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Fishers Island 31 footers
"The design started out in 1912 as the model for Nat Herreshoff's centerboard daysailer Alerion, and that model, with ends extended on the mold loft floor, is what Sidney Herreshoff used in creating these wonderful boats. It was the work of great ingenuity, and there have been few all-around better designs ever produced. The boats are beautiful to look at, contain reasonable accommodations, and are outstanding sailers. One oft the class, Patapsco II, voyaged arounf the world in the mid-1960s.
Most of the twelve-boat fleet went initially to summer residents of Fishers Island, fully outfitted, and ready to step aboard for a sail. Within only a short time, however, the Great Depression downscaled the sailing there to smaller boats ..., and many of the 31-footers were sold and converted to family cruising."
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Years: 1926 - 1946
Design: Nathanael G. and
Sidney DeWolff Herreshoff
Builder: Herreshoff Mfg Co., Bristol, RI
Length: (LWL) 43'3" (31’)
Beam: 10’8”
Draft: 6’
Displacement (Ballast): 10 t (4 t)
Hull: wood, carvel, round,
transom sterned
Rig Type: sloop
Power: Single diesel inboard |
Larchmond Race Week 1933. Kelpie under her original rig leads the way. Henry Maxwell, her owner at the time, is at her helm. |
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"During these years (1921-1925) the class that is usually spoken of as the Fishers Island thirty-oned-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." from 'Capt. Nat Herreshoff' by L.Francis Herreshoff, 1953
| Sail No. |
Hull No. |
Original Name |
Original Owner |
Type |
LOA |
LWL |
Year |
Recent Name and Location |
| 1 |
1054 |
Cyrilla VI |
W.Barble Henry |
sloop |
43'3" |
31'6" |
1926 |
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| 2 |
1055 |
Judy |
Mortimer M. Buckner |
sloop |
43'3" |
31'6" |
1926 |
now "Fortuna", in Chicago, IL |
| 3 |
1059 |
Chance |
Arthur Whitney |
sloop |
43'3" |
31'6" |
1927 |
now "Spindrift", in Greenport, NY |
| 4 |
1060 |
Mameena |
Pierre duPont / George Watson |
aux. sloop |
43'3" |
31'6" |
1927 |
now Aldebaron, for sale in Kansas |
| 5 |
1061 |
Kestrel |
Dudley Wolfe |
aux. sloop |
43'3" |
31'6" |
1929 |
still Kestrel, now in Bristol, RI |
| 6 |
1132 |
Azura |
George H. Fields |
aux. sloop |
44' |
31'6" |
1929 |
still "Azura", now for sale in Cataumet, MA |
| 7 |
1153 |
Savage |
Thomas W. Russell |
aux. sloop |
44' |
31' |
1929 |
now "Torch", in the Herreshoff Museum |
| 8 |
1154 |
Qu Tee |
Jos. H. Holmes |
aux. sloop |
44' |
31' |
1929 |
now "Bagatelle", in Los Angeles |
| 9 |
1155 |
Wild Goose |
Charles B. Rockwell |
aux. sloop |
44' |
31' |
1930 |
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| 10 |
1156 |
Surprise |
E.H. Cooper |
aux. sloop |
44' |
31' |
1930 |
now "Patapsco II", in Benjamin, ME |
| 11 |
1157 |
Kelpie |
Henry L. Maxwell |
aux. sloop, now yawl |
44' |
31' |
1930 |
now "Cirrus", yawl rigged in Brooklin, ME |
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1165 |
Skidoo |
Herreshoff Mfg. Co. |
aux. sloop |
44' |
31' |
1930 |
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1166 |
Last Straw |
Edward E. Mallinckrodt |
aux. sloop |
44' |
31' |
1936 |
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1521 |
Memory |
Robert N. Bavier |
aux. sloop |
44' |
31' |
1946 |
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A few pictures of still existing boats |
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Aldebaron |
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Fishers Island 31 sloop |
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LOA 43' 3"
LWL 31' 6 "
Beam 10' 8"
Draft 6'
tonnage 10 t
wood |
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Aldebaron is one of the 14 famous Herreshoff Manufacturing Company's Fishers Island 31s known for their excellent sailing characteristics and as fine cruising yachts.
Aldebaron requires a comprehensive restoration.
It is believed that Aldebaron's inventory includes various pieces of original Herreshoff Manufacturing hardware, one of which is her original Herreshoff anchor windlass, always a much sought-after piece.
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Kelpie |
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A great shift in the manner in which yachtsmen sailed and raced was taking place in the early 1930s and the Fishers Island sloops got caught right in the middle of it. Like other similarly sized one-design classes, these boats were laid out for a paid hand who took care of the boat on more or less a full-time basis and who had his living quarters in the forward part of her. Herreshoff had a rather standard arrangement for boats of this size, and the Fishers Island sloops were outfitted with it - a main cabin for the owner with a couple of settee berths and a couple of convertible upper berths, a galley to starboard up near the mast, an enclosed toilet room opposite, and a fo'c's'le forward of the mast for the paid hand, access to which could be gained through a hatch in the foredeck. In 1926, when these craft were designed, there was no reason to vary this arrangement from what had been successful in the past.
