Photograph by Brown & Dawson
The Police Department of one of the cities on Long Island Sound now has fast motor boats on patrol duty equipped with anti-aircraft guns
August, 1917
Motor Boatmen Guard America’s Coast.............. 7-9 BN ESE POPE R eT CTP TTT LSE ek 10 Hydro-aeroplanes To Free the World................ 11-12 Thirteen Seconds Ahead in 270 Miles...............4. 13-14 Vacationing in a 12-Foot Skiff.....................4- 15-16 A 50-Foot Military Express Cruiser................4-: 17 An Attractive 75-Foot Motor Yacht................... 18 A Few of the New Boats of 1917.............e.ccee0 19 An Auxiliary That’s Different. ............0...8s..005. 20 My Ideal Cruiser—No. 7, Cygnet................0005: 21-22 Bie. Oar a: Tiee Creteet ccc icacdcccgscsescacea 23-24 Amorita, An Attractive High-Speed Runabout......... 24
Prize Contest in Questions and Answers:
Keeping the Wood Surface Bright............... 25-26
The Motor Driven Club Tender.................. 26-27
Comfortable Sleeping Quarters........:......... 27-29 A Heavy-Duty Sterling Motor................ eke 30 A. New Crudoaill Hamiitisccccvdssnccrsndseuasstwnnes 30 The Newest Sunbeam Aero Motors.................6. 31 Motor Patrol Boat Navigation....................246- 32 New Things for the Motor Boatman.................. 33 Changes in Aids to Navigation.................-2005 34 Yard & Shem 0+ ca pvesaensa cd lea aes ein tise weie 35-37 Thousands of Motor Boats are Latensed............... 50
August, 1917
Entered as second-class matter at New York, N. Y., Post Office.
G. L. Willson, President Telephone: Bryant 6000
15 cents a copy.
MPR
BOATING THE NATIONAL MAGAZINE OF MOTOR BOATING
Copyright, 1917, by International Magazine Co. (MoToR BoatinG). Published Monthly by International Magazine Company, 119 West Fortieth Street, New York City W. G. Langdon, Secretary
Subscription, $1.50 a year. Extra Canadian postage, 50 cents. Extra foreign postage, $1.00.
Vol. XX, No. 2
S. S. Carvalho, Treasurer Cable Address: Motoria
5
MorR BoarinG AucustT, 19]7
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. Co-ordinating speed with seaworthiness and struction, these MILIT. ARY TYPE EXPRESS CR ISERS represent a distin@ i vement in boats of this size and type. Rough weather but adds to the thrill of a voyage, an extended cruise but prolongs the pleasure.
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To own such a craft is enjoyment unqualified—an appre- ciation of the utmo&t in cruising never to be forgotten.
Our bine apne MILITARY TYPE EXPRESS CRUISER I accommodates a party of Oe ons 2 Sar © two. In outward grace and interior elegance it defies a portrayal of the ideal more harmoniously complete. It has a speed of twenty to twenty-four miles per hour.
BOOKLET No. 555 A describes and illustrates this Cruiser in full detail. A copy will Le forwarded upon application without the incurrence of any obligation.
ASK FOR-BOOKLET No. 222 A if your intereé is in our smaller Forty-Foot Cruiser accommoda‘ing a party of six and having a speed of twenty to twenty-two miles per hour.
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Great Lakes BoatBuilding Corporation
LWAWAMNAEeE, wim. Designers and Builders of Boats of Distinction and Quality
When writing to advertisers please mention MoToR BoatinG, the panes Magazine of Motor Boating Advertising Index will be found on page 38
Miss Porcupine, James Simpson's latest creation, built for J. P. Bickell, of Toronto.
