HMCo #919s Sea Hawk [Seahawk]
Particulars
Type: Newport 15 Footer v.2
Designed by: NGH
Contract: 1925-1-9
Construction: Wood
LOA: 24' 6" (7.47m)
LWL: 15' (4.57m)
Beam: 6' 9" (2.06m)
Draft: 2' 9" (0.84m)
Rig: Marconi Sloop
Keel: yes
Built for: Dolan, Clarence W.
Amount: $1,750.00
Note(s) in HMCo Construction Record: Newport 15-fter.
Current owner: Private Owner, Providence, RI (last reported 2016 at age 91)
Note: Particulars are primarily but not exclusively from the HMCo Construction Record. Supplementary information not from the Construction Record appears elsewhere in this record with a complete citation.
Model
Model number: 711
Vessels from this model:
92 built, modeled by NGH
Original text on model:
"Buzzards Bay 15 footers No. 503 class December 4, 1898 scale 1/12
No. 559 LITTLE ROBIN with keel for 4' draft shear raised 4" 16' 3" w.l. 1903 by keel 22" deep" (Source: Original handwritten annotation on model. Undated.)
Model Description:
"15' lwl Buzzards Bay 15-class keel/centerboard sloops of 1898 and later. Also slightly deeper Newport 15-class, Marconi-rigged Watch Hill 15-class, the 16'4" lwl keel sloop Little Robin with freeboard added of 1901, the 15' lwl Flicker of 1907, etc. #513s Hope and #880s Josephine are in the collection of the Herreshoff Marine Museum." (Source: Bray, Maynard. 2004.)
Model Comment:
"Reference to Model 711 was added by CvdL because all Newport 15s were built from it." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. 2008.)
Note: Vessels that appear in the records as not built, a cancelled contract, a study model, or as a model sailboat are listed but not counted in the list of vessels built from a model.
Offsets
Offset booklet number(s): HH.4.113
Offset booklet contents:
#503 - #509, #511, #513, #516, #518 - #519, #521, #525 - #528, #535, #540, #543 - #544, #550, #554, #556 - #559, #577, #584 - #585, #609, #645, #674 (changes), #880-class [15' w.l. Buzzards Bay 15'-class sloops et. al].
Offset Booklet(s) in Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection. Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass. (Restricted access --- see curator.)
Note: "Reference to offset booklet HH.4.113 was added by CvdL because this boat was built from the same construction plan as other sisterships that were specifically mentioned in it." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 24, 2021.)
Drawings
List of drawings:
Drawings believed to have been first drawn for, or being first referenced to
HMCo #919s Sea Hawk [Seahawk] are listed in bold.
Click on Dwg number for preview, on HH number to see at M.I.T. Museum.
- Dwg 076-006 (HH.5.05473); Construction Dwg > One Design Class 15 Footers for Buzzard's Bay (1898-12-28)
- Dwg 064-034 (HH.5.04510); Rudder, etc. for Nos. 503-509, 513, 516, 704, Buzzard's Bay 15 Footers (1898-12-31)
- Dwg 148-000 (HH.5.12217); Sails > Buzzard's Bay 15 Footer with Marconi Rig (1934-12-27)
Note: The Haffenreffer-Herreshoff Collection is copyrighted by the Francis Russell Hart Nautical Collections of the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Mass. Permission to incorporate information from it in the Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné is gratefully acknowledged. The use of this information is permitted solely for research purposes. No part of it is to be published in any form whatsoever.
Documents
Nathanael G. Herreshoff
"Also in 1899, the Buzzards Bay Fifteen Footers started, first with an order of seven, but augmented to seventeen. This class has been added to for thirty-one years, so there have been about eighty built." (Source: Herreshoff, N. G. "Some of the Boats I Have Sailed In." Written 1934. In: Pinheiro, Carlton J. (ed.). Recollections and Other Writings by Nathanael G. Herreshoff. Bristol, 1998, p. 67.)
Other Modern Text Source(s)
"The mind of Eugene Lee works in intricate ways, which helps to explain how the Tony-award-winning set designer approaches his trade. ...
At current count, Lees wooden boat fleet, scattered throughout southern New England, totals about 10. Its a number in flux but includes a Concordia 31, a pair of Laurent Giles-designed Vertue sloops, a couple of Herreshoff 12½s (Captain Kidd [#1298s] and Jerry Todd [#1478s]), a Herreshoff Buzzards Bay 15 [#919s], a Beetle Cat, a Pete Culler lapstrake yawl and a Pulsifer Hampton launch.