But then came the stock market crash of late 1929 and the hard times which followed. No longer could boats carry paid professionals as matter of course - that was to be the exception - and for day racing around the buoys and an occasional yacht club cruise, these boats became too expensive to keep up. |
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Cirrus
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Thus Cirrus (then Kelpie) wasn't the only boat of the class to change hands soon after she was built. After only about five years of one-design racing, the class broke up and the boats were sold. In 1932, there was a move to smaller boats without the expense of a paid hand. These were the Fishers Island 23-footers (34' overall), also a Herreshoff product. In time, under subsequent owners, many of the 31-footers were converted for family cruising, just as Alan Bemis did with Cirrus.
It has been as cruisers and handicap racers that these wonderful boats have spent most of their lives. For this use they were ideal - sea kindly, fast under a wide range of measurement rules, sleeping six in reasonable comfort, affording standing headroom, and being strikingly handsome to look at in spite of changing styles. |
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Of the 13 or so boats built to this model, nearly all are still in use. Cirrus, trimmed and decked with teak and somewhat more refined because she was the 11th boat in the series, may be the most elegant, but there are others which also look nearly new after a half century. Kestrel, Spindrift, and Torch are three that I'm familiar with. Of the others, two are on the Great Lakes, one is on the West Coast, and at least one is on the Chesapeake. I believe Patapsco II, in which Dr. Robert Murray sailed around the world in 1960-62, is still around, and I know that Wild Goose is being restored in Essex, Connecticut, because I saw her a few weeks ago.
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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, 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, was the last boat of this second batch and wasn't delivered until late August. Ed Maxwell, son of Henry L. Maxwell, the man Kelpie was built for, |
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remembers her first race and remembers going aboard her when she had just been delivered to the Maxwell mooring in West Harbor on Fishers Island, fresh and fully outfitted from the Herreshoff yard. For the short time they had her, the Maxwells did well with Kelpie. In 1931, her first full season, she won the class championship in spite of being one of the heavier boats (a penalty paid for a fancy teak deck instead of a lighter-weight canvas-covered pine one). Kelpie didn't go overboard in 1932, but she won Larchmont Race Week the following year and got a second in the American Yacht Club cruise as well. That year was to be her last under H.L. Maxwell's ownership, and with only a single season intervening, she was destined in 1935 to begin her still-flourishing affair with Alan Bemis. |
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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! ‑ Maynard Bray, Wooden Boat 34 May/June 1980 |
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Bagatelle |
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ex Qu Tee |
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Wayne Ettel repairs and restores some of southern California's finest classic yachts in his shop at the Port of Los Angeles. His own Bagatelle was in the midst of a rebuilt, when he was visited by WOODEN BOAT for an article and explained, that Epoxy is one of his favourite brews, and he thoroughly soaked Bagatelle's planking with a thinned concoction of it before installing new epoxy-laminated frames. |
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Azura
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Azura is a true Herreshoff classic, carefully maintained and sensitively upgraded to make her easier to sail and more comfortable to cruise; she is highly recommended to those who seek a pedigreed special yacht for a variety of nautical pursuits.
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The Fisher's Island 31 is a development of the highly successful Newport 29; these boats are known to be very fast, yet much easier to sail than many of her classic sisters; several sisterships are still winning classic yacht races in New England. Azura has greatly benefited from knowledgeable and caring owners who have maintained and upgraded her throughout her life. She was owned by Francis Kinney, the designer for Sparkman & Stephens and author of "The Proper Yacht" and "Skenes Elements of Yacht Design".
Azura and several of her sisterships were modified at the Concordia Yacht Yard in the 1940's; the modification extended the cabin 4 feet foreward of the mast, added a comfortable v berth forward, an enclosed head, a proper galley aft and two Concordia berths in the main saloon. She was recently refastened and given a cosmetic upgrade. Chain plates were also replaced. She is in good condition and would be a great racing and short cruising boat. |
Azura sleeps four in traditional layout; forepeak storage followed by a large vee berth with storage under and above; two small seats are aft of the vee berth; head next aft to port and contains a marine head with sink, vanity, tiled counter tops, storage; opposite the head are hanging lockers and shelves. Azura’s main saloon has Concordia berths port and starboard with storage and bookshelves outboard and above; handsome brass trimmed soapstone-heating stove (wood or coal burning) in on centerline. The varnished mahogany drop leaf pine table is not presently installed; a wine/liquor locker is forward in the main saloon. |
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Azura’s interior is finished in classic Herreshoff style with raised panel white painted bulkhead, varnished teak and mahogany trim, scrubbed teak cabin soles, brass electronic and kerosene lamps. Upholstery is done in dark red corduroy. |
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Construction: Double planked fir over cypress, bronze fastened to white oak frames; bronze hull strapping; teak over plywood decks; varnished teak house, coamings, toerails and trim. Housetop and cockpit sole reglassed using epoxy resin (2006). Lead ballast keel, original bronze hardware lifelines with bronze stanchions and bronze bow rail.
