Biography of L. Francis Herreshoff
Lewis Francis Herreshoff (1890-1972) was born in Bristol, Rhode Island, near the waters of Narragansett Bay, an area long noted for its yachting activity. His father, Nathanael Greene Herreshoff (1848-1938), was one of the most prominent yacht designers and manufacturers of boats in the world. L. Francis developed his father’s skills at an early age later becoming equally recognized as a respected and influential designer and builder of pleasure sailing craft. He writes of his apprenticeship at the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company:
Until I was 27 my bedroom was next to the rooms my father used for drawing, model making and experimenting. On the walls were models which represented nearly all of the history of American yachting since the eighteen sixties…When quite young (four of five years old)…my father used to take me by the hand to inspect the work at the yacht yard…Here he deposited me in the row-boat shop…Soon I was running errands to the stockroom, holding the weight for riveting, etc., and by six years of age was under pay working after school and on Saturdays. As the years went by I was riveting, bending frames, planing. At ten I knew all the woods by sight and was a good judge of timber for bending. Later I served my time, or worked for a time, in the pattern shop, the foundry, blacksmith shop, machine shop, boiler shop, mold loft, sail loft, rigging loft, the steel construction ship, wood construction shop, drafting room and the office.
During World War I Herreshoff designed underwater shapes for the Navy, and later worked for W. Starling Burgess. By 1925 he was designing yachts on his own, “for most every important class which has raced in the country.” L. Francis Herreshoff not only designed racing yachts, but also created cruising yachts, canoes, and small sailing craft. His interests and experience were as broad as the yachting industry. In the 1940’s he began writing his famous articles for Rudder Magazine, articles which formed the basis for subsequent books: The Common Sense of Yacht Design, Capt. Nat Herreshoff, The Compleat Cruiser, and Introduction to Yachting. In essence L. Francis Herreshoff’s life ,and this collection, are chronicles of a golden age in American yachting, and we are indeed fortunate that he sensed a need to preserve the record of his thoughts and activities.
Restrictions
Restrictions on Access
Available for use in the Manuscripts Division
Restrictions on Use
Various copying restriction apply. Guidelines are available from the Manuscripts Division.
Index Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the G. W. Blunt White Library. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
Persons:
Herreshoff, Nathanael Greene, 1848-1938
Subjects:
Boatbuilding
Canoes and canoeing
Rudder
Sailboats
Yacht building
Yachting
Yachts
Yachts–Design and construction
Document Types:
Drafts
Memorandums
Monographs
Specifications
Occupations:
Authors, American–Massachusetts–Marblehead
Yacht designers–Massachusetts–Marblehead
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Administrative Information
Coll. 138, Manuscripts Collection, G. W. Blunt White Library, Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc.
Indexes
Detailed Description of the Collection
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
Outgoing and incoming letters; 1929-1971. Incoming letters; 1929-1971. Book drafts and manuscripts; 1948-. Rudder articles, monographs, and proposals. Descriptions, specifications,etc. by L.F.H. relative to his designs. Miscellaneous materials relating to L.F.H and Herreshoff family. Nathanael G. Herreshoff and L. Francis Herreshoff Correspondence; 1925-1938.
