Herreshoff Buzzards Bay 18

[HCR]

I am looking for information and particularly historic photos of Buzzards Bay 18s. Five were built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in the winter of 1903/1904: #612s Wizard, #613s Margaret, #614s Hindoo, #615s Jap, and #620s Wanderer. The first four were ordered by R. W. Emmons, the last was built on speculation and subsequently sold. Hart Nautical Collections has eight plans for them and the Herreshoff Marine Museum has its model (No. 710), labeled: "Buzzards Bay 18' Dec. 1903 612-13-14-15."

The Herreshoff Marine Museum Chronicle wrote about them in 1994: "They looked for all the world like an enlarged 15 footer but were 29 feet overall, 8 feet 1 inch beam, draft 3 feet without centerboard, outside fixed ballast 2,000 pounds, 470 square feet sail area."

Who can add more information?

Thanks!

[rbgarr]

IIRC I read somewhere (here?) that the Herreshoff museum has one in it's collection.

[HCR]

No, unfortunately not.

None of them seems to have survived.

[bhgustin]

R W Emmons was a member @ Beverly Yacht Club who routinely placed group orders for boats at HMC. For example, most of the early BB-15s were ordered nominally by him -- as shown on the HMC order register -- though they ended up immediately owned by specific individual members of BYC. So the BB-18 was probably a BYC club project, rather than something initiated by HMC or individual buyers. This would also have been a natural progression, inasmuch as BYC had initiated the BB-15 in the Autumn of 1898: after trying out the initial boats in that series, some BYC members may have wanted a larger boat in the same style. Kathy Bray sells a drawing of the 18 on her web-site, and Alec Brainerd of Artisan Boatworks, Rockport ME has proposed building a replica of the 18 on his.

[rbgarr]

http://www.herreshoffregistry.org/

[HCR]

BHGustin, thanks for your thoughts on R. W. Emmons. You are right, he ordered many boats at HMCo, 26 at least and 15 of them Buzzards Bay 15s. But the most important boat he ordered from the Herreshoffs was the famous L-boat Avenger.

RBGarr, thanks also for your link to Steve Nagy's Herreshoff Registry, but it really does not provide any additional information about the Buzzards Bay 18s... :-(

Someone, somewhere, must have seen a photo of a Herreshoff Buzzards Bay 18? Please!

I've also heard mentioned a published report about the class, but no one seems to remember where.

[rbgarr]

Just in case you haven't already, contact Kathy Bray at http://www.brayprints.com/prints/whats-new/
She offers prints of them and may know of photos or plans.

http://i42.tinypic.com/29uws9e.gif

[HCR]

I have been in touch with both Kathy and Maynard Bray as well as Alec Brainerd but without luck. I am aware of the eight plans at Hart Nautical Collections and I am aware of the Beverly Yacht Club yearbooks which list them over a couple of years.

But I haven't seen a photo. I am sure there must be some in the collection of the Beverly Yacht Club? Any help leading to a photo would be most appreciated!

[rbgarr]

Then you've probably contacted them also at http://www.beverlyyachtclub.org/

Another possible source could be Tabor Academy's files, a school on Marion's shoreline since 1876: http://www.taboracademy.org/

[HCR]

That's still on the todo list. Interesting idea about Tabor Academy! Thanks!