Azura is quick, able and undeniably striking. She has a very comfortable and practical cruising interior as well as a spacious cockpit and is well suited for coastal cruising, daysailing in style and spirited participation in classic yacht regattas. She is a true Herreshoff classic, carefully maintained and sensitively upgraded to make her easier to sail and more comfortable to cruise; she is highly recommended to those who seek a pedigreed special yacht for a variety of nautical pursuits. |
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Torch |
ex Savage |
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LOA 43' 3"
LWL 31' 5"
Beam 10' 8"
Draft 6'1"
tonnage 10 t
wood |
One of Nat Herreshoff's sons, Sidney, used the half-model for Alerion to create the Fishers Island 31. Twelve of those 44-feet-long boats were built at Herreshoffs from 1927 to 1930. The seventh, Savage (now Torch) was restored by Ballentine's Boat Shop in Cataumet, MA and is now an exhibit at the Herreschoff Musem, Bristol, RI.
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It was a work of great ingenuity and there have been few all around better designs ever produced. The boats are beautiful to look at, contain reasonable accommodation, and are outstanding sailers. |
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Fishers Island, a small island off the Connecticut coast, has a long and rich sailing history. The yacht club, founded in 1886, has a proud record of one-design racing in an impressive roster of classes over the years from the Mower-designed Fishers Island One-Design in 1909, the Herreshoff Fishers Island 31s and Fishers Island 23s, the Luders 16s, the Quincy Adams 17s, and the Rhodes 27s to the International One- Designs and Herreshoff Bullseyes still being raced today. |
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unknown |
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Herreshoff was in his sixties then, and for many years had been designing racing boats with long overhangs (projecting ends) and waterlines with simple outward curves. He took such a boat to Bermuda in 1911, 23 feet long, with low freeboard (hull area above water) and long overhangs, but found he needed something that could fare better in the strong winds and waves.
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Nathanael Herreshoff, the greatest of boat designers, creator of many America's Cup winners at the Herreshoff Mfg. Co. in Bristol, Rhode Island, may have seen Contest when he spent a winter in Bermuda in 1911. |
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"Herreshoff built and designed, Fishers Island 31 Class, 43 feet long. They're great boats. She was built back in 1930. Cirrus and I are exactly the same age. One of the first naval architecture jobs I ever had, when I was still at MIT, was to design a yawl rig for her. I knew the owner, who's now dead. He bought her in 1932 and owned her until a few years ago. Pretty original down below. She hasn't changed much at all." Joel White in 'A Unit of Water, A Unit of Time" |
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A Short History of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company
In 1878 John Brown Herreshoff, a blind boat builder from Bristol, Rhode Island, went into business with his younger brother, Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, a naval architect and steam engineer. The name of their new firm was the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company.
The partnership was an immediate and lasting success. The same love of competition and technological innovation that had made J.B. and Nat almost unbeatable when as boys they raced sailboats together on Narragansett Bay soon brought them fame as builders of some of the world's fastest steam yachts and torpedo boats. From the first, the Herreshoff Mfg. Co. was noted for the ingenuity and excellence of its designs and its construction methods. for its manufacturing and business efficiency, and for its uncanny ability to create fast and stylish boats.
Although the Herreshoff brothers never lost their love or mastery of steam engineering, it was as producers of outstanding racing and cruising sailboats up to 162 feet in overall length that the Herreshoff Mfg. Co. earned its most enduring fame. Between 1893 and 1914, for the defense of America's Cup, Captain Nat designed and the firm built seven of the largest, most complex and most powerful racing sloops the world has ever known. Of these, five were selected to sail as defenders, and all five were victorious. The firm also launched many hundreds of custom designs, both large and small, and a number one-design classes (among them Herreshoff 12 1/2 -and 15 footers, S boats, and New York 30s , 40s, and 50s) that have never been bettered for all-around sailing excitement and pleasure.
J.B. Herreshoff died in 1915. Captain Nat retired from an active role in the business a few years later. Even under new management, however, and in the face of world war and economic adversity, the Herreshoff Mfg. Co. continued to produce yachts, small craft and naval vessels of the highest quality. It maintained its legendary reputation for excellence until the day it closed its doors forever in 1946.
The story of the Herreshoff Mfg. Co. is the story of a remarkable American dynasty. It is a story as complex and surprising as the minds and characters of the two brilliant Rhode Island brothers who founded the company over a century ago. It directly reflects the tastes and desires (and sometimes the outrageous demand) of the robber barons who were among the firm's chief patron. Ultimately it becomes a study in marine art, as practiced by perhaps the greatest yacht designer who ever lived - and by the dedicated craftsmen who faithfully translated his visions into masterworks of metal, wood, and canvas.
This page is dedicated to the many cruisers who have inspired me and who have given me confidence to be building this chapter on cruising. Trusting their advice i am going on cruises aboard my little ship again and again. Thanks goes to everyone who sent me pictures and information. Without your help this site would not have been possible! Please keep sending your material, and i will keep improving the pages!
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