History of The Class

‘Buzzards Bay Class’ (The First 20 Boats)

The foregoing impressive list seems to be as appropriate a way as any to begin a history of the Class. It is taken from the original Herre­shoff Mfg. Co. logbook in which every yacht built by the com­pany was recorded and assigned a hull number, more or less chrono­logically, by contract date. As you can see, the first twenty 121/2 footers have consecu­tive hull numbers, except number 765, num­bered following two other boats, but dated back to November 1914. All these boats were delivered in 1915, indicating they were built and completed in roughly eight months’ time. 1914 was otherwise a very busy year for the company as a significant number of other larger historically important yachts were also built at that time. The capac­ity to create and produce new yachts was unprecedented, indeed leg­endary, at the Herreshoff Mfg. Co.

In 1898, Robert W. Emmons II, of Monument Beach, with some friends, had commissioned Nathanael G. Herreshoff to design and build a new class of 15’ waterline length (24’6” OAL) gaff sloops for sailing and racing in Buzzards Bay. The first eleven of these Buzzards Bay 15’s, later known also as the ‘E’ Class, were built and in 1899 Mr. Herreshoff personally towed them by steam launch from Bristol, R.I. to the head of Buzzards Bay to their owners (a feat in itself).

By 1914, the 15 footers had grown into a sizable class, but were found to be a bit too much to handle by youngsters. Once again, Emmons and a group of friends approached Mr. Herreshoff to create a smaller boat suitable for their children to sail, especially in chal­lenging Buzzards Bay wind and sea conditions and to become familiar with the characteristics of the type of larger sailboats to which they might graduate later on.

The resultant boat was the Herreshoff 12 1/2 footer, and our great class was born. It is unlikely that in 1914 or 1915 the genius of Nathanael G. Herreshoff or the inspiration of Mr. Emmons could have foretold the unique popularity and longevity of the design we have now seen for 92 years. She is still considered to be one of the finest, if not the finest, small sailing yacht designs ever created. As it turned out, the boat was perfect for all ages in the family, not just the kids.

As was his custom, Mr. Herreshoff designed the 12 1/2 by making a half model of the hull and then recorded measured offsets from the model. The offsets were used to build a series of skeletal mold frames in the build­ing shop, and the framing and planking of the hull were then formed on and around the skeleton. The hulls were thus fashioned in an upside-down position, then removed from the mold frames, turned right-side up on their keels and completed. The mold frames were re-used to build successive hulls with the same con­trolled procedure, assuring the desired uniformity from boat to boat.

No lines drawings or construction plans were necessary. Mr. Her­reshoff would specify, in detail, the sizes and types of all the materials to be used, and the workmen assigned to the job would repeat their process in each stage of construction under Mr. Herreshoff’s supervision, right down to all the special hardware, designed by Captain Nat and cast in the shop foundry. At some later time, two additional sets of mold frames were employed.

Mr. Herreshoff died in 1938. Starting before his death and continuing after, manufacturing of the 12 1/2  was carried on by the experienced, well-trained employees of the Herreshoff Mfg. Co. until 1943.