HMCo #1129s Surprise

"... 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.)

"1943. ... Alden Walls bought the Herreshoff S boat Nina [#1151s] from Frank Orr at West Hartford. Russ Boss, who had been looking for an auxiliary cruiser, gave the idea up and bought Reginald Reynolds' Argument [#964s] to race against Nina. It started an S boat epidemic and at the end of the season there were eight S boats in the class. Frank Hodges bought the Quissetta [#1080s] at Marion, and called her Whistler. J. W. Corr at East Greenwich bought the Naut [#970s] at Marion and named her Red Jacket. Steve Kindelan bought the Surprise [#1129s] from Reginald Lanier at Newport. Leo McDevitt bought the Mig [sic, #858s] from E. Stuart Peck of New York and named her Colleen. Harold Sawyer bought the Dilemma [#1022s] from H. B. B. Ripley of New York and Newport, making seven active boats, and Roberts Parsons bought the Volante [#1019s] but left her at Marblehead to wait for his son, Sam, to get home from the service. ..." (Source: Davis, Jeff. Yachting in Narragansett Bay. Providence, 1946, p. 116.)

"David H. Atwater, Jr., Barrington, R.I. reports the sale of the 27-foot Herreshoff S Class sloop Surprise owned by Prescott W.N. Gustafson, Rumford, R.I., to J.R. White, Jr., of Bristol, R.I." (Source: Anon. "Yacht Broker News." MotorBoating, February 1951, p. 120.)

"In 1930 the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. launched the S-boat SURPRISE as hull No. 1129. Fred and Nancy Roy currently own her, and they recently worked with Jens Lange of Baltic Boat Works in Newport, Rhode Island, to restore SURPRISE. Among other things, they replaced her keel, 14 frames, floor timbers, garboards, and all her fastenings. They also installed a single-point lifting eye, seen in use here, to minimize stress on the hull as she is moved to and from the water." (Source: Anon. "Launchings." WoodenBoat #254, January / February 2017, p. 89.)

• 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.

• Surprise (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: Surprise
Type: J & M
Length: 20'6"
Owner: Lanier, R. B.

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

Name: Surprise
Type: "S" boat
Owner: R. B. Lanier
Row No.: 833

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: Jan.
Day: 06
Year: 1930
E/P/S: S
No.: 1129
Name: Surprise
OA: 27.5
LW: 20.5
B: 7' 2"
D: 4' 9"
Rig: J & M
K: y
Ballast: Lead
Amount: 4100.00
Notes Constr. Record: S Boat. Teak fin. June/2/30. Sailed 7/10/30. Sold by Mr. Lanier to Steve Rindelan Providence 8/27/43 for $1000
Notes Bray: S#79 (so annotated in O.A. field)
Last Name: Lanier
First Name: R. B.

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.

"Sail number 5." (Source: Upham, Kenneth B. History and Register of the S-Boat. No place, 1994, p. 96.)

"Built in 185 days (contract to delivered; equivalent to $22/day, 33 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.