HMCo #1274s Chance

"Norma B, a Herreshoff-designed-and- built Fishers Island 23 (FI23), has been in the IYRS collection since 2003. The boat was originally designed in 1931 by A. Sidney DeWolf Herreshoff as one of the 23-Foot Knockabout class. Later known as Fishers Island 23s almost everywhere else, they are only called Herreshoff 23s or H-23s on Fishers Island.
The first batch of eight boats was purchased in 1931 by members of the Fishers Island Yacht Club, and upon delivery at the Herreshoff docks, six of them were sailed to Fishers Island in the spring of 1932 by their new owners. Following the stock market crash of 1929, members had requested a one-design class that would be more economical to own than the Fishers Island Sound 31 foot class (FIS31), also designed by Sidney Herreshoff. In total, 15 FI23s were built between 1932 and 1938. The design for the FI23, a long, lean hull with a tight inboard rig, was a departure from typical Herreshoff boats.
The design was inspired by European Square-Metre designs, first brought to American shores by Sidney’s brother, L. Francis Herreshoff. Sidney’s first design to this concept was Silver Heels—20 feet on the waterline and 32 feet overall.
As the forerunner to the FI23, she is strikingly similar, right down to the distinctive deck hatch that was arranged so someone can shift headsails without actually going on deck. The Herreshoff Co. kept Silver Heels as a test boat for developing new and innovative concepts and rigs such as the wishboom rig with which she was later rigged.
Like his father Nathanael, Sidney was a quiet, serious man and a natural engineer. In addition to many boats, power and sail, he also designed and built the Novara in 1917, an automobile that was engineered to be as light and quick as possible. The car was successful in that it achieved those goals but never made it into production.
Sidney also learned from his father that a good design could be used for more than one boat. His design for the FIS31 was actually an alteration of his father’s 1912 model for the much smaller centerboard sloop Alerion. He expanded the scale and added the full keel and, in so doing, cleverly created a much different but enormously successful design. After taking over from his father in 1924, Sidney became chief engineer and designer of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. until its close in 1946.
Fishers Island, a small island off the Connecticut coast, has a long and rich sailing history. The yacht club, founded in 1886, has a proud record of one-design racing in an impressive roster of classes over the years from the Mower-designed Fishers Island One-Design in 1909, the Herreshoff FIS31s and FI23s, the Luders 16s, the Quincy Adams 17s, and the Rhodes 27s to the International One- Designs and Herreshoff Bullseyes still being raced today.
The class enjoyed very competitive racing at Fishers Island through the 1930s. A few boats were damaged in the 1938 hurricane and the class dispersed after World War II. By the 1950s there were only four FI23s reported in the Long Island Sound area. Interestingly, there are six listed in the Register of Wooden Boats today.
We believe Norma B was built in 1934 and carries Herreshoff hull #1274. She was donated to IYRS by Peter Carter, who acquired her from the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum in Maryland. In a 2003 survey, she was found to be in good condition. It was noted that she had just received a number of new planks and replaced frames (not sistered) and that the workmanship is of 'excellent quality.' Her mast is reported to be original. Her size and traditional construction make her a perfect candidate for restoration in the second year of our boatbuilding and restoration program. She has already had considerable work done and does not require a complete rebuild.
NORMA B’S PARTICULARS
LOA 34'
LWL 23'
Beam 7'
Draft 4' 6"
Disp. 5050 lbs.
Backbone and Framing White Oak
Planking Mahogany (tight seam)
Deck Canvas covered Cedar
Ballast 2500 lbs. of lead" (Source: Picotte, Jay. "Norma B --- Fishers Island 23." Restoration Quarterly, Fall 2007, p. 20-21.)

"The Herreshoff 23
In 1931, Fishers sailors were attracted to a new class that looked very different from the FIS-31 and almost all other American keel boats of the time, with their large sail plans, powerful lines, and wide after decks. So fine and graceful as to be dainty, the new boat was known as the Fishers Island 23 almost everywhere except, ironically, at Fishers Island itself, where sailors called it the Herreshoff 23 and H-23. In the spring of 1932, club members sailed the initial six H-23s down from Bristol to West Harbor.
For her design, Sidney Herreshoff borrowed the Scandinavian Square Meter concept of a long, narrow, relatively light-displacement boat with a small sail plan. Besides their sleek beauty, the H-23s were distinguished by their rainbow colors. At a time when most boats were painted white, black, or dark blue, the H-23s were boats of many hues. The class attracted the club's best sailors, including seven commodores. Though its ranks were depleted by the 1938 hurricane, the H-23 remained the yacht club's primary adult racing class into the late 1940s." (Source: Rousmaniere, John. Sailing at Fishers. Mystic, CT, 2004, p. 58.)