Photograph by Rosenfeld With a four-cylinder motor a speed better than 35 miles
per hour is obtained
Motor Boatmen Guard America’s Coast
The Naval Coast Defense Reserve in the First District Already on a War Basis—The Hard aad Practical Daily Work of the Reservist in New England
By Herbert L. Baldwin Photographs by G. A, Walton and A. J. Egan
IFE at sea and ashore with the citizen-sailors that are manning the fast motor boats of the United States Naval Reserve Force patrol and submarine chaser fleet is far
from being a pleasure cruise. It is a far different task than it appears to the ordinary citizen who sees a speedy motor boat scooting from a harbor with a nattily attired ensign at the wheel and a crew of white-capped and blue-jacketed sea- men on deck. It is a new work for the motor boat and its crew—a form of cruising that furnishes a startling antithesis to the cruising that the motor boat enthusiast or civilian knows or can imagine.
The civilian sees the patrol boat from a harbor ferry or as it rushes past his summer home at the beachside. But he sees nothing of the seemingly endless hours of tedious drill and training ashore or the dangers to which these craft and their crews are put when they are outside the harbors for hours, day and night, in storms and in seas that the boats were not designed to combat.
It is with the life of the men and with the duties of these motor boats—former pleasure craft—that I intend to deal in this article, It has been my privilege to have free access to, and to spend days at the training stations of the reserves of the First Naval District. With a photographer I was fortunate enough to be one of the first two civilians permitted at sea, among the nets and mines, with the Naval Reserve fleet. The days that I spent, afloat and ashore, with the men and boats of the Naval Saas fleet have convinced me—and my convic- tions are borne out by statements of naval officials—that the motor boat is the ideal craft for coast patrol duty. It’s economi-
cal, it’s fast, and, what is all important, it’s serviceable, naval officers say.
Last summer practically all of the motor boats which now make up the Naval Reserve were pleasure craft, with gay men
and women of cruising = aboard. Their white-coated hulls nosed in and out of New England’s harbors or cruised about in the bays. At the approach of storm or gale they sought the shelter of a harbor.
Now they’re gray-hulled scouts of Uncle Sam’s Navy, on duty in all kinds of weather and subjected to hardships and buffeting, the mere suggestion of which would have horrified their former owners.
A few weeks ago their crews were working in office_and factory ‘or studying at college. Some of them are married, and have wives and children who met the 5:15 and its load of commuters every night. Some of them were professional men —doctors, lawyers, dentists and what not. Some of them were college boys living on the “Gold Coast” at Harvard or lounging in luxuriously furnished dormitories and frat rooms at Cor- nell, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth and other colleges. Some of them were bankers, managers of factory and office. Some of them were errand boys. A lot of them were Provincetown or Gloucester fishermen, or toiled on the tugs and pleasure craft that ply in New England waters.
Now they’re all wearing the blue of the United States Navy. Some of the boys wear officers’ gold braid, some of the pro- fessional college men the blue of the ordinary seamen, and vice versa. In the navy they’re all on the same footing, all of them braving the same hardships and facing the same
7
“ Motor Boatmen Guard America's Coast
dangers. ~They’re-all doing-their- bit for their-country. pencing a 3-pounder on the forward deck of a patrol boat.
aval officials are loud in their praise of the motor craft. Despite all the extraordinary duty which the boats, their gasoline engines and their crews have been called upon to perform not a one of them has failed. The officials declare that from now on, even after the war is ended, these motor-driven scout craft, or boats similar to them, will form an important part of the nation’s nautical coast defense. The day of the expen- sive-to-operate coal-burning or oil-burning destroyer for coast patrol work is ended, they predict. In its place will be the motor boat with its speed, its flexibility, and its efficiency and economy. : It was in April that the first of the reserves in the First Naval District—which extends from Eastport,
Semaphore signaling from the bridge of a
matrel boat. All Reservists-must~ understand
signal work, which includes semaphore, wig- wag, and blinker light
Me., to Chatham, Mass.—began to as- semble, and when the first of the motor boats underwent their transformation into fighting ships. The spacious clubhouse and grounds of the Eastern Yacht Club at Marblehead Neck, Mass., were turned over to the naval authorities and Lieutenant J. O. Porter and his assistant, Ensign Charles K. Cummings, started the work of estab- lishing the good ship “U. S. S. Marble- ‘
‘ head.” Their work was. met: with-many, ~ obstacles.
