herreshoff fish class sailboat

Marlin Heritage

Designed by: nathanael herreshoff.

The redesigned Cape Cod Marlin Heritage combines the best of Nathanael Herreshoff’s Fish and Marlin designs with a touch of modern amenities. Her classic hull shape below the waterline remains unchanged. The comfortable cockpit is slightly smaller than the original Fish allowing more cabin space. This is a return to the era of Herreshoff when simplicity was fundamental, boats were designed for performance, built with craftsmanship and pride, and remained strikingly beautiful.

New Boat Options

Marlin heritage (white hull, white deck, colored waterline stripe, antifouling bottom paint)..........$117,000.00.

Please inquire for additional upgrades and customization

Name painting & delivery also available

Prices subject to 6.25% Massachusetts Sales Tax, if applicable

© 2024 Cape Cod Shipbuilding Co. ®, Wareham MA USA [email protected]

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Herreshoff Fish: A Good Catch

Sailing perfection in a manageable size.

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Herreshoff Fish Class

Custom built by Artisan Boatworks to the highest yacht standard of either traditional wood or wood/epoxy composite construction.

The Fish Class is and enlarged version of the ubiquitous Herreshoff 12-1/2, with the same virtues of stability, rough water ability, good looks, and excellent handling characteristics. While she is only  4′ longer than the 12-1/2, she has twice the displacement and thus, in real terms, is twice as big. 

The cuddy cabin allows for storage space and some privacy for use of a head or bucket, and she is generally a fine, handy, compact boat that will  keep the sailing fun even when conditions are less than optimum. She will sail fast at moderate  angles of heel, and like her smaller cousins features a large, deep cockpit that will be reassuring for folks of all ages and will be particularly good for couples with small children.

  FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact Alec Brainerd at  (207) 542-0372 .

Additional Specifications LWL: 16′ Draft: 3′ 1″ Beam: 7′ 1″ Sail Area: 265 sq ft Displacement: 2,850 lbs

  Standard Features and Accessories – Edge-glued cedar planking over steam bent oak frames – Marine plywood bulkheads & deck, laminated mahogany backbone – Bronze fasteners throughout, with hardware by JM Reineck & Son – Sitka Spruce Spars (gaff or marconi rigged) – Sails by Nat Wilson or loft of owners choice, Sunbrella covers – Varnished Mahogany sheer planks, transom, coamings, seats, doors, and trim – Bare teak cockpit sole – Choice of paint colors, boat’s name hand painted in gold leaf – Shaw & Tenny paddle & boathook – Life Jackets, anchor, bilge pump, and required safety equipment – 3-year warranty on all materials and workmanship

Optional Extras – Galvanized Triad Boat Trailer – Beta 14 hp Diesel engine with insulated box in cockpit – Or, 24v Mastervolt electric propulsion system – Carbon fiber mast – Cockpit Cover – Spinnaker with varnished pole and rigging – Epoxy composite construction – Centerboard “Flat Fish” version as designed by Joel White (2′ 2″ draft) – Complete seasonal mooring to mooring storage and maintenance services

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• Sailboat Guide

Herreshoff Fish

Herreshoff Fish is a 20 ′ 8 ″ / 6.3 m monohull sailboat designed by Nathaniel G. Herreshoff and built by Herreshoff Mfg. Co. between 1916 and 1930.

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

Commissioned by Seawanhaka Corinthian YC, (Long Island, NY) for one-design racing and delivered beginning in 1916. More were built by Herreshoff until the late 1920’s. Over the years, a number of reproductions have been built based on this original design. The drawing here shows the ‘marconi’ sloop version adopted in the 1930’s.

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BLUE – Original Herreshoff Fish Class

PRICE: $ 90,000.00

Dimensions LOA: 20 ft 9 in LWL: 16 ft Beam: 7 ft 1-1/2 in Draft: 3 ft 1 in Displacement: 2,850 lbs

Sails, Canvas, Seating and Hardware Sperry sails Recent new standing rigging Recent new cockpit seats Reineck bronze hardware

BLUE is an excellent example of the artistry and quality synonymous with the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Because of these virtues, BLUE has survived for at least a century; first due to the care of her builders and the grade of her construction materials and second to her provenance encouraging later owners to see through a full restoration.

First boats of the class were delivered to the Sewanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club (SCYC) for the 1916 season. The Herreshoff Fish Class is a continued development of the iconic H12 designed in 1914 for the Beverly Yacht Club. Chosen for it's safety, comfort, and ability in all weather, the 12's lines were stretched into a waterline of 16' (20'9” LOA) with a noticeable increase in overhang forward and small cuddy reaching past the mast. Intended for sailing in the relatively calmer breezes of Long Island when compared to Buzzards Bay, the Fish's sail plan was also given a bit more canvas relative to her smaller sister.

