HMCo #1521s Memory

"During these years the class that is usually spoken of as the Fishers Island thirty-one-footers was slowly developing, but as there were not many of them built at once and because there was some variation in them, I do not speak of them as a one-design class. The first of them were straight sailboats with a gaff rig but the later ones were usually auxiliary with leg-o'-mutton rig.
While these yachts were not first designed for racing they have often done well in some of the ocean races and are well-built little ships that have been particularly liked by their owners; and some were built up to about 1935." (Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. The Wizard of Bristol. The Life and Achievements of Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, together with An Account of Some of the Yachts he Designed. New York, 1953, p. 306.)

"Acting for the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company we are offering one of the Fishers Island 31-Footers, which was almost completed just before the war and never finished entirely on account of hostilities. She differs from the standard Fishers Island 31-Footer in that the cabin trunk has been extended to provide more headroom forward and below decks she has four comfortable berths, large hanging lockers, enclosed toilet, galley, and pipe berth forward. Inventory will include mainsail, jib, spinnaker, a new motor, upholstery, and standing rigging will be pre-war plow steel galvanized. Inspection at Bristol by appointment through this office. For more detailed information, blue prints, etc. Address SPARKMAN & STEPHENS, Inc. 11 East 44th Street New York. [Though not identified by name, this can only be a reference to #1521s Memory, the last boat built by HMCo and the only FI-31 that was finished after WWII.]" (Source: Anon (Sparkman & Stephens). "Herreshoff Sloop for Sale." Yachting, vol. 78, 1945, [p. 37?].)

"... Bob Bavier, Sr., will be afloat again this summer in a new Fishers Island 31-footer which he has named Memory [#1521s] after the famous yawl [#778s Memory ex-Black Duck] in which he won the Bermuda race in 1924. ..." (Source: Anon. "Irish Pennants." Motor Boating, January 1946, p. 120.)

"The New York Yacht Club's August [1946] cruise, first since 1940, turned out to be a lot of fun, ... With as many as a dozen entries on some of the runs, the cruising sloop and yawl class brought out some really hot competition. There were three stand-out boats in this group: Baruna, of course, Frank Paine's sloop Gypsy and Bob Bavier's cutter Memory. Baruna, joining the cruise at Mattapoisett when Gypsy left it, participated in four runs and won two of them before winning the King's Cup. Gypsy, a double-ended modification of the Paine 36-foot waterline sloops like White Lady and Tarantula, and obviously quite a bit faster, especially when Paine sails her, was second to Memory on the first run, won the race around Block Island on the second day, tow-roped the class on the Block Island-to-Mattapoisett event which was 46 miles dead to windward in a hard Northeaster and then gave the group another thumping in the annual regatta held in Buzzards Bay.
After this demonstration, Gypsy headed back to her home port of Marblehead and left the battle to Baruna and Memory, which evenly divided the cups on the last four runs. Memory's achievements are all the more notable when considered in the light of her crew complement. This Fisher's Island Thirty-One was manned by just four persons --- Mr. and Mrs. Bob Bavier Sr. and Mr. and Mrs. Bob Bavier jr." (Source: Morris, Everett B. "New York Yacht Club Cruises Again." Motor Boating, October 1946, p. 54.)

"The first official entry in the race to Holland received by the Cruising Club of America was that of the 44' over all sloop Estelle Dunbar IV, Commodore Ernest Ratsey announced recently. She is owned by Herman C. Huffer, and hails from the Ida Lewis Yacht Club, Newport, R.I., where the race is to start.
The Estelle Dunbar IV is the former Memory, with which Robert N. Bavier won a number of major prizes on the New York Yacht Club cruise last season. She is one of the Fishers Island 31' Class sloops, designed and built by Herreshoff, and is approximately 32' on the water line, 10' 4" beam and 10' draft. Though the class was started about 1927, Estelle Dunbar IV was first put in commission in 1946." (Source: Anon. [Title?] Yachting, Vol. 81, 1947, [p. 270?].)

"The largest fleet ever assembled for the 105-mile Gulfport to Pensacola ocean yacht race received the starter's gun at noon today and is expected to arrive at Pensacola Yacht Club between noon and 6 p.m. Saturday. ... Boats which have done well in the past and which are once again competing include ... the Whistling Wind, owned by A[lbert] J. Nugon. The Whistling Wind was formerly the Whispering Wind when it was owned and sailed by W. Garic Moran. ..." (Source: Anon. "Largest Field Ever In Pensacola Race. Forty-Three Boats Leave Gulfport." Biloxi Daily Herald, June 28, 1963, p. 24.)

