First Multihull

[Sand crab]

Here's a link from the Smithsonian which shows the the drawing for Petty's catamaran.
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Fulton’s “Steam Battery”: Blockship and Catamaran, by Howard I. Chapelle.
There are also early and largely forgotten designs and models of twin hulled ships including warships. Many of these predate Herreshoffs design. This article is a gold mine of info with lots of drawings, models and photos. Here's an excerpt.
History of Double-Hull Craft

The use of catamaran hulls, or “double-hulls,” has been periodically popular with ship designers since the time of Charles II of England. The earliest of such vessels known in the present day were four sloops or shallops designed 1673-1687 by Sir William Petty, who was an inventor in the field of naval architecture and received some attention from Charles II and from the Royal Society.
The first Petty experiment, the Simon & Jude, later called Invention I, was launched October 28, 1662. She was designed with two hulls cylindrical in cross section, each 2 feet in diameter, and 20 feet long. A platform connected the hulls, giving the boat a beam of a little over 9 feet. She had a 20-foot mast stepped on one of the crossbeams connecting the hulls, with a single gaff sail. In sailing trials she beat three fast boats: the King’s barge, a large pleasure boat, and a man-of-war’s boat. This [Pg 153]“double-bottom,” also called a “sluiceboat” or“cylinder,” was later lengthened at the stern to make her 30 feet overall.
This page is largely about Robert Fultons steam driven twin hulled warship built during the war of 1812 which predates Herreshoff by 50 years. So everything I thought about the history of the modern catamaran was wrong. This is absolutely a great read. BOB

[webejammin]

While europeans fought over land in the BC times the orientals were discouvering more countries and islands to settle. I wonder if the Egypatians were building catamarans and trimarans when they built some of there party barges in the time of the pyramids. The europeans were held back by religion and there thinkng the earth was flat, where as the orientals and other societies learning and discouvery was honored and created the first usable catamarans, kind of like today with the politisions cutting back on school funding for the masses to gain more control. Ah the ups and downs of knowledge.

[beiland]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

... I would love more pics, paintings or drawings of Herreshoff

Here are a couple more references to Amarylis that I put on my website.

Amarylis - How the Yachting Wonder of 1876 was Conceived and Built

Nathanael Herreshoff's revolutionary catamaran design of 1876, Amaryllis.

Had some more pics, but don't know where they are right now.

[Sand crab]

Those crazy guys started a new thread on Boatdesign about vintage multis. I had contributed to this thread and ones over there.
Historical multihulls - Page 2 - Boat Design Forums
Here's a treat from there.

[SearenitySail]

Sandcrab,

Maybe this can help with your modern multihull history book.

Got this in Gregor Tarjan's newsletter (aeroyacht.com) a while ago.

Posted it on Multihulls 4 Us forum, but thought you and some forum members here might be interested.

Golden Oldies Multihull web site is in French:
GOM

I put it into google translator for French to English:

http://translate.google.com/translat...noldies.biz%2F

Marshall

[Sand crab]

This beautiful cat from 1877 was just posted over at the Boatdesign site. They say it surreptitiously entered a race and 'dusted' the other boats.
Historical multihulls - Page 43 - Boat Design Forums

[Sand crab]

Another pic of Duster from 1877. Lifted from Boatdesign. That thread is so cool. Historical multihulls - Page 48 - Boat Design Forums

[valhalla360]

Before we can define the first, we must first define what it is the first of.

Are they allowed to borrow from Polynesian design?
How old is it before it is no longer modern?
You've ruled out logs but what about dug outs?
Are there other hull construction techniques to be ruled out?
What purpose must they be built for (beach cat, cruising, cargo)?

[Sand crab]

More on Duster. Lifted from Boatdesign.

What a delightful thread! Some comments on Duster and Zarifa/Zarefa.

Duster: There is indeed precious little published material about Duster. What there is all seems to cover the fall of 1894, leading me to believe that W. L. Oliver's photos also date from around that time and not from the late 1870s as is commonly assumed. Note also, that the dry plate which was a requisite for making photos on the water was not yet common in the 1870s, which lends further support to the notion that the Duster photos date from the 1890s or the 1880s.

