HMCo #1166s Last Straw

"During these years the class that is usually spoken of as the Fishers Island thirty-one-footers was slowly developing, but as there were not many of them built at once and because there was some variation in them, I do not speak of them as a one-design class. The first of them were straight sailboats with a gaff rig but the later ones were usually auxiliary with leg-o'-mutton rig.
While these yachts were not first designed for racing they have often done well in some of the ocean races and are well-built little ships that have been particularly liked by their owners; and some were built up to about 1935." (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.)

"Charley Buysee's 44-foot cutter Last Straw, a Fishers Island Class, had both Vitesse and Apache well astern as the fleet moved across Saginaw Bay. Here Vitesse tacked well into the Bay while most of the fleet went out near, or beyond, the steamer channel which is directly on the course to Mackinac. Manitou also stayed in Saginaw Bay but Blitzen and Bangalore went more than ten miles to the east of the steamer course. ..." (Source: Anon. [Title?] Yachting, 1944, vol. 76, [p. 39?].)

"Last Straw, Charley Buysse's 44' Fisher Island, ran away from her 32 rivals to win the Kotcher Trophy in the first revival of the Old Club regatta since 1941. John Mulford, the Gray Marine Motor man, got the race going again. Skipper Buysse put his oldest son, Gene Buysse, in charge. Young Gene had Last Straw ahead of everything on the five mile dog-leg to windward and held a good lead on the 14-mile rach to the finish to trim Revelry, Vitesse, Soubrette, Blitzen, and Josephine III."(Source: Anon. [Ttile?] Yachting, 1949, vol. 186, [p. 110?].)

"Last Straw, Fisher Island Class sloop owned by C. H. Baker of the Detroit YC, captured the Merril B. Mills Trophy in the Toledo YC's race June 20-21 [1959]. ..." (Source: Anon. "Last Straw Wins Mills Trophy." Yachting, 1959, vol. ?, [p. 36?].)

"... Class championship trophies were awarded to Clarence Baker and Jerry Clements, Class A winners with the 44' sloop Last Straw; ..." (Source: Anon. [Ttile?] Yachting, 1959, vol. 105, [p. 131?].)

"Last Straw, the 44-foot Fisher's Island sloop, won her first over-all time prize in the cruising class under her new owners Bill Nagel, Ed Desmond, and Fred Stacey in GPYC's [Grosse Pointe Yacht Club] turnout." (Source: Anon. [Title?] The Skipper, 1961, vol. 21, [p. 36?].)

"Dick Jeffrey, former skipper of the Fisher Island sloop Last Straw and a Bayview YC Mackinac Race official, died in October. He was 61." (Source: Anon. [Title?] Yachting, 1969, vol. 126, [p. 168?].)

