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Where it all began! Reproduced with the
permission of Ed Williams-Hawkes |
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I n
1903 John Thornycroft entered the first
running of the Harmsworth Trophy and the
Yachtsman’s Cup Handicap Race for auto-boats
in his cedar planked on an American elm
frame, boat Scolopendra, named after, some
say, a fictitious sea monster. She had a
turtle-back foredeck and pine planked deck
aft, covered with a serge canvas. The
relatively low powered but efficient running
800kg boat had been entered as a substitute,
when the forty footer being built especially
for the contest was not ‘race ready’ (this
boat may have also been named Scolopendra).
Thornycroft & Co were established builders
of steam cars, commercial and military road
vehicles, at Basingstoke; and steel torpedo
boats for various foreign navies, at their
Chiswick Yard on the Thames. Back in 1873,
John Thornycroft produced one of the first
motor torpedo boats, the steam powered, 458
hp, Gitana and she achieved 24 mph. Four
years later, in 1877, Thornycroft took out
several patents for skimming
semi-displacement hulls, and for a
revolutionary semi-submerged propeller. |
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The ‘British International’ Harmsworth
Trophy
The Automobile Club of Great Britain and
Ireland, and its offshoot, the Marine Motor
Association planned to manage a race of
auto-boats for a magnificent new prize, the
Harmsworth Trophy. The race was to be run
along similar lines and rules as automobile
racing’s Gordon Bennett Cup, whose rules and
conditions were in turn duplicated from
sailing’s America’s Cup. The aim of all
three trophies was that the contest should
be a test of nations rather than
individuals, and that the vehicles used
should be constructed in the represented
nation. The inaugural 1903 Harmsworth
auto-boat race was held in Southern Ireland,
as a new dimension to the auto-car Gordon
Bennett Cup race program. |
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S F Edge and the Napier race team were the
current holders of the Gordon Bennett Cup,
‘the greatest automobile race in the World’.
The defence should have been hosted in
England, by the defending nation, but the
government’s enforced ban of speed, in
excess of 10mph, on the public highway,
precluded the possibility. The Automobile
Club decided to switch the races’ venue to
Ireland. Edge entered a boat named after its
engine Napier. The canoe-stern craft was
painted in the new British Napier Gordon
Bennett Racing Team colour of dark green,
this colour was chosen by Edge, as ‘a
tribute to the Emerald Isle’, the race
hosts. The phrase ‘British Racing Green’ and
the expression ‘Gordon Bennett!’ (Synonymous
with surprise), subsequently became a part
of every day language for subsequent
generations of speed freaks. The Harmsworth
Trophy has proved to be the longest standing
competition for high speed motorboats. |
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The first HarmsworthTrophy Races 1903 |
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1st Heat. Three o’clock, Saturday 12 July at
The Battery of the Royal Cork Yacht Club,
Queenstown Road, Ireland. The course was
10.3 miles, one way, up-stream, passing
through the West Passage, with Black and
Marino Points to starboard, to a large crowd
waiting on the Promenade Quay, at the Cork
Marina finish line, on the River Lee. There
was a two knot flood tide flowing upstream.
The start cannon banged and the two boat
standing start was between Durandel and
Napier. Durandel went into the lead. Napier
showed her pace in the calming up-river
water and went through to win by 3 minutes;
Beadle’s Durandel completed the course well
within the maximum fifty minute qualifying
time. |
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2nd Heat. At quarter past three, Saturday 12
July. Due to the German entry Mercedes not
being deemed eligible (due to running a
French hull with a German motor) it was
Thornycroft’s turn to qualify in Scolopendra,
racing against the clock, on her own. If the
qualifying 13 mph minimum speed was beaten a
place in the Final was guaranteed. She
succeeded. |
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3rd Final Heat. At twenty minutes to five,
Saturday 12 July. It was high water and the
stream now slack. Soon after the start, the
Thornycroft launch, Scolopendra went into
the lead. Napier had Alfred Harmsworth’s
close friend, Campbell Muir, at the helm,
and also on board was S F Edge’s close
friend, professional chauffeuse, and the
Womens’ World Land Speed Record holder, Miss
Dorothy Levitt along with owner ‘SF’ in
control of the engine. They soon passed the
leading Thornycroft boat Scolopendra. Napier
soon showed her superiority and went on to
win at an average speed of 24.98 mph,
crossing the line, more than a mile ahead of
the competition, in a time of 24m 44s. In
second place came Scolopendra in 30m 28s
(20.28mph) and third Beadle’s Durandel in
37m 44s (16.37mph). |
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After
the running of the Harmsworth race a
handicap race for a cup donated by
the proprietor of the Yachtsman
magazine was won by SE Olopendra.
She finished in third place on the
water, again 5 minutes behind Edge
but was allowed 11m 50s on Edges
‘scratch’ time and 6m 3s on
Durandel’s handicap. Mr. Charley did
not start the handicap race in
Mercedes as he suffered from a
‘derangement of his machinery’ due
to a lack of lubrication. The craft
SE Olopendra is reported to be still
in the yard of the Berkshire Wooden
Boat business. She is currently
owned by a Mr Bruce Devine of
Montreal and awaiting somebody to
take over the desperately needed
restoration. |
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What a wonderful project to undertake. This
must be the oldest British racing motorboat.
It was later that same year, on 17 December,
1903, that the Wright brothers were to make
the first ever motorised aeroplane flight in
Kittyhawk. |
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