Box | Folder | |
1 | 1 | Outging and incoming letters. Images |
2 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
3 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
4 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
5 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
6 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
7 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
8 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
9 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
Box | Folder | |
2 | 1 | Outging and incoming letters. Images |
2 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
3 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
4 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
5 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
6 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
7 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
8 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
9 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
10 | Outging and incoming letters. Images | |
Box | Folder | |
3 | 1 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images |
2 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
3 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
4 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
5 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
6 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
Box | Folder | |
4 | 1 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images |
2 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
3 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
4 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
5 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
6 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
7 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
8 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
9 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
10 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
Box | Folder | |
5 | 1 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images |
2 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
3 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
4 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
5 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
6 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
7 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
8 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
Box | Folder | |
6 | 1 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images |
2 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
3 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
4 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
5 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
6 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
7 | Outgoing and incoming letters. Images | |
Box | Folder | |
7 | 1 | Incoming letters, A. Images |
2 | Incoming letters, B. Images | |
3 | Incoming letters, C. Images | |
4 | Incoming letters, D. Images | |
5 | Incoming letters, E. Images | |
6 | Incoming letters, F. Images | |
7 | Incoming letters, G. Images | |
8 | Incoming letters, H. Images | |
Box | Folder | |
8 | 1 | Incoming letters, I – J. Images |
2 | Incoming letters, K. Images | |
3 | Incoming letters, L. Images | |
4 | Incoming letters, M. Images | |
5 | Incoming letters, N. Images | |
6 | Incoming letters, 0. Images | |
7 | Incoming letters, P. Images | |
8 | Incoming letters, Q. Images | |
9 | Incoming letters, R. Images | |
10 | Incoming letters, Ratsey & Lapthorn. Images | |
11 | Incoming letters, Rudder. Images | |
Box | Folder | |
9 | 1 | Incoming letters, S. Images |
2 | Incoming letters, T. Images | |
3 | Incoming letters, U. Images | |
4 | Incoming letters, V. Images | |
5 | Incoming letters, W-X-Y-Z. Images | |
6 | Incoming letters, unidentified. Images | |
Box | Folder | |
10 | 1 | Wizard of Bristol; complete typed and handwritten drafts; ca. 1948. |
Box | Folder | |
11 | 1 | Common Sense of Yacht Design; proofs, completed typed drafts and handwritten drafts; ca. 1952. |
Box | Folder | |
12 | 1 | The Complete Cruiser, handwritten draft; ca. 1953. |