Between the years of 1916 and 1917, HMCo delivered 26 Fish Class to the SCYC. Each of these boats were gaff rigged, trimmed in oak, and fit with a varnish toe rail only; forgoing the standard molded sheer in efforts of cutting overall costs. In 1925, the Warwick Country Club- just across Narragansett Bay from the Herreshoff yard in Bristol- purchased 3 new Fish with 6 more joining the fleet in the following year. These 9 boats strayed from the Sewanhaka fleet apperance with the more recognizable molded sheer. Along with the additional varnish, the gaff sail plan was replaced with a modern Marconi rig and instead of carrying the names of fish, the Warwick fleet was named after popular cartoons of the time.

Over time, these fleets lost popularity and began to scatter around New England. The Warwick fleet was soon replaced by the Atlantic class and it's fish migrated to Cold Spring Harbor, NY. Many of the gaff rigged Fish boats landed in Mattapoisett, MA near the north end of Buzzards Bay in the mid 1920s. What was not lost to changing tastes, was lost in the hurricane of 1938.

At some point, BLUE's original builders plate was lost and her hull number with it. However, with her molded sheer, Marconi rig, and oak trim (all history suggesting these characteristic are original to her construction), BLUE was built for the Warwick club in the 1920s. Over the decades, BLUE is found to have been sailing in Cold Springs Harbor, Rhode Island, the Chesapeake, and Nantuck

Under new ownership in 2004, BLUE- then named WANDA- underwent a complete restoration by MP&G of Connecticut. The work was completed thoughtfully and to the highest standard. Since her relaunch in 2005, BLUE has benefited from being under the stewardship of experienced owners and professionally maintained. In 2018, BLUE was brought back to Buzzards Bay and has remained in the care of Ballentine's Boat Shop each off-season. Apart from the standard yearly maintenance, BLUE has been sensibly updated while keeping true to her original character. Recent projects include, new Sperry sails, new standing rigging, new cockpit seats, and Reineck bronze hardware.

Just as like Herreshoff 12 1/2, the larger Fish design is a nearly perfect combination of beauty and capability. The hull moves easy in light air, but still remains on her feet as the weather builds. Captain Nat artfully ran the line between safety and performance knowing the class needed to fulfill both roles in a yacht club fleet. More than 100 years later, these attributes are still highly sought after as the ideal daysailer and few have be able to do so better than the Fish.

She is currently at Ballentine's Boat Shop in Cataumet, MA, and available to be seen by appointment. Please contact Amy or Matt at via Email for more information about this listing or to schedule an appointment for viewing. Or call for Amy or Matt at 508-563-2800 .

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The privilege of owning a Herreshoff classic

By Ben Emory For Points East

The author was dumbfounded when he first laid eyes on Perch, after buying her sight-unseen in 2014. She was pure perfection. Photo by Benjamin Mendlowitz

In August of 2014, just as dark fell, the Fish-class sloop Perch, on her trailer, was dropped off at Brooklin Boat Yard on Maine’s Eggemoggin Reach. I’d purchased the Nathanael Herreshoff-designed boat sight-unseen, based on a YachtWorld.com ad and photos sent by Tyler Fields of Ballantine Boat Shop in Massachusetts. Built in 1925, she had been restored in 2005 by MP&G of Mystic, Conn., a shop as good as it gets for Herreshoff restorations. She also reportedly had had excellent maintenance for the following nine years. Still, I was dumbfounded when I first laid eyes on her just after sun-up the morning after her arrival. She was perfect – absolutely pristine, with gleaming paint and unmarred varnish. I was bowled over by what was now mine.

The Fish class is Herreshoff’s enlarged version of his famous 12½. Three and half feet longer on the waterline, almost twice as heavy, and with a rig that’s relatively larger for the size of the boat, the Fish is faster, steadier, drier and more powerful.

The first Fish boats were built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company of Bristol, R.I., in 1916 for racing at Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club on Long Island Sound’s Oyster Bay. A later group was built in 1925 for the Warwick Country Club in Rhode Island. Although she lacks her builder’s plate showing her hull number, Perch is almost certainly one of the latter fleet. She sports the lovely visual accent of the Herreshoff molded sheer strake (topmost plank), a feature the earlier Fish boats lacked. She also has a Marconi rig like the 1925 boats, although some of the earlier Fish boats were converted to Marconi from the original gaff.

I grew up hearing about a Fish boat my father had owned, but sold, the year after I was born. He often talked about how much he regretted selling her and all the fun he, my mother, and family and friends had had in her. “Best boat I ever owned,” he said. His judgment was seconded by L. Francis Herreshoff, Nathanael’s son, himself another famous American yacht designer. For some years I’d had in the back of my mind the possibility of trying to own one someday. Then I saw the online ad.

Less than two days after her arrival the boatyard launched Perch into Brooklin’s Center Harbor, having painted the bottom and stepped the mast. This thrilled not only me and my wife Dianna, but our five visiting small grandsons. Soon we had East Boothbay sailmaker Nat Wilson’s outstanding, traditionally made sails on the spars, the soft polyester sailcloth a light cream color reminiscent of the cotton sails Fish boats originally used.

