HMCo #1036s [S-Class for A. W. T. Bottomley]

"... 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.)

"Octave LeClair left this morning in his motorboat for New York towing four of the Herreshoff class S boats [#1035s, #1036s, #1037s, #1076s]. These will be loaded onto the deck of an American-Hawaiian liner and taken to Honolulu." (Source: Anon. "Bristol and Vicinity." Bristol Phoenix, August 10, 1928, p. 2.)

"1928. ... In August, Herreshoff had four S boats [#1035s, #1036s, #1037s, #1076s] towed to New York to be put aboard a steamer bound for Hawaii. They were for members of the Pearl Harbor Yacht Club at Honolulu. ..." (Source: Davis, Jeff. Yachting in Narragansett Bay. Providence, 1946, p. 39.)

• 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.

Month: Aug
Day: 04
Year: 1928
E/P/S: S
No.: 1036
OA: 27' 6"
LW: 20' 6"
B: 7' 0"
D: 4' 9"
Amount: 4100.00
Notes Constr. Record: P. C. Wilson Order. 996 Class #12. Mahogany..
Last Name: Bottomley
First Name: A. W. T.

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.

"Towed to New York. By steamer to Hawai. Pearl Harbor YC." (Source: Upham, Kenneth. History and Register of the S Boat. Privately printed, no place, 1994.)

"As per the Construction Record the contract for this boat was recorded on August 4, 1928 and as per a note in the Bristol Phoenix of August 10, 1928 they were towed to New York on that day for shipment to Honolulu. Note, however, that the Construction Record also shows that it had been insured already from September 15, 1926 on. HMCo usually insured boats when construction began and we may thus assume that the day when the boat was insured was very close to when it was set up, i.e. when construction began. The Construction Record also notes 'R.F.H. 1/24/27' which apparently signifies the date when Rudolf F. Haffenreffer inspected the finished boat. This boat was thus built on speculation and sold only one-and-a-half years after it had been completed." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. September 24, 2019.)

"Built in 131 days (order to build to finished; equivalent to $31/day, 46 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 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.