Box | Folder | |
13 | 1 | Introduction of Yachting; handwritten draft, Chapter 1. |
2 | Introduction of Yachting; handwritten draft, Chapter 2. | |
3 | Introduction of Yachting; handwritten draft, Chapter 3-6. | |
4 | Introduction of Yachting; handwritten draft, Chapter 7. | |
5 | Introduction of Yachting; handwritten draft, Chapter 8. | |
6 | Introduction of Yachting; handwritten draft, Chapter 9. | |
7 | Introduction of Yachting; handwritten draft, Chapter 10-11. | |
8 | Introduction of Yachting; handwritten draft, Chapter 12-13. | |
9 | Introduction of Yachting; handwritten draft, Chapter 14. | |
10 | Introduction of Yachting; handwritten draft, Chapter 15. | |
11 | Introduction of Yachting; handwritten draft, Chapter 17. | |
12 | Introduction of Yachting; handwritten draft, Chapter 18. | |
13 | Introduction of Yachting; handwritten draft, Chapter 19-20. | |
14 | Introduction of Yachting; handwritten draft, Chapter 21-22. | |
15 | Introduction of Yachting; handwritten draft, typed draft. | |
Box | Folder | |
14 | 1 | “Nathanial Greene Herreshoff”. |
2 | “A Sail in the Alerion”. | |
3 | “Lapping Jobs and Double Spinnakers”. | |
4 | “A Mid-Summer Night’s Sail”. | |
5 | “Cutters, Laying-To, etc…”. | |
6 | “Marine Pictures”. | |
7 | “A Scheme for Remembering the Storm Signals and a Short Discourse on Barometer Indications”. | |
8 | “The Double-Paddle Canoe”. | |
9 | “Naming the Yacht”. | |
10 | “Old Bahama Pirates” – by Hawser Martingale, L.F.H. ed.. | |
11 | “Thoughts about Yachts Especially Designed for Ocean Racing”. | |
12 | “The Rudder Racing Rule”. | |
13 | “The Design of Fishing Vessels”. | |
14 | “Oolooloo” – by Hawser Martingale, L.F.H. ed.. | |
15 | “Introduction to the Good Little Ship”. | |
16 | “Time Allowance Tables”. | |
17 | “Clinton Crane’s Yachting Memories”. | |
18 | “Catamaran Chronicle”. | |
19 | “The Haunted House”. | |
20 | “Light and Heavy Displacement”, ” Shapes of Rudders”, “Keels”, “Bows, Sterns, and Overhangs”, “The Advantage and Disadvantage of Various Sailboat Rigs”, ” The Pros and Cons of Gaff and Leg-o-mutton Sails and Some Discourse about Bowsprits”. | |
21 | ” A Rule for Measuring and Rating Sail Boats”. | |
22 | “Naptha Launches”. | |
23 | “Captain Charley Barr (Obituary). | |
24 | “Henry L. Maxwell (Obituary). | |
25 | “W. Starling Burgess (Obituary). | |
26 | Frank C. Paine (Obituary). | |
27 | Charles E. Nickolson, 1864-1954 (Obituary). | |
28 | “The Dry Breakers”. | |
29 | “A Boy’s Impression of Newport and Yachting in the 1900’s”. | |
30 | “Some Reasons for the Peculiarity of Vessels of the Past”. | |
31 | “Reasons for the Peculiarity of Vessels of the Past”. | |
32 | “Some Hints on Modelmaking”. | |
33 | “The Names of Some of the Yacht Sails”. | |
34 | “The Names of Some of the Rigging”. | |
35 | “Trail Boards”. | |
36 | “New Y.R.A. Class”. | |
37 | “Description of the Yankee One-Designs”. | |
38 | List of Yacht names (with meanings). | |
39 | “Small Coal-burning Stoves Aboard Ship”. | |
40 | “Description of Suggested 22 Sq. Meter One-Design Class for Buzzard’s Bay”. | |
41 | “Specifications for a Large Cruising Boat with an After Cabin”. | |
42 | “Notes on the 37″ Model owned by Sam Wardwell, Esq.”. | |
43 | “The America”. | |
44 | “The Tarantella”. | |
45 | “The Theory of Conto-Propellor”. | |
46 | “Oscillating Disk Crank Shaft for Steam or Internal Combustion Engines.”. | |
Box | Folder | |
15 | 1 | Plan list. |
2 | Changes in Schooner Pleione for the season of 1950 (conversion to staysail schooner). Images | |
3 | Design # 26, Q-boat Nor’easter. Images | |
4 | Design # 29. Images | |
5 | Design # 33, Q-boat Questa. Images | |
6 | Design # 36, Agreement with George Lawley & Son. Images | |
7 | Design # 44, Yacht Whirlwind, # 45 Towboat Twister. Images | |
8 | Design # 49. Images | |
9 | Design # 52, Designer/Builder contract. Images | |
10 | Design # 58. Images | |
11 | Design # 62. Images | |
12 | Design # 63. Images | |
13 | Design # 66. Images | |
14 | Design # 67. Images | |
15 | Design # 69. Images | |
16 | Design # 70. Images | |
17 | Design # 73. Images | |
18 | Design # 77. Images | |
19 | Design # 78. Images | |
20 | Design # 80. Images | |
21 | Design # 85, Marco Polo. Images | |