"... In the mid-thirties Concordia's brokerage business took a very rewarding spurt. This was directly due to the Herreshoff-designed class of Fishers Island Sound (F. I. S.) Thirty-one Footers. ... I had occasion to see some of the F. I. S. Thirty-ones under construction and to talk to Sidney Herreshoff, Captain Nat's oldest son, who was mainly responsible for their final form and layout. This came about partly because I had a longtime school and college friendship with Westcote Herreshoff Chesebrough, whose grandmother was Captain Nat's sister. Early on, Herry (or 'Cheese,' as many called him) had the misfortune to lose his mother and then his naval architect father, with the result that he was brought up by his Herreshoff grandmother and then a Herreshoff cousin Julia, both of whom lived in a fine old house close to the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company yard. This gave me the valuable opportunity to visit Bristol and see a bit more of the famous shipyard than would otherwise have been possible.
By the [19] thirties, the Herreshoff family no longer had any financial interest in the yard. (It had been acquired in World War I by a group of businessmen looking for wartime profits. However, the group lacked the experience and qualities that would have made such a venture viable in peacetime. Boatyards seem to take a very special type of management that often is a mystery to the conventional business brain.) As of 1924, Herreshoff Manufacturing Company went into liquidation and most of its assets were acquired at auction by the Haffenreffer brewing family. It was during the Haffenreffer period (Carl Haffenreffer in charge) that the dozen or so F. I. S. Thirty-ones were built.
The F. I. S. Thirty-ones were worthy grown-up sisters of the Newport Twenty-nine Footers and of Captain Nat's own 26-foot centerboard sloop Alerion [#718s]; something of the Herreshoff 12 1/2 and Fish Class showed in them as well. Most of all, they resembled the Newport Twenty-nine Footers, of which Horatio Hathaway's Mischief [#728s] of Padanaram was such an influential example during my upbringing. The F. I. S. Thirty-ones were just enough longer than the Newport Twenty-nines to include the luxury of a really comfortable main cabin with full headroom. Their bow and stern had slightly more overhang and their sternpost was more raked, giving the F. I. S. Thirty-one proportionately longer ends. For the most part, these refinements in model were to the good and seemed to give the boats improved possibilities for competitive racing performance.
The first F. I. S. Thirty-one [#1054s Cyrilla IV] was built in 1926, when many yacht owners still required or employed a paid hand. This was a time when good professionals were available --- and in most cases eager --- for yachting jobs. Fine schoonermen came up from Maine as the coasting trade dwindled. Able seamen from the Scandinavian countries learned that American yachting was more pleasant and profitable than North Sea fishing. Even English sailors who had been trained as professional yacht hands from boyhood found New York and New England yachting jobs attractive: good pay and working conditions; a short season; and American citizenship as perhaps the ultimate lure.
It is axiomatic that yachts are mirrors of their owners' aspirations or expectations, as well as of the economic and social climate in which the yachts and their owners live. So it is quite understandable why the F. I. S. Thirty-ones were laid out with space for a one-man crew forward, and with galley and toilet space amidships. The comfortable owner's cabin was aft, with uppers and lowers for sleeping and with suitable locker space. The enclosed engine room occupied the aft port portion of this master cabin.
With the 1929 stock market crash and all that followed, a number of Fishers Island Sound owners gave up their paid hands and F. I. S. Thirty-ones and bought smaller One Design boats. After all, they used their boats mainly for day sailing and afternoon racing, neither of which required much cabin space, never mind full-time professional help. However, the situation was different in Buzzards Bay. There yacht owners found cruising to be their most enticing weekend occupation. But there, too, the big schooners and ketches and such like that had made sense in affluent times suddenly seemed larger than necessary. So for Buzzards Bay yachtsmen, the F. I. S. Thirty-ones were an ideal compromise. In the mid-1930s I found little difficulty and much satisfaction in transferring about one-half the fleet of F. I. S. Thirty-ones from Fishers Island Sound to our home waters.
... John Parkinson, Sr., bought Praxilla [#1060s ex-Mameena], and his family, especially Jack, Jr., became very good friends and customers. Hendon Chubb bought Savage [#1153s], and I came to know and value his friendship, as I have his son Percy's. In the same way, I got to know well John Stedman, Sr. (who bought Amaranth [#1154s ex-Qutee]), and Joe Knowles (who bought Azura [#1132s]). A bit later I sold two other Thirty-ones --- one [#1132s Caprice ex-Azura] to Brooks Stevens, Jr. [born 1902, son of C. Brooks Stevens, then owner of #955s Marilee], and one [#1166s Last Straw] to Fred Levasseur [sic, i.e. Frederick Jefferson Leviseur] in Marblehead. In both these Thirty-ones we rebuilt the cabins to include a forward stateroom for two and a galley aft by the companionway. With their 31-foot waterline length, this then-new, but now conventional, cabin arrangement was really luxurious: fold-down Concordia berths and all. [Four interior photos of a re-modeled FI-31, possibly #1132s Caprice ex-Azura.]
Although there was plenty of cruising activity, the Saturday F. I. S. racing out of Padanaram was very keen for several seasons. Mr. Chubb [#1153s Savage] was no doubt the most experienced of the owners, and had as a professional Swedish-born Walter Jackson, a brother of Martin, my father's professional on Escape, who was to play such a central role in the future history of Concordia Company. Mr. Stedman's [#1154s Amaranth ex-Qutee] professional was Uku Walter, whom I had first met that rainy day at City Island when Paul Hammond and I inspected Escape; Mr. Stedman himself, a senior executive of Prudential Life, was intensely competitive. Joe Knowles [#1132s Azura] was more easygoing, as was his professional, a local man whom I remember only as 'Andy.'
Although our Thirty-one class usually consisted of only three boats, the occasional special race attracted other competition, and old Jack Parkinson sometimes sailed Praxilla [#1060s] up from the head of the Bay with an all-amateur crew to liven things up. I ended up cruising with old Jack a number of times, and even with just two of us aboard, Praxilla was a joy to handle. No less joyful were Jack's endless stories about bygone times and big yacht racing, in which he had played such a large and happy part. My one complaint about him was his ability to snore. Not even Gene Ashley could beat him in that department.
One other F. I. S. Thirty-one that came over to race with us was Skidoo [#1165s]. She was one of the newer boats and was owned by Pete Haffenreffer, an older brother of Carl. She had a taller, narrower rig than our boats did, which in theory should have made her faster. Perhaps it did make her a more efficient racing boat. However, on our triangular courses and with limited light sails, we usually beat her. For day sailing and weekend cruising an owner is apt to use working sails primarily or even exclusively, and I expect that the old rig under these circumstances kept the boats going faster on the average than the 'modern' one. The same seems to be true with the Herreshoff 12 1/2-Footers, which, on average, seem to do as well or better on most points of sailing with the original gaff rig, instead of the later marconi rig.
Newest, in a word, is not always best. ..." (Source: Howland, Waldo. A Life in Boats. The Years Before the War. Mystic, Connecticut, 1984, p. 186-193.)

