HMCo #1229s Lone Star

"Dec 28 1932. {1932/12/28} N. G. HERRESHOFF BRISTOL, R. I. Dear Francis, ... The shop has only the 3 - 30 footer for Bar Harbor [sic, i.e. Northeast Harbor 30-footers], but are hoping for more. With hopes for a Good New Year Your affect. Father." (Source: Mystic Seaport Museum, L. Francis Herreshoff Collection, Box 17, Folder 7: Letter from N. G. Herreshoff to L. F. Herreshoff.)

"1933.
NE Harbor 30 Footers.
L.W.L. 5'-8 3/4" above base line.
Frame spaces 10".
Sheer taken at top of deck.
Planking 13/16".
Frames 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" at head, tapering 1/16" per ft to 1 1/2 sq[uare], then straight.
Keel 2 1/4" tapering from 2 1/4" at # 42 to 1 3/4" at aft end.
Rabbet 7/8" above bottom of keel, except on after overhang.
Stem sided 3 1/8", moulded 4 3/8"." (Source: Herreshoff, A. Sidney DeW.? [Penciled note in Offset Booklet HH.4.201.] Undated, ca. October, 1932. Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

"C. W. Haffenreffer of the Herreshoff Company of Bristol, R. I., announces that ... [the] firm has just received an order for three forty square-meter boats [#1227s Tsana, #1228s Betsy, and #1229s Lone Star] for use in Maine next summer." (Source: Anon. "New Class Boats Built." New York Evening Post, October 19, 1932, p. 13.)

"The latest development in big boats with small sails. Three now started at Herreshoff's for use next summer at Northeast Harbor, Maine. Dimensions are 47 feet overall, 30 feet on the water lie, seven inches beam [sic] and five feet 6 inches draft. Sail area 430 square feet, 305 in the mainsail and 125 in the jib. Mainsail 40 feet nine inches on the luff and 14 feet nine inches on the foot. Jibs, 30 feet six inches on the luff. Jib nine feet nine inches on the foot, Genoa jib 15 feet on the foot and balloon jib 22 feet on the foot. Boat has watertight cockpit and complete cruising accommodations below deck for four persons. Boats are being built under supervision of Malcolm N. Stanley of Northeast Harbor, representing the owners, who will stay at Bristol until they are completed." (Source: Anon. "The New Northeast Harbor 30-Foot Sloop." Providence Journal, November 29, 1932.)

"NORTHEAST HARBOR THIRTY. 47' o.a.l./ 7' 9 1/2'' beam; 5' 6" draft. Never launched. One of a class designed for cruising in Maine waters. Oak frame, mahogany planked, teak decks and trim. Will sleep four. Has toilet, icebox, sink. Rig with increased sail area. New sails. $5500. Sail-away Bristol. [A reference to #1229s Lone Star which had been built on speculation and remained unsold for several years until she could be sold through Barden's Boatyard to Brownrigg Norton.]" (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. [Advertisement.] Yachting, April 1937, p. 109.)

"... Brownrigg Norton, of Larchmont, has bought a Herreshoff Northeast Harbor '30'. He is installing a motor and also rerigging her according to the revised sail plan. ..." (Source: Anon ("Spinnaker Liz"). "Narragansett Bay Gossip, Yachting Magazine, July 1937, p. 98.)

"... Brownrigg L. Norton, skipper of Lone Star II in the Handicap Class and long a prominent racing skipper on the sound, died suddenly on September 16th. He was a member of Larchmont and New York Y.C.s. and was an active competitor in the Sound regattas up to the time of his death. ..." (Source: Anon. [Title?] Yachting, 1946, vol. 80, [p. 136?].)

"1932. ... Herreshoff built a class of six 23-foot waterline sloops for the Fishers' Island Yacht Club, and in the Fall, three 40 square metre sloops [#1227s Tsana, #1228s Betsy and #1229s Lone Star] to go to Northeast Harbor, Me. These yachts were 47 feet overall, 30 on the water-line, five feet six inches draft, and seven feet seven inches beam. ..." (Source: Davis, Jeff. Yachting in Narragansett Bay. Providence, 1946, p. 57.)

"1937. ... The Herreshoff Company sold the third of the 40-square metre sloops, built three [sic, i.e. five] years before, to Brown Riggs Norton of Larchmont. ..." (Source: Davis, Jeff. Yachting in Narragansett Bay. Providence, 1946, p. 81.)