"Sidney Herreshoff designed the Fishers Island 23-foot class in 1931 based somewhat upon the design of Silver Heels [#1204s]. The underwater shape is somewhat reminiscent of an S-boat. The design was first advertised (Yachting, January 1932) simply as a 23-foot LWL sloop, but after the first boat [#1212s] was built and sailed and accepted as a class at Fishers Island, New York, the boats were called Fishers Island 23s. As such, they gradually became Depression-era replacements for the Fishers Island 31s...
As time went on, additional boats [to the 1932's eight-boat fleet] were built for use in other areas; in all, there were thirteen with the original full-keeled configuration. A fourteenth [#1225s Crusader] was fitted with a centerboard to draw only 3 feet of water. Ultimately, the class name for both versions of the Fishers Island 23 was shortened to H-23...
... 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 ... the H-23s throughout their lives. Tightly fitted single planking was common in boats of Northern European waters, where the ... 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. ..." (Source: Bray, Maynard and Carlton Pinheiro. Herreshoff of Bristol. Brooklin, Maine, 1989, p. 179, 181.)

"[Item Description:] Four-page advertisement brochure including contract form for the 'Herreshoff Bristol Sloop 23-Footer. Two copies, one with handwritten notes 'All Centerboards' and 'Build 15 Units'. [In the end, a total of 16 H-23s were built: One centerboarder, #1225s CRUSADER, and 15 keel boats, #1212s Tronda, #1213s Fairway, #1214s Katy-did, #1215s Gamecock, #1216s Mariette, #1217s Padick, #1218s Ariel, #1219s Norn, #1222s Tigress, #1223s Buza, #1224s Altair, #1243s Quinta, #1265s Nitramon, #1274s Chance, and #1505s Contest.]" (Source: MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.046. Advertisement Brochure. Box HAFH.6.1B, Folder Bristol Sloop 23-Footer. No date (ca1932).)
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"[Item Description:] Blue print. Block and rigging list for Fishers Island 23 class (#1212s Tronda, #1213s Fairway, #1214s Katy-did, #1215s Gamecock, #1216s Mariette, #1217s Padick, #1218s Ariel, #1219s Norn, #1222s Tigress, #1223s Buza, #1224s Altair, #1225s Crusader, #1243s Quinta, #1265s Nitramon, #1274s Chance, #1505s Contest). Plan 91-189. Undated (Dec 1932 as per MIT plan index card.)" (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. (creator). Blueprint. Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection Acc. 91.40. HMM Library Rare Books Room (Various), Folder [no #]. No date (1932-12).)
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"[Item Description:] Spreadsheet listing original contracts (from 1923 to 1940) by HMCo in the collection of HMM (apparently from the gift of Everett Pearson). Listed boats are: #380p, #381p, #388p, #389p, #391p, #392p, #393p, #395p, #886s, #933s, #934s, #954s, #955s, #962s, #983s, #999s, #1002s, #1017s, #1054s, #1055s, #1057s, #1074s, #1078s, #1122s, #1125s, #1130s, #1131s, #1147s, #1152s, #1153s, #1154s, #1156s, #1157s, #1164s, #1170s, #1173s, #1174s, #1175s, #1175s, #1176s, #1177s, #1179s, #1180s, #1191s, #1192s, #1193s, #1195s, #1196s, #1198s, #1199s, #1200s, #1201s, #1202s, #1203s, #1206s, #1207s, #1208s, #1209s, #1210s, #1211s, #1212s, #1213s, #1214s, #1215s, #1216s, #1217s, #1218s, #1219s, #1220s, #1222s, #1224s, #1236s, #1226s, #1227s, #1228s, #1230s, #1232s, #1234s, #1237s, #1238s, #1240s, #1241s, #1243s, #1244s, #1245s, #1246s, #1247s, #1248s, #1249s, #1250s, #1251s, #1252s, #1253s, #1254s, #1255s, #1256s, #1257s, #1258s, #1259s, #1260s, #1261s, #1262s, #1263s, #1264s, #1265s, #1274s, #1275s, #1277s, #1279s, #1280s, #1281s, #1282s, #1283s, #1284s, #1285s, #1286s, #1287s, #1302s, #1303s, #1315s, #1508s." (Source: Rickson, Norene (creator). Table. Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection Item LIB_4220. HMM Library Rare Books Room (HMCo Contracts), Folder [no #]. No date (2010s ?).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #1274s Chance even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Anon. "Another New Herreshoff One-Design Class." Yachting, December 1931, p. 73. (653 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Fishers Island 23 class description.
• Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. "Herreshoff Announces a New One-Design Class." In: Yachting, January 1932, p. ?. (373 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: No known copyright restrictions. HMCo advertisement for the Fishers Island 23 class.
• Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. [Contract for #1274s Chance, Fishers Island 23.] Herreshoff Marine Museum Collection. Bristol, RI, September, 1934. (668 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Copyright holder: Herreshoff Marine Museum. Original building/sales contract. Vessel description, scantlings, payment terms, delivery date.