"... Out of 44 starters, only four other boats stayed out to finish. Manitou, Jim Grove's 59-footer, finished second more than 12 hours behind Blitzen after passing Toot Gmeiner's 'Apache' in the final hours. Vitesse the 1944 Mackinac winner 'hit the bricks' off of Forester and the crew climbed off on the beach. Charley Buysse's 'Last Straw' was the final finisher.
In the end, you have to rely on seamanship and racing know-how to bring them across the line. But I've also heard it said that God looks after sailors and I like to think we kept Him pretty busy during the '45 Mackinac Island race, the roughest Mackinac race of them all." (Source: Van, George E. "The Older We Get, The Greater We Was..." 1983. http://www.bycmack.com/history/Older_we_get_by_George_Van_(1983).pdf, retrieved March 28, 2014.)

"The Fishers Island Sound 31
The first keelboat class at Fishers was the graceful Herreshoff-designed and -built Fishers Island Sound 31, or FIS-31. The number refers to waterline length, considered the best indicator of a boat's speed. The class originated with a sailor at Watch Hill Yacht Club, W. Barklie Henry, which explains its name referring to local waters. In the Herreshoff yard's promotional materials, however, 'Sound' was deleted and the boats were called the 'Fishers Island One Design.' Obviously Fishers Island had a certain cachet among yachtsmen, or at least among yacht salesmen, for its name also was applied to two other boats, the Bullseye (called the 'Fishers Island Bullseye') and the Herreshoff 23 (the 'Fishers Island 23').
The FIS-31 is A. Sidney DeWolf Herreshoff's slightly larger version of one of his father's most successful pre-World War I boats, the Newport 29, one of which, the long-successful Dolphin [#727s], still sails in the Sound. Priced at $13,000 (the equivalent of about $130,000 today), the 31 was complete with everything needed to cruise, including china. By modern standards, accommodations are extremely skimpy, with only two cabins and a total of three bunks. This was a typical layout in a cruising boat of that era. The two bunks aft are for the owner's party, with their own enclosed head. Up in the bow was a tiny cabin, called the forepeak, with a single bunk and small toilet. That was the residence of the professional sailor in khaki uniform. He (it was always a he) scrubbed the decks, polished the brass, kept up the brightwork, washed the salt off all surfaces, and cooked the meals in a dark, narrow forward galley." (Source: Rousmaniere, John. Sailing at Fishers. Mystic, CT, 2004, p. 56.)

"Although the Fishers Island Yacht Club was involved with the Fishers Island 31-footers by virtue of a few of its members owning them, that class does not appear to have been Club-sponsored. One should think of the letters 'FIS' on the sails of these boats as standing for Fishers Island Sound, the body of water in which the boats usually sailed. W. Barklie Henry, of the nearby Watch Hill Yacht Club, originated the idea for such a boat and ordered the first one, Cyrilla IV [#1054s], late in 1926. Three of his friends, thinking that his idea was sound, also ordered boats for 1927 delivery. Except for two others which were built in 1929 and sold elsewhere, the four original boats had things pretty much to themselves for the first three seasons. Then, in 1930, five more boats, some owned in Fishers Island and some in Watch Hill, joined the racing. Cirrus, then Kelpie [#1157s], was the last boat of this second batch and wasn't delivered until late August. ...
The Fishers Island 31-footers, although based on the Newport 29­footers and presumed to have been basically laid down from their offsets, (a blow-up, incidentally, of those for Alerion, had some rather significant changes made from the original model. It is likely that the new profile (longer ends, deeper keel, more raking sternpost, straighter sheer) und deck line to match were established by means of a scale drawing. However, the fairing of the lines to these new end points, according to Sidney Herreshoff, was done right on the mold loft floor - full size. Sidney was a most modest man, reluctant to take complete credit for much of what he did, but he did admit (on a taped interview) that his father was in Florida for the winter while this work was going on and that he, Sidney, was in charge of executing the needed changes. I'd say he did well!" (Source: Bray, Maynard. "A Look at the Class." Woodenboat #34, May/June 1980, p. 34.)

