HMCo #1422s Little Dipper

"... MARLIN CLASS. Auxiliary Cruiser. Sail area, 270 sq. ft.; o.a.l. 20' 9''; beam, 7' 1 1/2'', draft, 3' 1 1/2''. Oak frames; mahogany planking, teak trim; Everdur fastenings; polished bronze fittings; hollow spruce spars; standard equipment. $1750. Sail-away Bristol. Motor and installation, $275 extra) ..." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. [Advertisement.] Yachting, March 1937, p. 96-98.)

"AN adaptation of the well-known Herreshoff Fish Class is the new Marlin Class sloop, recently announced. The boat is approximately 20' 9'' in length over all, 16' in length on the water line, 7' 1 1/2'' beam and 3' 1 1/2'' draft of water. Her hull is that of the Fish Class boat, the changes being made in the cuddy. The Fish is an open boat with a small cuddy worked in the forward end of the cockpit. The Fish Class sloop was originally designed as a big sister of the Herreshoff 12 1/2-footer and resembles that type closely in design. In the Marlin, the cabin trunk is slightly higher and extends further fore and aft, reducing the size of the cockpit somewhat and allowing the arrangement of a cabin. In this there is a pipe berth installed on each side and a small toilet forward. Two decklights in the cabin top, glazed with a recently developed non-breakable substance, provide plenty of light.
The accommodation plan also provides for the installation of a small inboard motor, developing 2 1/2 horse power, in the cockpit, driving a Herreshoff folding propeller, for use as auxiliary power when the wind fails. The motor is covered by a box which makes a convenient table.
Construction is high grade, with keel and framing of white oak, the frames being steamed and bent. Outside planking is of Philippine mahogany, fastened with Everdur bronze screws. Sheer strake, cabin trunk, coamings and so on are of selected Burma teak. The decks, cabin roof and bulkheads are of Weldwood or Presdwood.
The sail area is 253 square feet of working canvas, 102 square feet in the mainsail and 61 in the jib. A good sized Genoa jib is supplied and also a small storm jib. The mast is hollow and is built of a special design, grooved to take a double luff mainsail. The mast is designed to stand without spreaders so that the Genoa jib may be sheeted close in. Main boom and jib club are solid. The wire rigging is of stainless steel, as are the turnbuckles, and is provided with Tru-Lock fittings. Deck fittings are of bronze. The backstays are set up with a pair of quick acting levers located on deck close to the cockpit coaming. A parachute spinnaker may be carried if desired. Winches are provided for the main and jib sheets and the main halliard is fitted with a jib. The rig is designed to be fast in light airs and yet to be handled easily when it blows hard.
The ballast, all on the keel, is of lead and weighs 1400 pounds. It is secured to the hull by bronze bolts.
A cockpit tent may be rigged over the boom for use at anchor. With glazed side curtains, it gives shelter from rain or sun and provides sleeping space for a third member of the crew when needed.
Img: Sail plan and deck plan of the Herreshoff Marlin Class." (Source: Anon. "The Herreshoff Marlin Class Sloop." Yachting, April 1937, p. 100.)

"... About 40 Fish Class sloops were built at the Herreshoff Company between 1916 and 1925. ... In 1936-39, the Herreshoff Company built about 6 [sic, i.e. 4] of the Sidney Herreshoff modified Fish boats known as the Marlin Auxiliary Cruisers. The original cabin house was slightly enlarged to allow for more cruising accommodations. The boats were planked with mahogany rather than the original cedar and the trim was teak. The Marlins were equipped with a small 2 1/2 hp. auxiliary engine." (Source: Herreshoff Marine Museum Chronicle, Fall 1989, p. 3.)

"Additional 16 footers were built as auxiliary cruisers called Marlins. Four boats are listed in the shop records as having been built at HMCo. These boats were marconi rigged with enlarged cabins, a head, some with inboard engines. The cabin trunk carried forward of the mast as well as extending further aft, reducing the cockpit size. Two oval ports were located on each side, similar to the S boat configuration, with the characteristic pointed forward cabin shape. Unlike the fish class, they were planked with mahogany and trimmed with teak. They were built during the years from 1937 to 1939." (History written on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Fish Class.) Norwell, Massachusetts, January, 1991. In: http://www.herreshoffregistry.org/doc/Fish_History_Meyer.pdf, retrieved August 19, 2010.)

"The Marlin is the 1916 NGH-designed Fish-class sloop modified for cruising by a stretched-out cabin, a toilet, two berths, and an inboard engine. In spite of considerable promotion and the Fish class's popularity, the Marlin never met with success. In fact, only about three [sic, i.e. four] Marlins appear to have been built. The design did become popular in later years, however, after the Herreshoff Mfg. Co. closed its doors and the Cape Cod Shipbuilding Co. started building the Marlin in fiberglass, that version lengthened with a counter stern and fitted with a masthead rig." (Source: Bray, Maynard and Carlton Pinheiro. Herreshoff of Bristol. Brooklin, Maine, 1989, p. 196.)

• Anon. "The Herreshoff Marlin Class Sloop." Yachting, April 1937, p. 100. (67 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Vessel description, sail plan, deck plan.

Month: Aug
Day: 8
Year: 1938
E/P/S: S
No.: 1422
OA: 21'
LW: 16'
Amount: 1975.00
Notes Constr. Record: Marlin Aux. Cruiser.
Last Name: Gulden, Jr.
First Name: Frank

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.

"The Marlin by HMCo used a standard Fish boat hull, so there'd be no new half model. Using that hull, they installed a plywood deck, cockpit seat lockers, pipe berths, a toilet, and a longer cabin that reached forward of the mast." (Source: Bray, Maynard. Email to Claas van der Linde. December 14, 2008.)

"Note that this design is based on a model by NGH (model 716, the 12 1/2 and Fish model) which was modified by ASdeWH. Given that the underwater body is the primary identifying characteristic of a vessel, NGH is stated as the Marlin's designer, although one could also argue for it having been designed by NGH and ASdeWH or even ASdeWH alone." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. December 14, 2008.)

"The Long Island Maritime Museum used to own for a few months a Marlin Cruiser named Sanibel with no building plate. It is thus not possible to assign a builder's number with 100% certainty, but surviving registration paperwork states a building year of 1938 which suggests a building number of 1421 or 1422." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. July 18, 2010.)

"This boat may have been built in 1938 or even 1937, even though the Construction Record shows a later contract date. The Construction Record entries for the nineteenth century usually showed as date the contract date. And boats tended to be built after a contract was made... However... The Marlins were built during the Depression years. Three of them were given consecutive building numbers but contract dates ranging from 1937 to 1938 to 1938. They may all have been built in 1937 (the Marlin sailplan dates from January 21, 1937), one (#1420s) as a result of a contract, the other two (#1421s and #1422s) on speculation. #1422s would then have been sold on August 8, 1938 and #1421s on May 9, 1939.
Note that #1420s was sold for $1750 (without an engine) and #1422s was sold for $1975 (with engine). #1421s, however, was sold for only $1,200 (with engine!), but the Construction Record notes that she was 'Repaired'. She may have been sitting at HMCo, waiting for a buyer and got damaged in the great hurricane of September 1938, her lower price reflecting the repaired damage. #1422s, having been sold a month before the hurricane, was not damaged and could be sold for the higher price." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. August 19, 2010.)

"The sail area is 253 square feet of working canvas, 102 square feet in the mainsail and 61 in the jib." (Source: Anon. "The Herreshoff Marlin Class Sloop." Yachting, April 1937, p. 100.

"Ownership info from Steve Nagy's Herreshoff Registry." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 8, 2014.)

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