The Herreshoff 12-1/2 Footer Registry

A resource for owners, prospective owners, builders, and aficionados
This site houses the current version of the Herreshoff 12-1/2 Registry. The registry contains an entry for each of the 364 12-1/2 Footers built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Of these 364, we have found (or recorded the demise of) about 200 vessels, and are still searching. You can get the document by clicking on the link above. It is a PDF, so you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. It is a large file, so if you are using a dial-up connection, it may take awhile to download. Once you open it up, you can save it on your hard drive for later reference and printing.

This version includes additional provenance obtained by poring over some of the Beverly Yacht Club yearbooks. These books are difficult to come by. If anyone has copies and can scan the pages that contain "The List of Yachts, Builders, Designers, Ports" and "Official Numbers of Racing Yachts" it would be greatly appreciated. We are especially interested in books from the 1950's.

We are also maintaining a list of Herreshoff 12-1/2's that are available for sale. There is a link to the list in the H12 Reference section above. If you are interested in any of the boats, contact us and we will put you in touch with the owner. If you have a boat to sell, let us know so that we can get you on the list.

The value of this effort depends on currency of information. Please continue to send us updates and corrections to the data. We use it to keep the registry accurate and updated. If you know of any boats that aren't registered, please let us know. And if you know of any boats that have been destroyed, please let us know of those as well. There is a link in the Collborate menu to a form to send updates. You can use email as well. Also, there are quite a few leads to be researched and a finite amount of time to spend. If anyone has any information, or is willing to help in the research, please see the H12 Reference section for a list of leads to chase down.

Please note that we have recently expanded this documentation effort to include all of the sailing vessels built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Between 1893 and 1943, HMC built over 1000 sailing boats. We are working on documenting the location or fate of each one. This is a new project. A link is included above.

Any feedback on the registry or the website is gratefully accepted. In addition to corrections, updates or additions, we are interested in suggestions on how to improve the utility of the information. Our goal is to make this a useful tool for those in our special community. Your suggestions will be evaluated and included among the improvements slated for upcoming versions.

Classic Yacht Prints
Kathy Bray is now offering customized versions of her well-known classic yacht prints. You can get a print with a custom caption and color scheme to match your own boat. These prints make great gifts for the classic yacht enthusiast. Click the 12-1/2 on the left.