Chief among these was the hue and cry raised by relatives and friends of the youths who had enrolled for what they thought was a pleasure cruise. Instead they found hard work and duty. - It was * not more than a month before scores of youths learned that mere money and a boat given to the government by. an admir-
inig father or philanthropic citizen does not make skilled naval
ofhcers or even ordinary seamen. Pampered youths were dis- mayed when they found that, instead of stepping from civilians’ clothes into. the naval uniform and thence to the. deck of a patrol boat or chaser, there were days of hard and tedious
training ashore to be faced. Not a few frantically besought .
their parents to obtain their release.
The final blow to the pride and anticipations of some of these particular youths came with the abolishment of the “unit” system. Scores.of youths had formed cliques and en- rolled as a “unit,” intending to man some particular boat.. One of their number obtained a commission as ensign, It was
not long before een officials found that such “units”
were woefully inefficient and that many wealthy young men who had obtained ensigns’ berths were not as fit to command and navigate the speedy motor boats as were some of the fishermen’s boys from the seaports.
It was some weeks before the first of the motor boats was ready, with guns installed, for service, and during this time the “hardships”—in reality no hardships at all but just the change from easy civilian life to the more strict and severe
Coxswain P. H. Hartley, of Stockton, Mo., and Seaman S. P. Sears, of Quincy, Mass., enjoying a few minutes off duty aboard Talofa. The piano, claimed to be the smallest one in the U. S. Navy, makes
S. P. Cossack, one of the fastest motor boats in the patrol service.
S. P. stands for Sectional Patrol
MoToR BoatinG for August, 1917
ph Horween, the noted Harvard fullback; Mate E. H. Ellison, Jr., of Duxbury,
ass., and Stearns Poor, of West Newton, Mass.
real music
life in the navy i war time—of the men brought numer- ous investigations. To add to the prob- lems confronting the naval officials men enrolled for the re- serve clamored for active service afd hundreds were or- dered into uniform for-whom. there was
-no - accommodation
at the training sta-
* tions. Marblehead
Neck was soon over- crowded and out-of- door shelters were’ constructed for the
. hammocks .- of, the
men. To relieve the congestion the mam-
The Reservists are
' —
—
i -_m™ F
__ | ee Ww
' 3) «8 te 8
ice.
MoToR BoatinG for August, 1917
Crew of the U. S. N. R. F. patrol boat Talofa
From left to right: Ensign Esterbrook; Radio operator Poor, of West Newton, Mass.; Cox- swain Hartley, of Stockton, Mo.; Machinist Mate McDonald, of Worcester; Seaman Cate, of Brookline, Mass.; Seaman Snow, of Stoneham, Mass.; Ensign Wheeler, of New York. Front row, left to right: J. B. Burnham, Newton Center, Mass.; Ralph Horween; S. P. Sears, of : Quincy, Mass., and Gunner's Mate E. H. Ellison, Jr., of Duxbury, Mass.
——
moth Commonwealth Pier at Boston was thrown open ‘to the reserves. Neither place was constructed to accommodate such numbers as were sent to them and the sanitary and health conditions became alarming.
The officials in charge did everything in their power to remedy the conditions, but despite this the men chafed under the seeming inactivity of constant train- ing. The complaints and investigations continued. It was finally decided to move all the reserves to Bumkin Island, Hull, in Boston harbor, and there they are to-day. The Burrage Children’s Hospital was located on the island and the entire building and the spacious expanses of the island have been turned over to the government. There to-day is the base from which all the reservists of this district go to duty afloat. There Lieutenant Porter has an ideal
. training camp.