• Chance (MIT Museum-made index card)
• Chance (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: 1935c [sic, i.e. 1934c ?]
E/P/S: S
No.: 1274
Name: Chance
OA: 34'
LW: 23'
B: 7'
D: 41/2'
Rig: J & M
Ballast: Lead
Amount: 3650.00
Notes Constr. Record: Built with #1265,-on that no.
Last Name: Whitney
First Name: Arthur 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.

"Later names of this vessel are unclear. See note in Yacht Register section." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 11, 2011.)

"There appears to be no conclusive proof that Chance was really built as HMCo #1274. Even though reported by the HMCo Construction Report as having been built in 1934, it appears as if the original Chance can only be first documented in 1937. That year she was sailed by her owner Arthur E. Whitney and by Gordon Murphy, both of Garden City, Long Island, and even won the Fishers Island Yacht Club's July Saturday race series as per a series of New York Times articles reporting on the regattas of the Fishers Island Yacht Club. In the following 10 years no report about her can be found and she may not have been raced or have been in storage. In 1947 a New York Times article (August 7, 1947, p. 27) reports her to have been raced in the Fishers Island cruise by her owner or skipper Gordon Murphy.
The boat that was donated in 2003 to IYRS by Peter Carter and now is named Chance can be traced back to 1950 when she first appears in Lloyd's Register of American Yachts as Pelican ex-Excappa (but not ex-Chance). In subsequent years she changed names to Galatea, Valor, El Biente, Dorragh and Norma B. From the mid-1960s she was reported to have carried the sail number H-23/15 which might point to #1274s Chance if a) their sail numbers were assigned sequentially in sync with the building numbers, b) we include the centerboard H23 Crusader in that sequence, and c) we ignore that at least one boat, Tigress, appears to have carried an out-of-sequence sail number. It is possible that this sail number led to the decision that Norma B. is the former #1274 Chance.
Any additional information regarding the provenance of this boat would be welcome." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. June 7, 2018.)

"Date of contract 'September 1934' from original contract in collection of Herreshoff Marine Museum (the exact day was not specified)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 15, 2015.)

"Sail area 122sq ft jib plus 250sq ft mainsail = 372sq ft total from HH.5.08083.1 (096-121B): Sail Plans: Data Relating to Herreshoff Class Boats Given to NAYRU (1938-01-13) in Hart Nautical Collections at M.I.T." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 10, 2015.)

"Weights: Hull + fittings 4755. Lead 2585. Mast 98.5. Mast Fittings 14.0. Boom 24.0. Boom crotch 3.5. Jib boom 7.0. Spi. boom 4.0. Spreaders 3.0. Sails + covers 46.0. Anchor 26.0. Equipment 55.75. Standing rigging 12.00. [Total] 5048.75 [lbs]." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Notes on Construction Plan 075-066 (HH.5.05455). Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

"Ownership info from Teeter Bibber's Herreshoff Registry." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 6, 2019.)

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