HMCo #1505s Contest

"... FISHERS ISLAND 23 FTR. Keel or Center-board. Sail area, 350 sq. ft.; o.a.l. 34'; beam (keel), 7'; with c.b., 7' 9''; draft, (keel), 4' 6''; c.b., 3'. Oak frames, mahogany planking; teak trim; Everdur fastenings and polished bronze fittings, spruce spars, standard equipment. $2990 Sail-away Bristol ...) (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. [Advertisement.] Yachting, March 1937, p. 96-98.)

"... Herreshoff is building one of the 23-foot water line Fisher's Island Class knockabouts [#1505s] for Gilman Lowe [of Bristol]. ..." (Source: Anon. [Title?] Yachting, 1939, vol 65, p. 108?)

"... Web Rooks has bought the Fisher's Island 23-foot water line class sloop Tigress. With the new one [#1505s] built for Gilman Lowe [of Bristol] and another [Azure] bought by Doc [Max H.] Zimmerman, this makes three of the class in the Bay this season. ..." (Source: Anon. [Title?] Yachting, 1939, vol 66, p. 76?)

"1939. ... Herreshoff had a 68-foot twin screw cruiser [#408p Avoca] set up and was building one of the Fisher's island 23-foot water-line knockabouts for Gilman Lowe [#1505s Contest], and had an order for five of the 12 1/2-footers [#1500s, #1501s, #1502s, #1503s, and #1504s] for the Fisher's Island Yacht Club, decked aft and along the sides of the cockpit coamings, and buoyancy tanks under the seats instead of under the forward deck. ..." (Source: Davis, Jeff. Yachting in Narragansett Bay. Providence, 1946, p. 91.)

"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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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #1505s Contest 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.

• Contest (MIT Museum-made index card)
• Contest (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: Nov.
Day: 17
Year: 1938
E/P/S: S
No.: 1505
Name: Contest
OA: 34'
LW: 23'
B: 7'
D: 41/2'
Rig: Marconi 350 sq. ft.
Amount: 2975
Last Name: Low
First Name: Wm. G.

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.

"[Penciled note in offset booklet page for station 34:] Position of Rudder for #1505. Jan[uary] 1939. [Sketch with lower end of rudder at station 28 and upper end at station 32.] Rudder same shape as original, see [drawing] 69-114." (Source: Offset Booklet for Fishers Island 23, Footer. No. 1212 Class. HH.6.146-7. Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection, MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA.)

"Contest 1505. Ordered 11/17/38. 3/8/39. 34' oa. 23 x 7 x 4 1/2 marconi sail." (Source: Anon [Herreshoff Manufacturing Company staff with additions by MIT Museum curators William A. Baker and others]. Vessel Name Index Card from the Series I Catalog Cards, s. v. "Contest". Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass. No date [ca. 1900 or earlier until ca. 1930s, with later additions by non-Herreshoff staff].)

"The last boat of the class was built in 1939 and had a slightly altered underwater profile; she is now preserved in the Herreshoff Museum as Hornet." (Source: McClave, Ed. "The Restoration of Rose (ex-Buza), HMCo #1223." In: Herreshoff Marine Museum (publ.). Proceedings. The Classic Yacht Symposium. April 1 - 3, 2005. Bristol, RI, 2005, p. 35-50.)

"[Reported [but not confirmed] to have been owned in 1966 by Dr. Alan G. Harquail of Annapolis, MD under the name of Glading III, sail no. H 23-2.]" (Source: http://www.herreshoffregistry.org/detail.php?hull=1505, retrieved November 7, 2010.)

"Note that the 1967 Lloyd's Register lists a FIS-23, sail no. 17, built in 1938, named Hornet. Note also that #1505 would have been the 17th FIS-23 (including prototype Silver Heels and centerboarder Crusader which usually were not counted in sail numbers.)" (Source: van der Linde, Claas. May 12, 2011.)

"Note that the 1970 Lloyd's Register lists a FIS-23, sail no. 2, built in 1938, named Adrienne, Harky, Tiger and owned in Annapolis by Lt. Glenn O. Weaver." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 20, 2012.)

"A note that I made years ago in my copy of the HMCo construction list says that Hornet in the HMM is #1505 Contest. I can't remember where that information came from. I looked at her for reference during our restoration of #1223 Rose (ex-Buza) and I found that her sternpost, and thus her rudder stock, is located one frame space farther forward (I'm pretty sure it was forward, not aft) than in Rose. At the time, I was looking at details of the cabin and cockpit, so I did not measure her ballast casting to figure out if they used the same ballast, or an altered one." (Source: McClave, Ed. Email to Claas van der Linde, February 16, 2016.)

"Date of launch (may also have been delivery) March 8, 1939 from Vessel Name Index Card from the Series I Catalog Cards in Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 11, 2014.)

"Built in 111 days (contract to launch; equivalent to $27/day, 45 lbs displacement/day)." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. January 16, 2024.)

"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.)

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