Duster was invited to participate in a regatta on Oakland Creek on September 16, 1894:

"The Oakland Navy's regular monthly race went off yesterday [September 16, 1894] with the usual amount of excitement. The start was made at 2 p.m., with twelve at the line, three in the red class and nine in the white. ... In the white class the Fredie was the first to get off, crossing 35 seconds after the gun, followed by the Duster at 37 seconds, the Dreamer at 50 seconds, Flash at 53 seconds, Dan at 1 minute, the Whirlwind at 1 minute and 25 seconds, and the Myth at 1 minute and 35 seconds. ... The Duster led this class all the way around on the first half, and went to the front of the fleet on the work home, winning by over five minutes. She is the catamaran that has been seen in these waters lately, and if pushed yesterday could have done much better. This craft is not one of the regular entries in the navy, but went over the course by courtesy of the committee. The regular winner was the Flash, which won by over two minutes from the Nemesis, with the Dan third. ..." (Source: Anon. "The Navy Race. An Exciting Regatta On Oakland Creek Yesterday." San Francisco Morning Call, September 17, 1894, p. 8.)

The next weekend Duster was present at the regatta of the San Francisco Yacht Club off Sausalito. She capsized before the start and was immediately righted again and continued to sail, but did not race:

"... One of the most peculiar accidents ever witnessed occurred shortly after noon. The catamaran Duster was cavorting about the harbor having a real enjoyable time when a squall struck her opposite Hurricane gulch and turned her over. The captain who is a rare sport was out on the leeward boat with a friend of his and their united weight made the craft topheavy and over she went. The funniest part of the accident was that the men on board did not even get their feet wet. As the catamaran turned they walked up and were on the bottom when the Duster settled down wrong side up with care. A number of boats put out to the scene of disaster and the Rover's dingy was first to reach the inverted Duster. It only required a few minutes to right the catamaran and her sporty skipper was soon wiling away as if nothing had happened. ..." (Source: Anon. "A Great Race and The Wind Played All Sorts of Tricks. Catamaran Capsized and the Grade Turned Over." San Francisco Chronicle, September 24, 1894, p. 8.)

Now to Zarifa/Zarefa: She is the real McCoy! Zarifa (sometimes called Zarefa) is one of the four catamarans built by N. G. Herreshoff's catamaran company in 1878! Originally intended for himself for racing in the 1877 New York Bay Regatta, he sold her to Robert Hall of Howe & Hall, a loan brokerage company in San Francisco. Zarifa was shipped to the West Coast on the Abner I. Benyon which left New York on August 16, 1878 and arrived at San Francisco on January 6, 1879, making her the first modern catamaran to round Cape Horn...

Zarifa quickly began sailing on San Francisco Bay (she was skippered by one of the Stofen brothers) and her great speed soon made her well known. In April 1879 she participated in the San Francisco Yacht Club's cruise from Sausalito to Vallejo, but had to be run aground off Point Pissol when her centerboard case started leaking. Watertight bulkheads were put in and she was soon repaired. But, built for more gentle Long Island conditions, Zarifa was clearly overpowered for sailing in the boisterous summer conditions on San Francisco Bay. On June 8, 1879 she broke her mast when returning from Martinez and had to be towed home where she was repaired again. Meanwhile club members continued to puzzle how to class her and came up with the wise solution of putting her in her own catamaran class. Which lead to her "winning" her class in the August 9, 1879 regatta of the San Francisco Yacht Club ... where she was the only competitor! After this regatta Zarifa dropped out of the public limelight.

Wouldn't it be interesting to go through the records of the San Francisco Yacht Club and see if there is more material concerning Zarifa/Zarefa?

[Factor]

Have a read of Vaka, the story of a voyaging canoe - by Sir Thomas Davis. Historical novel about the building and use by a number of generations of polynesian people of a voyaging multihull. Puts the whole thing into a bit of perspective.