s, #933s, #934s, #954s, #955s, #962s, #983s, #999s, #1002s, #1017s, #1054s, #1055s, #1057s, #1074s, #1078s, #1122s, #1125s, #1130s, #1131s, #1147s, #1152s, #1153s, #1154s, #1156s, #1157s, #1164s, #1170s, #1173s, #1174s, #1175s, #1175s, #1176s, #1177s, #1179s, #1180s, #1191s, #1192s, #1193s, #1195s, #1196s, #1198s, #1199s, #1200s, #1201s, #1202s, #1203s, #1206s, #1207s, #1208s, #1209s, #1210s, #1211s, #1212s, #1213s, #1214s, #1215s, #1216s, #1217s, #1218s, #1219s, #1220s, #1222s, #1224s, #1236s, #1226s, #1227s, #1228s, #1230s, #1232s, #1234s, #1237s, #1238s, #1240s, #1241s, #1243s, #1244s, #1245s, #1246s, #1247s, #1248s, #1249s, #1250s, #1251s, #1252s, #1253s, #1254s, #1255s, #1256s, #1257s, #1258s, #1259s, #1260s, #1261s, #1262s, #1263s, #1264s, #1265s, #1274s, #1275s, #1277s, #1279s, #1280s, #1281s, #1282s, #1283s, #1284s, #1285s, #1286s, #1287s, #1302s, #1303s, #1315s, #1508s." (Source: Rickson, Norene (creator). Table. Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection Item LIB_4220. HMM Library Rare Books Room (HMCo Contracts), Folder [no #]. No date (2010s ?).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #1017s [Newport 15 for Lanier] even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Cheever, David. "The Herreshoff Fifteens." The Log of Mystic Seaport, v. 24, No. 2., Summer 1972, p. 38-44. (106 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Short class history, detailed vessel description and appreciation and a thrilling account of a typical race of Buzzards Bay 15 at the Beverly Yacht Club. Special focus on #554s Fiddler ex-Nora, now in the collection of Mystic Seaport Museum.
• Brainerd, Alec with Bernard H. Gustin and Steven K. Nagy. "The Herreshoff 15 is Alive and Well." In: Herreshoff Marine Museum (Publisher). Proceedings. The Classic Yacht Symposium 2010. Bristol, R.I. 2010. (5,834 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Copyright holder: Alec Brainerd, Bernard H. Gustin, Steven K. Nagy / Herreshoff Marine Museum. Class history, construction and restoration comments, building and sailing a replica, detailed class register (including replicas). Photos, drawings.
• van der Linde, Claas. "Herreshoff 15-Footers: Building Dates and Model Variations." December 7, 2021. (380 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission. Copyright holder: Claas van der Linde. Tabular summary of Herreshoff 15-footer construction dates and model variations. Together with information of BB15 sail numbers, boat names and boat owners from various year books of the Beverly Yacht Club.
• Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. [Contract for #1017s, a Newport 15.] Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection. Bristol, RI, 1933. (644 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Copyright holder: Herreshoff Marine Museum. Sales contract of a used Newport 15 to Mrs. George T. Walker, the boat to be named Kiki. Vessel description, scantlings, payment terms, delivery date.

• NP15 (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.

Year: 1928
E/P/S: S
No.: 1017
OA: 24' 0"
LW: 15' 0"
B: 5' 0" [sic, i.e. 5'10"]
D: 2' 6"
Rig: J & M
K: Y
CB: Y
Amount: 2100.00
Notes Constr. Record: Newport 15 Footer. 1016 Class. "Lanier" sold to Elaine Walker.?

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.

"Newport 15s were the same as Buzzards Bay 15s, except for a keel that had been deepened by 6 inches for a draft of 2' 9" with centerboard up." (Source: Nagy, Steve. June 1, 2008.)

"An original contract in the collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum for the resale of this boat to Mrs George T. Walker confirms that this boat was built in 1928 but does not provide specific dates. The contract is undated but is probably July 1933 given that it specifies delivery of a 'used Fifteen Footer' 'on or about July 3rd, 1933'. The Construction Record states that this boat was 'insured from June 26' which, given the custom of HMCo to insure when building commenced, suggests that it was set up around this day. This still leaves open if this was in 1926 (which is suggested by the sequence of records in the Construction Record) or in 1928 (as stated by HMCo in the contract). It appears possible or even likely that this boat was built in 1926 and then remained unsold until 1928 when it was sold for a first time as new to an unknown customer." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 15, 2015.)

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