Sailing Perch on the Eggemoggin Reach and Jericho Bay was delightful. For a heavy, full-keel boat of her size she is fast. The tiller has the gentle tug of slight weather helm, the pull of the tiller increasing with building wind strength. Usually alone in a boat intended to race with the weight of a three-man crew, I found the boat slightly tender, but a single reef stiffens the boat markedly and reduces weather helm back to that pleasurable gentle tug. I’ve heard others complain of Fish boats having too much weather helm. Perch’s mainsail was cut quite flat and that might explain the weather helm I experienced on the boat, which anecdotally seemed less than that of her sister ships.

Perch’s exceptional aesthetics provided never-ending pleasure, whether aboard or admiring her from a distance. Her beauty attracted the attention of offcenterharbor.com’s videographer Steve Stone and still-photographer Benjamin Mendlowitz. Benjamin’s annual Calendar of Wooden Boats is always a masterpiece. For the 2016 calendar cover he chose, reportedly from among 3,000, a photo of Dianna sailing Perch at sunset on the Eggemoggin Reach. Offcenterharbor.com’s five-minute video “A Three-Generation Dreamboat – The Herreshoff Fish Class Sloop Perch” is spectacular and, as the website’s 250th video, was widely promoted. All this attention added to the fun of having Perch in our harbor.

There were two downsides to owning this masterpiece. To keep Perch in as perfect condition as when she arrived, I left her maintenance to the highly skilled wooden-boat professionals at Brooklin Boat Yard. She was not our only boat, and while the boatyard’s bills were reasonable for the quality of work done, they obviously added to the annual cash drain of my sailing passion.

The second downside – and others might feel very differently – is that the boat is TOO pristine for my family’s style of sailing on the Maine coast. I didn’t take her on family picnics, for I didn’t want sandy feet returning from an island beach stepping on the flawless varnish of Perch’s seats. I didn’t sail her to our float to pick up family or friends, for I didn’t want to risk too fast a landing and possibly scuffing the immaculate white topsides.

Several years ago I had an interesting conversation on the Brooklin Boat Yard float with one of the yard’s most senior personnel. He agreed that the expected standard for wooden-boat maintenance has arguably become too high. Nowadays, wooden boats are expected to be perfect. The financial cost of maintaining perfection limits who can afford a classic. That’s far different from when I was young. Some wooden boats were perfect, but many others were just OK. Yet the latter still gave their owners no end of pleasure, even if leaks, rot and failed gear created the occasional misadventure.

After exactly four years of fun with Perch I made a sudden decision one evening to offer her for sale. A night’s sleep did not change my mind, and by 7:30 a.m. I had an email off to people who might know prospective buyers. Literally within 15 minutes the phone rang. Tyler Fields of Ballantine Boat Shop, who had brokered my purchase, was on the phone. He was confident he had a buyer and asked if I would hold the boat through the weekend. Tyler was on his way to Brooklin the very next day for the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta. Could he take a look at Perch? He came straight to my house, and I rowed him out to the boat. He looked around and pulled out his cell phone. I overheard him say that the boat was in even better condition than when she had left Ballantine’s four years earlier. He finished the call and made an offer slightly higher than what I had paid. Sold! The buyer was a Herreshoff enthusiast in Massachusetts, who already owned one of the Herreshoff Buzzards Bay 25s. The smaller, more manageable size of the Fish class appealed to him. By the following week Perch was on her trailer enroute to Marion. Owning one of Nathanael Herreshoff’s extraordinary Fish-class sloops was a marvelous adventure from its beginning to the happy, although sudden, end. It also was a treasured privilege.

Ben Emory of Bar Harbor and Brooklin, Maine, has decades of experience afloat. When not on the water, he has been deeply engaged in land conservation, professionally and as a volunteer. His book “Sailor for the Wild: On Maine, Conservation and Boats” was published by Seapoint Books in 2018 (see pg. 98).

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Welcome to the Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonn�, a A Documentation of all Vessels and Models Designed or Built by N. G. Herreshoff or the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company

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Boats for Sale

21' herreshoff golden era daysailers.

ARCHIVED: This is a previously listed vessel and is no longer offered for sale If you would like assistance locating a similar vessel, Click Here to contact the listing broker.

Pisces, is a Petrel 21 built by Golden Era Boats of Noank, Connecticut in 1985 and designed by Nathanael G. Herreshoff. She is a fiberglass built boat and a reproduction of the Fish Class. She has been sailing the waters of Noank with her second owners since 1990. She has spent every winter stored indoors and in that time her yearly routine maintenance has always been handle by experienced and expert craftsmen.

Pisces is currently under going the following work to prepare her for Spring 2019 launching.

Bottom sanding and painting, zinc replacement, hull cleaning, varnish maintenance coats and a full service on her Yanmar diesel.

She was originally sailed for years with no engine. Desirable Yanmar diesel was installed new in Spring of 2000. Replacement boom tent and mainsail cover purchased in Spring 2006. New cockpit and cabin cushions spring 2019. Soft goods are by Custom Marine Canvas. New engine battery Spring 2015. Triad custom boat trailer purchased for the boat in 2002, 1994 build.

Pisces's has recently completed all of her routine maintenance. Fresh hull paint job. Three coats of new varnish applied and she is ready to be launched and sailed away.

Recent price  reduction! Come by for a viewing!

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Contact Brian H. Petrie Direct at 860 235 7078

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