Despite all the alarm of unsanitary and crowded training quarters there were less than a half-dozen deaths among the thousands of men enrolled in the reserve and to-day they are a husky, healthy, and for the most part well-trained lot of men that naval officials are mighty
proud of. Their life, both afloat and ‘in training ashore, is serious business and hard work, but there’s a lot of pleasure mixed in with it.
The day of the recruit at the training station ashore starts early and continues late. At 5:15 the guard calls the officer of the day from his bed and the mates and the hammock stowers turn out. Fifteen minutes later a bugle sounds reveille and the “smoking lamp”—a mythical apparatus in the modern
A squad of reservists at battalion drill at the Eastern Yacht Club, Marblehead,
Cook Philip Cate, of Brookline, Mass., doing his bit aboard the U. S
Motor Boatmen Guard America’s Coast 9
navy—is lighted. Many a recruit has sought in vain for the “smoking lamp” only to have his mates explain with a smile that it’s a relic of the old days of the sailing ships. When the “smoking lamp” is “lighted” one may smoke aboard ship (or around the training station as the case may be)—when it’s “out” smoking is taboo.
The drill periods include squad drill, battalion drill, gun drill, bayonet drill, rope tying and splicing, boat drills, cutter drills, rowing drills, landing drills, drill with the 1-pounder and ‘3-pounder guns and all the things that the duties of a naval man demand that he shall’know how to do. Before a man is allowed to leave the training station he has a pretty fair knowledge of what he is going to face and what has to be done when the is aboard ship.
Of food the reserves have a plenty. All during the five months that: they have been in service not a complaint has been made regarding the food, except, perchance,-a howl from some discontented youth who found that planked steaks and wine were
Using the reservists to build their own barracks at Bumkin
Island, ‘Boston Harbor
not and are not daily occurrences at meal time in the navy.
Here’s a sample menu at the train- ing station:
Breakfast— Baked beans, fruit, bread and butter, corn bread, coffee.
Dinner — Soup (cream of tomato), roast beef, mashed potato, creamed corn, bread and butter, coffee.
Supper—Steam- ed frankfurters, ftied potatoes, cold beans, fruit, tea.
And there are al- ways “seconds” for those who want them. “Seconds,” in case any reader doesn’t know, con-
N. R. F. patrol boat Talofa sists of a second
helping. ; Athletic sports, a piano, a victrola and other things
make the off-duty hours of the training reservists pleasant.
Every man gets his share of standing watch, which
consists of pacing a post on the shores of the island
(Continued on page 48)
(9g 2604 99S) » “ON —SAMeS 10440d 4010N s.Quyvog HOLOW
sawoy "H wounm &9 Susused
MoToR BoatinG for August, 1917
ar) punoy ou
Painting by William H. Foster
MoToR BoatinG’s Motor Patrol Series—No. 4 (See page 36)
MoToR BoatinG for August, 1917
ll
Hydro-aeroplanes to Free the World
The American Government Plans to Spend Nearly a Billion Dollars for Aviation—A New Industry About to Take Life Which Will Soon Reach Gigantic Proportions
EN thousand fully trained and equipped
American aviators on the western front
are needed to give the Allies decisive victories. This end will be achieved by carrying out major aerial operations against German military centers, military bases and railroads; at the same time that 10,000 prop- erly equipped naval aviators inaugurate major aerial operations against the German fleet and the U-boat bases.
This much is now generally accepted and during the last six weeks the American pub- lic, through the press of the country, has given its approval of the plan.
The Aircraft Pro- duction Board of the United States has made a plan which provides for carrying out about one-third of what must be done. Congress has been asked for $639,000,000 with which to execute the first part of the plan, which is to train about 10,000 aviators for the western front.
In a recent letter to the writer, Senator George E. Chamber- lain, Chairman of the Senate Committee on military affairs, states that he believes the funds will be given for aeronautics by Congress as fast as they are needed. President Wilson himself has asked Secretary Baker to push the project. A body of 125 mechan- ical experts has been sent to Europe to study the methods of production of aircraft there. The French and British Governments have sent about twenty expert aviators to the United States to assist in training the American aviators.
