FLICKER

Hull No: HMCo. #674

1907 Buzzards Bay 15

Length Over All: 25' 0"
Length Water Line: 15' 9"
Beam: 6' 9"
Rig: gaff sloop

For sailing, Walter Ladd’s crew hastily lowered FLICKER from the steam yacht’s davits, brought her against the landing stage and raised sail. Owner Ladd then climbed aboard and off he went.

 

With husky hoisting shackles recessed into the deck, this is what FLICKER was designed for, rather than racing. N.G. Herreshoff chose to modify his existing Buzzards Bay 15 design by lowering the lead ballast keel, eliminating the centerboard, raising the sheer, and beefing up the structure a little. Correspondence negotiating these changes between N.G. and Mr. Ladd survives in the Herreshoff collection at the MIT Museum today.

 

FLICKER was built as the deepest draft version of NGH’s “15 footer.” While 92 15’s were built with various drafts and keel/centerboard arrangements, only four of these special full keel deep draft versions were ever built. The hull was built to the same molds as the other 15’s with a sheer raised by 2” according to annotations on FLICKER’s original plan.

 

This boat is a spectacularly untouched example of HMCo. workmanship, with original planking, deck, and structural members intact. There are only a few sister frames near the bow, and access panels have been cut through both her watertight bulkheads. Aside from these details not much else has changed since her launch in 1907. You can still see, for example, original pencil marks from her builders on the light lead wash HMCo. used to preserve the interior behind watertight bulkheads.

 

FLICKER was generously donated to the Herreshoff Museum by Maynard Bray in 2019. Her cradle was sponsored by a group of private donors, and her transit from Brooklin, ME was sponsored by Bruce Avery of Mystic, CT.

 

 

 


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