Owning all these boats, studying their past, restoring them, paying their yard bills and spending lots of money to have others take care of themlet alone sailing themmakes no sense. Thats why he does it. ..." (Source: Lembo, Elaine. A Secret Passion. For Tony-Award-Winner Eugene Lee, Theatrical Set Design And Wooden Boats To Tongue And Groove. Yachts International, October 3, 2016. https://www.yachtsinternational.com/owners-lounge/a-secret-passion, retrieved March 23, 2019.)
Further Reading
-
Cheever, David. "The Herreshoff Fifteens." The Log of Mystic Seaport, v. 24, No. 2., Summer 1972, p. 38-44. (106 kB)
Document is copyrighted: Yes. Short class history, detailed vessel description and appreciation and a thrilling account of a typical race of Buzzards Bay 15 at the Beverly Yacht Club. Special focus on #554s Fiddler ex-Nora, now in the collection of Mystic Seaport Museum. -
Brainerd, Alec with Bernard H. Gustin and Steven K. Nagy. "The Herreshoff 15 is Alive and Well." In: Herreshoff Marine Museum (Publisher). Proceedings. The Classic Yacht Symposium 2010. Bristol, R.I. 2010. (5,834 kB)
Document is copyrighted: Yes. Copyright holder: Alec Brainerd, Bernard H. Gustin, Steven K. Nagy / Herreshoff Marine Museum. Class history, construction and restoration comments, building and sailing a replica, detailed class register (including replicas). Photos, drawings. -
van der Linde, Claas. "Herreshoff 15-Footers: Building Dates and Model Variations." December 7, 2021. (380 kB)
Document is copyrighted: Yes, used with permission. Copyright holder: Claas van der Linde. Tabular summary of Herreshoff 15-footer construction dates and model variations. Together with information of BB15 sail numbers, boat names and boat owners from various year books of the Beverly Yacht Club.
Supplement
From the 1920 and earlier HMCo Index Cards at the MIT Museum
- 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. and permission to display is gratefully acknowledged.
From the 1931 HMCo-published Owner's List
Name: Seahawk
Type: J & M
Length: 15'
Owner: Dolan, Clarence W.
Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. "A Partial List of Herreshoff Clients." In: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Herreshoff Yachts. Bristol, Rhode Island, ca. 1931.
From the 1930s L. Francis Herreshoff Index Cards at the Herreshoff Marine Museum
- Note: The L. Francis Herreshoff index cards comprise a set of some 1200 cards about vessels built by HMCo, with dimensions and / or ownership information. Apparently compiled in the early 1930s, for later HMCo-built boats like the Fishers Island 23s or the Northeast Harbor 30s are not included. Added to in later decades, apparently by L. F. Herreshoff as well as his long-time secretary Muriel Vaughn and others. Also 46 cards of L. F. Herreshoff-designed vessels. The original set of index cards is held by the Herreshoff Marine Museum and permission to display is gratefully acknowledged.
From the 1953 HMCo Owner's List by L. Francis Herreshoff
Name: Sea Hawk
Type: 15' J & M
Owner: Clarence W. Dolan
Row No.: 608
Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. "Partial List of Herreshoff-Built Boats." In: Herreshoff, L. Francis. Capt. Nat Herreshoff. The Wizard of Bristol. New York, 1953, p. 325-343.
From the 2000 (ca.) Transcription of the HMCo Construction Record by Vermilya/Bray
Month: Jan.
Day: 09
Year: 1925
E/P/S: S
No.: 0919
Name: Sea Hawk
LW: 15/
Rig: J & M
K: y
Amount: 1750.00
Notes Constr. Record: Newport 15-ftr.
Last Name: Dolan
First Name: Clarence
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.
Link to the Herreshoff Registry
The Herreshoff Registry, founded by Steve Nagy and later administered by Teeter Bibber, can be particularly useful for researching the provenance of Herreshoff-built sailing vessels. Permission to link to the Registry is gratefully acknowledged! Note: The Herreshoff Registry was offline in Spring of 2022. As a temporary measure here is a link to a backup file from January 2021. It is unclear how much the Registry has been updated since then.
Research Note(s)
"Newport 15s were the same as Buzzards Bay 15s, except for a keel that had been deepened by 6 inches for a draft of 2' 9" with centerboard up." (Source: Nagy, Steve. June 1, 2008.)
"Plan HH.5.12217 (148): Buzzards Bay 15 Footer with Marconi Rig (1934-12-27) at MIT references #919s which suggests that this Newport Fifteen was built with a Marconi rig. In 2015 Sea Hawk certainly had a gaff rig." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 8, 2015.)
"Dimensions LOA 24ft 6in, beam 6ft 9in and draft 2ft 9in were not stated in the Construction Record but taken from data for other Newport 15s, because the Record stated that this boat was a Newport 15." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. April 8, 2015.)
Note: Research notes contain information about a vessel that is often random and unedited but has been deemed useful for future research.
Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné.
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