An Early Cat on Kodacolor
IYRS was established in 1993 as the International Yacht Restoration School on the Newport, Rhode Island harbourfront. It was originally founded to teach students the fine craftsmanship and restoration skills necessary to preserve maritime heritage through the restoration of historically significant wooden sailing yachts. Since that time, IYRS has grown into a world-class learning institution offering four full-time, experiential programs in the subjects of Boatbuilding & Restoration, Composites Technology, Digital Modeling & Fabrication and Marine Systems
They also have a Maritime Library which is open to the public and is the only library of its kind in the state of Rhode Island. The library’s collection includes books, plans, photographs, films, and artifacts related to the maritime heritage of Rhode Island, with a focus on Newport, Aquidneck Island, and Narragansett Bay.
They have recently published online a fascinating film of Amaryllis II, a Herreshoff designed and built catamaran, filmed on rare Kodacolor film in September 1933.
The IYRS website takes up the story….
This is the only period motion picture known of a Herreshoff catamaran, and is one of the earliest amateur color films of any yacht. Below, we describe the catamaran, its history and sailing trials, the film itself - introduced in 1928 and the first color film available to amateurs - as well as the likely photographer who made this unique film, and the type of camera used.
The Catamaran
On 8 September 1933 an unusual vessel was launched at the Herreshoff boatyard in Bristol, Rhode Island, a 33’ catamaran, with two 28 inch wide hulls spaced 16 feet apart, connected by cross ties, struts and braces, and with a small seating platform suspended between the hulls. The frame of the vessel was not completely rigid, and ball and socket joints allowed each hull to move independently of the other, reducing stress on the vessel. This was not the first catamaran to be launched here - eight had preceded it - but this was the first in over fifty years.
from: "The Rudder" magazine, September 1933
Approximately two months before this, a group of businessmen from Detroit had commissioned the construction of the catamaran for a cost of $4,000, encouraged by A. Griswold Herreshoff, one of Nathanael Herreshoff’s sons and an executive at Chrysler Corporation in Detroit. K.T. Keller, a senior executive and soon to be president of Chrysler, headed the syndicate, which included Walter Chrysler, Edsel Ford, and Griswold Herreshoff, and their aim was to see if a racing class of these catamarans could be developed on Lake St. Clair, Michigan, where these men were active sailors at the Grosse Point Yacht Club.
Construction had been quick, with A. Sidney DeWolf Herreshoff, another of Nathanael’s sons, responsible for the design which was based in large part on the last of Nathanael’s catamarans of the 1870s. While working at Corliss Steam Engine Company in Providence in 1875, 27 year old Nathanael had designed, and then had constructed at his brother John’s yard, Amaryllis, a 24’ 10” catamaran that strikingly out-sailed the fastest, similar-sized yachts of the day. There was interest from yachtsmen, and seven other catamaran designs followed over the next few years, but they were expensive to build, required skill to sail, and since Nathanael had by this time joined his brother in the business in Bristol, the needs of running this operation and time spent on other yacht designs pushed the catamarans into the background. Amaryllis II was slightly longer and wider than her predecessors, and instead of being gaff-rigged like these other boats, she had a sliding gunter rig - basically a separate spar connected to the mast that provided extra sail height.