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Mike Langley of Mesa, AZ started a recent posting thread regarding his purchase of HMS 18 #2 through IM which previously belonged to John Wheeler of Santa Cruz, who called it "Old #2."
Since the lineage of all HMS-18s and West Wight Potter 19s runs through this boat which was built in 1970, I'll report some research which shows the significance of this boat.
HMS 18 #1 (photograph below, from Judy Blumhorst's article at http://www.blumhorst.com/potterpages/p19_history.htm) was apparently the HMS 18 prototype which belonged to its designer in southern California, Herbert M. Stewart ("HMS"). Does anyone know anything about the location or individuals in the photo?
After producing the fiberglass versions of the West Wight Potter 14 (which he licensed from Stanley Smith for US distribution) during the 1960s, in 1970 Herb Stewart designed the HMS 18 as an enlarged version of the Potter 14 with some important differences, including the heavy drop down daggerboard and higher freeboard. Thus, unlike the little Potter, the big Potter was not "born" on the Isle of Wight, but rather is a California native.
As you can see Stewart's #1 prototype had no number on it and it has the same v-neck sweater style hull paint design as Harry Gordon's 1967 P-14 #234 "Manatee."
I am unsure whether #2 originally had this paint design as well, but obviously Mike Langley's photograph shows a different paint job. Maybe Mike or someone else knows the answer.
Jerry Barrilleaux and Harry Gordon have given us the most information about the early history of the big Potter.
I found a May 16, 2000 post by Harry Gordon which gives some of the flavor ot the start of the big Potter line:
"I bought my P14 in Southern California early in 1970 and moved to the Bay Area later in the year. While still in Southern California, I once launched at Marina del Rey to sail with the SoCal club. As I recall, Herb (I think it was) was there sailing the original HMS-18. The boat was still new and he was telling someone that she proved to be faster than he had expected. I'm pretty sure it was the one and only HMS-18 at the time. The event that day was a race to Santa Monica, so it seemed like a good idea to leave the Seagull ashore so the boat would be lighter, so I did. After considerable tacking we eventually reached the mouth of the harbor. By that time the Potter fleet was halfway to Santa Monica. Then my crew had a panic attack when we hit the ground swells, so we returned to the ramp without ever getting beyond the breakwater. All Potters had three-sided mainsails like mine at that time. Most, maybe all, P14s were gunter rigged. I just checked the HMS-18 brochure in my file. The boat in the photos does not have a sail number. The enclosed price list is dated October 1, 1970. The basic price was $2495.00, but that apparently didn't include the sails, which cost an additional $225 for main and working jib. A lapper was $100, a genoa with hardware was $160. Some other optional items were a trailer for $350, and an outboard bracket for $55. Oh, and the specs show the keel weight as 260 lb. Total weight was 1400 lb. The cover blurb read: THE MAKERS OF THE WEST WIGHT POTTER NOW BRING YOU A NEW EIGHTEEN FOOTER WHICH HAS ALL THE QUALITY AND SAFETY OF THE POTTER -- FOUR LARGE BUNKS, AN AMAZING AMOUNT OF ROOM . . . PLUS A SPEED COMPARABLE WITH MANY LARGER BOATS."
Source: http://potter-yachters.org/archive/200005/0380.html
It appears that the first HMS manufactured for sale was "Old #2." That is a pretty significant boat! It started the commercial line of the big Potters we now sail.
Jerry Barrilleaux as reported by Judy Blumhorst's fine article, states that after about five years of production ending with #71, Herb stopped production of the HMS-18 in 1975 due to the rising price of resin and focused on production of the smaller Potter which had better sales demand. In 1978, Herb sold HMS Marine to Joe Edwards, who "increased" the length of both boats by counting the motor mounts, and resumed production of a modified big Potter in 1981 or 1982 which he named the West Wight Potter 19. The rest is history.
But the whole history of the big Potter started when "Old #2" was first sold.
Who knows, maybe someday Herb's prototype #1 may surface.
The next oldest HMS-18 I am aware of is old #6, which is of course "Jaunty" owned by Westcoaster.
If anyone else has any further information, I think we'd all be interested.
We all owe a debt of gratitude and respect to Jerry Barrilleaux and Harry Gordon for educating us about the history of the boats we own.
Best,
Carl Sundholm
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West Wight Potter Forum
The significance of 1970 HMS-18 #2 for Big Potter History 
Carl Thank you! 