"[Item Description:] Brokerage listing (File No. 1432) for Fishers Island Sound Sloop HERRESHOFF [which will later probably become #1165s Skidoo or #1166s Last Straw]. Dimensions, particulars (Year Built: 1936, Location: Herreshoff, Price: 12500). With description 'This semi-completed Fishers Island 31-Footer, will be completed as a yawl, ketch, or modern sloop, with the interior arrangement to suit the owner, for Eleven Thousand Five Hundred Dollars. It will take approximately six weeks to complete the boat from the date of receipt of the order'. Undated, 'Year Built 1936' suggests that the date must have been 1936 or later." (Source: Belknap & Paine, Yacht Brokers (creator). Broker Listing. MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.111. Box HAFH.6.3B, Folder Brokers Listings. No date (1936 or later).)
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"[Item Transcription:] I am the owner of the Fisher's Island LAST STRAW [#1166s], and my propellor folding device is being overhauled and I need replacement parts for four items, which I have mailed you under separate cover properly tagged.
Calderwood in Manchester is trying to get his yard cleared for Government work, and I am, therefore, very much in hopes that you will be able to forward these parts to me.
Very truly yours, ..." (Source: Leviseur, Frederick J. Letter to Newman, Herbert F. (Herreshoff Manufacturing Co.). MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.034. Box HAFH.6.1B, Folder Hull No. 1166s. 1942-04-21.)
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"[Item Transcription:] Your letter to Mr. Newman has been received and as Mr. Newman is absent I am taking the liberty of replying. We sincerely hope that we can serve you in this matter but unless we happen to have the parts [for #1166s LAST STRAW] on hand it will not be possible for us to do so in view of the fact that our entire capacity is now occupied with naval construction and we are not privileged to undertake private work.
We shall notify you as soon as we have determined whether or not the needed parts are in stock.
Very truly yours, ..." (Source: Haffenreffer, C.W. (Herreshoff Manufacturing Co.). Letter to Leviseur, Frederick J. MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.034. Box HAFH.6.1B, Folder Hull No. 1166s. 1942-04-22.)
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"[Item Transcription:] You have undoubtedly, by this time, received the propeller fittings [for #1166s LAST STRAW]. You may have noticed that three of the items were not new. We are not in a position to make up that material, so Mr. Haffenreffer explained; but rather than inconvenience you, he had us remove the three fittings from his own boat, and we fond time to make up the fourth one.
I hope you receive them in ample time.
Very truly yours, ..." (Source: Gerrity, J.H. (Herreshoff Manufacturing Co.). Letter to Leviseur, Frederick J. MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.034. Box HAFH.6.1B, Folder Hull No. 1166s. 1942-05-12.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #1166s Last Straw even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Anon. "The Fisher's Island Sound One-Design Class." Yachting, April 1928, p. 96. (686 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Fishers Island 31 class description.
• Anon. "Herreshoff Fisher's Island 31-Footers." Rudder, September 1931, p. 57. (800 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Fishers Island 31 class description.
• Bray, Maynard. "A Look at the Class." Wooden Boat #34, May/June 1980, p. 42-48. (409 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission. Copyright holder: Maynard Bray (text).

• Skidoo and #1166s Last Straw (MIT Museum-made index card)
• Last Straw (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: 1930
E/P/S: S
No.: 1166
Name: Last Straw
OA: 44'
LW: 31'
B: 10' 7
D: 65' 1 [sic, i.e. 6' 1"]
Rig: J & M
K: y
Ballast: Lead
Amount: 10,500.00
Notes Constr. Record: Fis. Island. Special rig.
Last Name: Mallinkrodt (?)
First Name: E. E.

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.

"[See also:] Correspondence (4/1922, 5/1922). In: Technical and Business Records pertaining to the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, Series VI, Folder HH.6.34 (Hull No. 1166), Box HAFH.6.1B." (Source: Hasselbalch, Kurt and Frances Overcash and Angela Reddin: Guide to The Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection. Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass., 1997, p. 63-79.)

"See also: Mystic Seaport, Daniel S. Gregory Ships Plans Library, Albert E. Condon Collection. 1 sheet of plans for proposed sail plan by John G. Alden for 43.25 ft. Herreshoff Fishers Island 31, LAST STRAW, designed by Nathanael G. Herreshoff. Date on plan is 1941. SP.1980.1.35.124." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 13, 2011.)

"See also: Mystic Seaport, Daniel S. Gregory Ships Plans Library, Concordia Company Collection. Alterations for Last Straw. Arrangement plan. Pencil on tracing paper. Overall: 8 1/2 x 12 in. SP.2003.3.130.24.2." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 13, 2011.)

"Date for setup was estimated from note in Construction Record 'Order [to build] issued 5/20/30'." (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.