Herreshoff 12 1/2 Hardware

[SNagy]

I am trying to determine the vintage of my Herreshoff 12 1/2 without a builder's plate. The starboard bow chock has "S 25" engraved on the inboard side, and "763" (I think) engraved on the outboard side. The port bow chock has no numbers. Does anybody have any idea of the meaning of these numbers?

Thanks.

-Steve

[TomHaven12]

I don't know the answer myself, but you might try posting your question on http://www.havenbuilders.com

[John Gearing]

You could try the Herreshoff Museum over in R.I.--someone there might know, or the Cape Cod Shipbuilding Company (which bought the rights to build 12 1/2s decades ago, which purchase included all jigs, etc) and last but not least you could call the Hart Nautical Museum at MIT since they hold the Herreshoff archives.

[Thad]

I sent your post this morning to the Herreshoff Museum asking if they know.

[Art Read]

Might be hard to get a "firm" date with just the hardware engraving. I imagine at least some of it came from the same molds for the entire production run, no? Perhaps various bits and pieces in different combinations might help you narrow it down a bit, but I doubt they engraved individual "batches" of bow chocks. The Herreshoff museum would seem to be the folks to ask about that, I'd guess. I also understand that some construction details and particular wood species/fastening materials used would help date her as well. (She doesn't have a "rowing" thwart does she? THAT would date her!)

[SNagy]

Thanks for the leads everyone!

Thad: To whom did you send to at the Herreshoff Museum? I tried John Palmieri about a week ago, but his email address wasn't working. Thanks a bunch for the help .. I'm interested in what they say.

Roger W. at Bristol Bronze says the HMC part nos. were 4 digits and on the underside of the fitting where you can't see them.

Art - I'll say rowing thwarts would date her. Only the first 20 from 1914 had those. I've been doing a lot of research on the 12 1/2 ... I'm trying to compile a registry of all 364 original HMC boats, dead or alive, by the 90th class anniversary in October 2004. It's tougher than I thought, but I'm picking up some good info. The primary indicators are: sheerstrake wood species, mast partner configuration, and seat configuration.

Another thing to note is that Quincy Adams Yacht Yard was licensed by HMC to build these boats. They build about 35 of them between 1943 and 1947. They used the HMC builder's plate but assigned their own hull numbers. So any boat with an HMC number over 1518 was a Quincy Adams. They planked with mahogany rather than cedar. Their boats also have a bit of reverse sheer. One speculation I heard is that by virtue of their license they got a set of HMC molds, but they were never able to get them set up exactly right.

Thanks again.

-Steve

Thanks for all the help.

-Steve