"Following on the heels of the H-23s was a bigger version with cruising accommodations, full headroom, and auxiliary power. Originally advertised (Yachting, February 1933) as 40-Square-Meter sloops, the boats were subsequently known as Northeast Harbor 30s. Only three boats were ever built, although the concept --- a hull that could be driven fast with a small sail area --- was, and still is, a good one. But in those Depression years, many sound ideas went begging. ...
Tsana [#1227s] and her sister Northeast Harbor 30s, as well as the H-23s, departed from long-standing Herreshoff tradition in having single-thickness planking of hard mahogany instead of the double planking that NGH had usually specified for his corresponding designs. After a few seasons, the normal shrinking and swelling cycles of this nearly incompressible planking so stressed the frames that they frequently broke. To make matters worse (and, ironically, to make the appearance better), no caulking was used; the planking was beautifully fitted, wood to wood, at the seams. Thus, even resiliency at the seams was sacrificed. As might be expected, frame breakage plagued these boats and the H-23s throughout their lives. Tightly fitted single planking was common in boats of Northern European waters, where the Northeast Harbor 30 design concept originated and where, because the climate is more stable than New England's, the boats so built survive better. The Herreshoff Mfg. Co.'s adoption of this European method perhaps saved some time in building, but, in retrospect, was clearly a mistake.
To help hold its shape and keep it from wracking, Tsana's hull has been diagonally strapped internally with bronze...
Although evocatively sleek, these 47-foot LOA Northeast Harbor 30s made surprisingly sensible cruisers, having four berths, a 'midship galley, and sails small enough to be easily handled by one person --- the mainsail's area being less than 400 square feet. There was full standing headroom under the trunk cabin, and the all-up displacement was well under six tons. Had the mid-1930s not been such incredibly hard times economically, the Northeast Harbor 30s might well have caught on.
... As a result of ... the Northeast Harbor 30s' first season of use, the design's initial sail area of 430 square feet (40 square meters) was increased to 560 square feet. ...
Of the three boats built to this design, Tsana and Betsy sold at the $8,000 asking price; the third, named Lone Star [#1229s], remained with the company until 1937, and was sold for only $5,500." (Source: Bray, Maynard and Carlton Pinheiro. Herreshoff of Bristol. Brooklin, Maine, 1989, p. 180-181, 183.)

"[Item Description:] Penciled untitled dimensions and sailplan sketch Northeast Harbor 30 Class (#1227s TSANA, #1228s BETSY and #1229s LONE STAR)." (Source: MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.072. Sketch and Dimensions. Box HAFH.6.2B, Folder One Design 30 Foot. No date (1932 ?).)
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"[Item Description:] Preprinted, not filled out, contract form for a 'Herreshoff Forty Square Meter Sail Boat' providing dimensions, particulars, and payment terms for the boat (of which only three, #1227s TSANA, #1229s LONE STAR, and #1228s BETSY were built)." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. (creator). Contract Form. MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.077. Box HAFH.6.2B, Folder One Design 40 Square Meter Sail Boat NE30. No date (1932 or later).)
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"[Item Description:] HMCo 1932 status report, eleven FI-23 for use at Fishers Island, Marblehead and other, #1226s YAWLCAT, VANITIE, WEETAMOE, #1227s TSANA, #1229s LONE STAR, #1228s BETSY, #721s CAROLINA II, 12 1/2-footers, S-boats, frostbiters, repair work, plant improvement in the absence of other profitable work and to keep employees, Walker's Cove property was purchased" (Source: Haffenreffer, C.W. Letter to Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. Stockholders. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MR_51670. Subject Files, Folder [no #]. 1933-02-03.)
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"[Item Transcription:] [Newspaper clipping titled 'Yachting Gossip by Jeff Davis'. Relevant Herreshoff excerpt:] Nick Potter, who has been in the designing room at Herreshoff's for the last year, has left and tied up with Bill Strawbridge and the pair will open a yacht designing office at Bristol. Potter designed the North Harbor 31-foot wa-terline knockabouts [#1227s TSANA, #1229s LONE STAR, #1228s BETSY] built at Herreshoff's this winter, and Strawbridge was you might say, the founder of the class as he ordered the first boat.
Capt. John Christianson of VANITIE and Capt. Gus Gunderson of WEETAMOE [#1147s] are both at Bristol and their crews are expected to put in an appearance within a week or so to get the two big boats in commission. There is nothing to do to WEETAMOE except the ordinary work of painting and fitting out, but VANITIE, being about 18 years old, needs more attention. Several plates are to be stripped off VANITIE, cleaned and re-riveted.
Two more Frostbite class B dinghies are being built at Herreshoff's from designs by Nathaniel G. [#1230s THORN?] and Sidney [#1231s HUMDINK]. Both are experimental boats. " (Source: Providence Journal (creator). Newspaper Clipping. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE14_00990. Folder [no #]. No date (1933-03 ?).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #1229s Lone Star even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Lone Star (MIT Museum-made index card)
• Lone Star (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: May
Year: 1937
E/P/S: S
No.: 1229
Name: Lone Star
OA: 47
LW: 30
Rig: J & M
K: y
Ballast: Lead
Amount: 5500.00
Notes Constr. Record: For Northeast Harbor, Me. (Purchased 1937 as annotated in Built for field)
Last Name: Norton
First Name: Brownrigg

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.

"Even though Lone Star's contract date is recorded as May 1937 in the HMCo Construction Record, we know that she was built in the fall of 1932, together with her sisters #1227s Tsana and #1228s Betsy (see also Jeff Davis, Yachting in Narragansett Bay, Providence, 1946, p. 57 who reports the three boats to have been built together). Lone Star was built on speculation and could not be sold until five years later in 1937 when she was finally acquired by Brownrigg Norton of Larchmont." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 15, 2015.)

"… Sail area 430 square feet, 305 in the mainsail and 125 in the jib. ..." (Source: Anon. "The New Northeast Harbor 30-Foot Sloop." Providence Journal, November 29, 1932.)

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