22 | Design # 87, Nereia. Images | |
23 | Design # 88, Meadow Lark. Images | |
24 | Design # 89. Images | |
25 | Design # 90, Sailski. Images | |
26 | Design # 91. Images | |
27 | Design # 92. Images | |
28 | Design # 93. Images | |
29 | Design # 94. Images | |
30 | Design # 96, Rozinante. Images | |
31 | Design # 101. Images | |
32 | Design # 103, Melantho. Images | |
33 | Design # 104, Goldern Ball. Images | |
34 | “Frost Bite” Dinghy (advertisement). Images | |
35 | Description of 120′ LWL win Secrew Steem Steam Yacht. Images | |
36 | Special In-Shore Patrol Boat. Images | |
37 | High Speed Express Steamer. Images | |
38 | 40′ Cruising Motor Launch for Ge. Upton, Esq.. Images | |
39 | “S” Boat (1943). Images | |
40 | Construction Record for L.F.H. Designs (Xerox). Images | |
41 | Specifications related to varoius designs, etc….(xerox). Images | |
42 | Design # 97, 60′ Vedette boat. Images | |
43 | Design # 60, The A.C.A. 10 Sq. meter class canoe. Images | |
Box | Folder | |
16 | 1 | Clytie: Bristol, R.I., “The Log of My First Cruise in 1868”. Images |
2 | Log of canoe cruises in 1930’s (xerox). | |
3 | Two patents (xerox). Images | |
4 | Disclosures and patent searches. Images | |
5 | Patents for bilge pump. Images | |
6 | Hill-climbing attachment for skis. Images | |
7 | Ratsey & Lapthorn, Ltd, Sailcoth samples. Images | |
8 | Papers relative to L.F.H.’s WWI Naval Reserve career. Images | |
9 | Miscellaneous and unidentified calculations, scantlings, etc.. Images | |
10 | “Alterations in Tayceta for the Season of 1952”. Images | |
11 | Proposed division of ‘The Farm’. Images | |
12 | …from the life of Nathanael Greene Herreshoff (first part torn off). Images | |
13 | Biographical notes and reminiscences, brief history of Herreshoff Mfg. Co., etc, by Nathanael Herreshoff. Images | |
14 | Printed materials regarding rules of measurement and other yachting regulatons. (N.Y.Y.C., North American Yacht Racing Union, International Yacht Racing Union. Images | |
15 | Resolute (pamphlet). Images | |
16 | Articles, etc, relating to the Herreshoffs and their boats, etc… Images | |
17 | Plan of Herreshoff Manufacturing Co.. Images | |
18 | General description of 87′ WL Ocean Cruiser, Design F-16. Images | |
19 | General description of 40′ LWL schooner, #F-13. Images | |
20 | Building agreement for a “Class R” sloop. Images | |
21 | Shona, History and specifications. Images | |
22 | Preliminary description of 45′ Deep Sea Cruiser. Images | |
23 | Description of 99′ Sea Going Cruiser. Images | |
24 | (material withdrawn and relocated to Box 17). Images | |
25 | Xerox copies of Nathanael Greene Herreshoff’s correspondence. Images | |
26 | Photo ID badge orders for the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company ID badge orders for the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co.. Images | |
27 | Miscellaneous and undated material (xerox copies). Images | |
28 | “Yacht Designing, Art or Science?” Paper presented by Llewellyn Howland III, at the Herreshoff Museum, Sept. 24, 1991. 28 pp. typescript copy. MC 1991.43. Images | |
29 | “Instructions for Management of the Herreshoff Boiler”, Herreshoff Mfg. Co.. Images | |
30 | “A New Era in Yachting: the Patent Catamaran, or Double Hulled Boat” N.G. Herreshoff. Images | |
Box | Folder | |
17 | 1 | Nathanael / L. Francis Herreshoff letters. Images |
2 | Nathanael / L. Francis Herreshoff letters. Images | |
3 | Nathanael / L. Francis Herreshoff letters. Images | |
4 | Nathanael / L. Francis Herreshoff letters. Images | |
5 | Nathanael / L. Francis Herreshoff letters. Images | |
6 | Nathanael / L. Francis Herreshoff letters. Images | |
7 | Nathanael / L. Francis Herreshoff letters. Images | |
8 | Nathanael / L. Francis Herreshoff letters. Images | |
9 | Nathanael / L. Francis Herreshoff letters. Images | |
10 | Nathanael / L. Francis Herreshoff letters. Images | |
11 | Nathanael / L. Francis Herreshoff letters. Images | |
12 | Nathanael / L. Francis Herreshoff letters. Images | |
13 | Nathanael / L. Francis Herreshoff letters. Images | |
14 | Nathanael / L. Francis Herreshoff letters. Images | |
15 | Nathanael / L. Francis Herreshoff letters. Images |