HMCo #1185s [Unbuilt Fishers Island 31]

"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.)

"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.
Beginning in 1929, six FIS-31S sailed out of Fishers Island: the Maxwell family's Kelpie [#1157s], Elisha H. Cooper's Surprise [#1156s], Arthur Whitney's Chance [#1059s], Mrs. Henry J. Fuller's Canuck [#1054s], Joseph H. Holmes's Qutee [#1154s], Pierre S. du Pont Ill's Aldebaran [#1060s], and Thomas W. Russell's Savage [#1153s] (now called Torch and on display at the Herreshoff Marine Museum). Kelpie was still raced hard after 50 years, and Surprise (renamed Patapsco) sailed around the world in the 1960s, reportedly with the loss only of a running backstay." (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.)

• 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).

• #1185s and other FI31 class (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.

Month: Aug
Day: 30
Year: 1930
E/P/S: S
No.: 1185
OA: 44"
LW: 31"
B: 10' 7"
D: 6' 1"
Rig: J & M
K: y
Ballast: Lead
Notes Constr. Record: Fishers Island 31.
Notes Bray: In far left column: "Order issued 8/30/30"

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.