"The Fishers Island Sound 31
The first keelboat class at Fishers was the graceful Herreshoff-designed and -built Fishers Island Sound 31, or FIS-31. The number refers to waterline length, considered the best indicator of a boat's speed. The class originated with a sailor at Watch Hill Yacht Club, W. Barklie Henry, which explains its name referring to local waters. In the Herreshoff yard's promotional materials, however, 'Sound' was deleted and the boats were called the 'Fishers Island One Design.' Obviously Fishers Island had a certain cachet among yachtsmen, or at least among yacht salesmen, for its name also was applied to two other boats, the Bullseye (called the 'Fishers Island Bullseye') and the Herreshoff 23 (the 'Fishers Island 23').
The FIS-31 is A. Sidney DeWolf Herreshoff's slightly larger version of one of his father's most successful pre-World War I boats, the Newport 29, one of which, the long-successful Dolphin [#727s], still sails in the Sound. Priced at $13,000 (the equivalent of about $130,000 today), the 31 was complete with everything needed to cruise, including china. By modern standards, accommodations are extremely skimpy, with only two cabins and a total of three bunks. This was a typical layout in a cruising boat of that era. The two bunks aft are for the owner's party, with their own enclosed head. Up in the bow was a tiny cabin, called the forepeak, with a single bunk and small toilet. That was the residence of the professional sailor in khaki uniform. He (it was always a he) scrubbed the decks, polished the brass, kept up the brightwork, washed the salt off all surfaces, and cooked the meals in a dark, narrow forward galley.
Beginning in 1929, six FIS-31S sailed out of Fishers Island: the Maxwell family's Kelpie [#1157s], Elisha H. Cooper's Surprise [#1156s], Arthur Whitney's Chance [#1059s], Mrs. Henry J. Fuller's Canuck [#1054s], Joseph H. Holmes's Qutee [#1154s], Pierre S. du Pont Ill's Aldebaran [#1060s], and Thomas W. Russell's Savage [#1153s] (now called Torch and on display at the Herreshoff Marine Museum). Kelpie was still raced hard after 50 years, and Surprise (renamed Patapsco) sailed around the world in the 1960s, reportedly with the loss only of a running backstay." (Source: Rousmaniere, John. Sailing at Fishers. Mystic, CT, 2004, p. 56.)

"Although the Fishers Island Yacht Club was involved with the Fishers Island 31-footers by virtue of a few of its members owning them, that class does not appear to have been Club-sponsored. One should think of the letters 'FIS' on the sails of these boats as standing for Fishers Island Sound, the body of water in which the boats usually sailed. W. Barklie Henry, of the nearby Watch Hill Yacht Club, originated the idea for such a boat and ordered the first one, Cyrilla IV [#1054s], late in 1926. Three of his friends, thinking that his idea was sound, also ordered boats for 1927 delivery. Except for two others which were built in 1929 and sold elsewhere, the four original boats had things pretty much to themselves for the first three seasons. Then, in 1930, five more boats, some owned in Fishers Island and some in Watch Hill, joined the racing. Cirrus, then Kelpie [#1157s], was the last boat of this second batch and wasn't delivered until late August. ...
The Fishers Island 31-footers, although based on the Newport 29­footers and presumed to have been basically laid down from their offsets, (a blow-up, incidentally, of those for Alerion, had some rather significant changes made from the original model. It is likely that the new profile (longer ends, deeper keel, more raking sternpost, straighter sheer) und deck line to match were established by means of a scale drawing. However, the fairing of the lines to these new end points, according to Sidney Herreshoff, was done right on the mold loft floor - full size. Sidney was a most modest man, reluctant to take complete credit for much of what he did, but he did admit (on a taped interview) that his father was in Florida for the winter while this work was going on and that he, Sidney, was in charge of executing the needed changes. I'd say he did well!" (Source: Bray, Maynard. "A Look at the Class." Woodenboat #34, May/June 1980, p. 34.)

"[Item Transcription:] Penciled notes titled '5265
Stock 31 footer [Fishers Island 31' listing parts, often with casting numbers, that are either 'on hand' or have been ordered. Undated, order dates range from November 16, 1945 to January 28, 1946. The only FI-31 finished in 1946 was #1521s MEMORY." (Source: MIT Museum, Hart Nautical Collections, Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection Item HH.6.098. Notes. Box HAFH.6.3B, Folder Administrative - Notes. No date (1945 - 1946).)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled technical drawing sketch titled 'Strut Bearing BUBBLE II [#194501ep]'. On verso of typewritten crossed-out memorandum 'Memorandum to Mr. Herreshoff: Please make a tracing of the interior lay-out and sail plan on the new 31 footer [#1521s MEMORY]. This is necessary to make an advertising lay-out --- a blueprint will not do. C. W. Haffenreffer' dated November 1, 1945." (Source: Herreshoff, A. Sidney deW. (creator). Technical Drawing. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE14_00430. Folder [no #]. No date (1945-11-01 or later).)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #1521s Memory even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

• Anon. "The Fisher's Island Sound One-Design Class." Yachting, April 1928, p. 96. (686 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Fishers Island 31 class description.
• Anon. "Herreshoff Fisher's Island 31-Footers." Rudder, September 1931, p. 57. (800 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes. Fishers Island 31 class description.
• Bray, Maynard. "A Look at the Class." Wooden Boat #34, May/June 1980, p. 42-48. (409 kB)
  Document is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission. Copyright holder: Maynard Bray (text).

• FI31 for RN Bavier (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: Feb.
Day: 05
Year: 1946
E/P/S: S
No.: 1521
OA: 44
LW: 31
B: 10' 7"
D: 6' 1'
Amount: 14,5000 [sic, i.e. 14500]
Notes Constr. Record: Fisher Island 31 ftr. thru Sparkman & Stephens. (2/15/46 this boat bult under class #118S but #1521 used)
Last Name: Bavier
First Name: Robert N.

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.

"Memory was called a special or improved Fisher's Island 31 by HMCo." (Source: van der Linde. January 16, 2014.)

"Over the decades, the Bavier family owned three Herreshoff yachts which were all re-named Memory: the fin keel yawl #439s Memory ex-Alerion (built in 1894), the New York 40 #778s Memory ex-Black Duck (built 1916), and the Fishers Island 31 #1521s Memory built in 1946." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. March 26, 2014.)

"Over the years Herman C. Huffer owned three Herreshoff yachts named after his mother: The S-boat #1416s Estelle Dunbar III, the Fishers Island 31 #1521s Estelle Dunbar III ex-Memory, and #1506s Estelle B. Dunbar V ex-Silver Heels II." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 4, 2015.)

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