Cool Boat: A 15' Crowninshield Knockabout

Remember Chip Flanagan's Dark Harbor 15 featured in WB No. 183? Chip, a Portland, Maine, boatbuilder, designed and built the boat for a man in Seattle who'd fallen hard for the B.B. Crowninshield-designed Dark Harbor 12 1/2--a boat that Chip deemed inappropriate for Puget Sound. Its big sister, the Dark Harbor 17, was more boat than the client wanted. Fifteen feet (on the waterline) was about the perfect size for him, but there was no Crowninshield design in this range. Or was there?

Over the past year, I've made an informal study of knockabout sloops. "Knockabout" is a sometimes vexing term that applies to a loose family of boats. It came about in turn-of-last-century Marblehead, where (and when) two wholesome sloops were conceived to replace the jib-on-bowsprit boats of the day. A few years later, a family of knockabout fishing schooners evolved in nearby Gloucester. They were called knockabouts because they had no bowsprits. The term also applied to later one-designs--like the Dark Harbor 12 1/2 and 17—even though some knockabout sloops carried a short bowsprit. But I'm getting off the point. The point is that, in my informal research into knockabout sloops, I stumbled onto a Rudder magazine design review of a B.B. Crowninshield 15' knockabout.

Crowninshield designed the boat for Vincent Astor, who used it as a sailing tender to his steam yacht, NOMA. The little sloop was not called a Dark Harbor, but it gives us some insight into what Crowninshield might have come up with had he pursued a fifteen footer in that family of one-designs. It seems Chip Flanagan got it right.

Mr. Astor's boat had built-in hoisting bolts so it could be hauled by its mothership. It may not show in this view, but the gooseneck track is extra long, so the furled sail could be slid down to deck level to clear the davits. Hodgdon Bros in East Boothbay, Maine, built the boat. I don't know when. The Rudder magazine article says "last summer," but my photocopy of the article is not dated. I'll find the date, and edit this post accordingly. But right now, I have other things to tend to. For now, here's the sail plan, and the dimensions (the lines drawings in the photocopy are light; if they're okay in the magazine, I'll post those when I find them.) Click on the thumbnail to enlarge it. But you knew that, right?

LOA                    23'6"
LWL                    15'0"
Draft                    4'0"
Sail Area             265 sq ft
Displacement        2,400 lb

Comments

[Dave Tew]

I read in some biography that Franklin Roosevelt bought a knockabout somewhat like the Crowninshield you describe here. He bought it used in the Northeast and issued orders to have her slung in davits aboard a Navy ship (he was Ass't SecNav at the time) and delivered to Campobello Island for his family's use. I recall that she was named VIREO, but I could be wrong.

[Leon Steyns]

Very nice boat!

Should this "informal study" ever lead to a book, I'd be very interested in buying it.

Greets, Leon Steyns.

[Dave Tew]

Matt-

If I'm not mistaken, and I may well be, Maynard Bray has a boat in his collection originally called FLICKER, a full keel version of N. G. Herreshoff's Buzzard's Bay 15 built in 1907. The Crowninshield shows similarities to that one, but I am wondering which has more sail area. Does Maynard know?

[Chris Rogers]

I think the article is from March, 1916 - pages 107,108. There are lines and construction plans printed there too.

[Maynard Bray]

Our Flicker that Dave Tew mentioned has a sail area of 330.6 square feet, 257.6 in the main and 73 in the jib. Her displacement, according to a 1907 letter from HMCo., is "about 2,100 pounds." I haven't weighed her or confirmed this number, but I'll bet it's pretty accurate as she was built to be hoisted on a steam yacht's davits. Being lighter and having more sail area, she should be faster than the Dark Harbor 15—but with me sailing, that could be questionable. Flicker is painted and ready to launch as soon as we get some good weather.

[polly saltonstall]

The desgin that Matt mentions is No. 444 and is dated July 1915.

[oliver]

I own a McVay Bluenose sloop designed in Halifax Nova Scotia in the early 1940s. It is one of the more famous Canadian designs. It also bears a remarkable resemblance to the Dark Harbour 17, both above and below the waterline. Is there any chance that one led to the other, or was it a case of convergent evolution?
I'm very curious
thank you

[Bill Evans]

This is a sweet design. I have become very smitten by the old knockabout designs. Have you posted any other parts of your informal study? Would love to see more.

Thanks, Bill