HMCo #1474s Cygnet

"July 23, 1937
Seafarer Class
Length O.A. 25'-0"
Length W.L. 21'-6"
Beam 7'-6"
Draft 4'-0"
Frame spaces 9"
Timbers 1 1/8" sq[uare] at head, tapering 1/16" per ft, both ways
Planking 3/4"
Sheer is taken to top of deck
L.W.L. 4'-0 7/8" above base." (Source: Herreshoff, A. Sidney DeW.? [Penciled note in Offset Booklet HH.4.204.] Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

"Jan. 7, 1971
A. Sidney DeW. Herreshoff
3585 Avocado Avenue
Coconut Grove, Florida 33133
Mr. Charley Best
Apt. #20 Atlantic Manor Apts.
Manasquan, N. J. 0876
Dear Mr. Best:
Your letter of Jan 7, 1971 was forwarded to me at my winter home in Florida.
From your description and the picture I am very certain that your boat is indeed one of the 'Seafarer' class. The building number 1474 could definately [sic] confirm this by records that I have at Bristol.
I designed these boats, and I believe only two were built. There is no lines drawing for the reason that the shapes of all boats designed by my father and me, that were built by the Herreshoff Mfg. Co. were developed by making half models, and offsets were taken from these by an instrument that is so accurate that no lines drawings were necessary.
I am returning the picture herewith.
Sincerely
A. Sidney DeW. Herreshoff." (Source: Herreshoff, A. Sidney DeW. [Letter to Charley Best.] Coconot Grove, FL., January 27, 1971. http://www.flickr.com/photos/63623306@N00/2499649655/sizes/l/in/set-72157605107687280/, last visit October 27, 2008.)

"... after owning hull #1474 for many years and restoring her, I sold her to a young man that neglected her badly. After just two years she sunk at the dock, was raised and then destroyed. A horrible end for a very beautiful craft." (Former owner Charley Best, quoted on http://orrsford.com/herreshoff/forum/index.php?topic=71.0, retrieved December 11, 2008.)

"In the late 1930s, American builders began producing a flood of four-berth, 'family-type' auxiliary cruisers, mostly built as production boats to keep the price low. The Herreshoff Mfg. Co. entered the fray with its Seafarer design, but unlike the Alden-designed 'Coastwise Cruisers,' the Lawley 'Weekenders,' and Palmer Scott's 'Overnighters,' the smaller, but nearly as expensive Herreshoff 'Seafarers' never caught on. Only two were built.
Herreshoff Mfg. Co. general manager Carl Haffenreffer deserves credit for the Seafarer idea, while NGH's oldest son Sidney Herreshoff actually designed the boats.
The Seafarer is really a pocket cruiser, and in a different league from most four-berth auxiliaries because of its small size. It can be far more easily and economically cared for (with Less than 8 feet beam, it's even trailer-able), yet it has the big-boat features of standing headroom, a comfortable main cabin to sit, eat, and sleep in, an enclosed head, an inboard engine, and a forward stateroom with V-berths. The design has proven fast and seaworthy under sail. The cruising public missed out on an exceptional boat here, and one of the most practical ever produced by the Herreshoff Mfg. Co." (Source: Bray, Maynard and Carlton Pinheiro. Herreshoff of Bristol. Brooklin, Maine, 1989, p. 197.)

"[Item Description:] Penciled pantograph hull sections and displacement and stability calculations titled 'No. 1430 SEAFARER CLASS [#1430s ROCKETTE and #1474s CYGNET]'." (Source: MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.044. Pantograph Hull Sections. Box HAFH.6.1B, Folder Hull No. 1430s. No date (1938-02 ?).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #1474s Cygnet even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Cygnet (MIT Museum-made index card)
• Cygnet (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: Apr.
Day: 01
Year: 1938
E/P/S: S
No.: 1474
Name: Cygnet
OA: 25
LW: 23'
Rig: Seafarer Class
Amount: 4405.47
Last Name: Whitall
First Name: Jas.

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.

"Sail area main 350sqft as per note on preliminary plan 132, HH.5.1077." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 15, 2014.)

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