Time is the only precious element that is not plentiful. Therefore we must make haste,
and we must concentrate all our efforts to that one end—to train 20,000 American avi- ators and build 100,000 American aeroplanes with which to strike Prussia through the air. It is to be hoped that the navy department
Rear Admiral Fiske’s torpedoplane, a number of which would lessen the
U-boat menace by making an effective raid on the German fleet and
U-boat bases
Aeroplane with droning motos pushing its way upward through the cloud bank, 10,000 feet above the earth, piloted by Captain
Guynemer,
By Alan R. Hawley
Fresident, Aero Club of America
will soon submit to Congress a plan for train- ing aviators and building seaplanes similar to the army’s project and that the army pro- posal will be extended to provide for placing orders for 40,000 aeroplanes.
The proposed army aerial program only aims to procure 22,500 aeroplanes. That is not a sufficient number with which to train and equip the 10,000 aviators needed for major aerial operations on the western front. It will take an average of one machine to train each avi- ator, and three machines to equip each aviator, making a total of 40,000 planes that should
France's premier aviator
be provided for major aerial operations on land.
It is now generally understood that decisive victory against Germany can only be. achieved through major aerial operations against the German fleet and U-boat bases. These operations must be con- ducted at the samé time that major aerial oper- ations are launched against the German mili- tary centers, military bases and railroads on land. Steps should be taken imme- diately to provide for training and equipping the 10,- 000 naval aviators needed for the aerial operations against the Ger- man fleet and U- boat bases.
When it was first suggested that 100,000 aeroplanes would be needed to make it possible to strike Germany through the air and thereby secure
decisive victories, a pian which was approved by the whole country, was formulated. Plans were instituted to mobilize the aeronautic and allied industries, so that the plan to build 100,- 000 aeroplanes could be put into effect in the shortest time possible. Realizing the im- portance of producing a large number of air- craft without delay, manufacturers all over the country offered their facilities. For the last month factoriés have been waiting for or- ders, and within ninety days after the plac- ing of such orders they will be able to pro- duce 3,000 aeroplanes a month, and two months later, 6,000 aeroplanes a month.
If this construc- tional project is only to provide 23,500 aeroplanes, then these aeronautic manufac- turing facilities will be lost, since it»is a costly proposition to hold factories idle, waiting for orders.
For major aerial
Small odd type hy- dro-aeroplane,:to be used as a scout, now being tested. It car- ries but one man and geste speed of
m.p.h. to get o the water. Speed in the air not yet de- termined
operations against the German fleet and U-boat - bases, there will be required thou- sands of seaplanes of the largest-type~being built to-day. To manufacture these machines there will be a demand for a large amount of lumber, which. will require months to dry properly and other. materials which need considerable time to prepare. - While there is an abundance of green lumber and raw materials, there is hardly any dry lumber to be had, therefore, the orders for the thou- sands of aeroplanes needed should be’ placed as early as is possible, so that the manufacturers can get the lumber and dry it immediately. It is an accepted fact that aircraft are to play an important part in obtaining decisive victories against Germany, and that they can be produced in less time than any other weapon.
machines and motors:
12
We also know that if the war should only be shortened by one week through our spend- ing two billion dollars on aircraft—although we believe’ that with sufficient planes and avi- ators, the war can be shortened by a year— there would be a saving of tens of thousands of lives and tens of billions of dollars.
Henry Woodhouse, member of the Board of Governors of the Aero Club of America, and author of the Textbook of Naval Aero- nautics, has outlined the seven most important factors in producing aircraft in large quantities as follows:
(1) Placing orders for continuous deliveries over a period of three years:
To make it possible for manufacturers to develop their production facilities in propor- tion with the needs, the government must place orders for aircraft extending over a period of three years, the types of machines to be built to be subject to change, but the orders not to be subject to cancellation, except in the event of the war ending, when the government may cancel the orders, indemnifying the man- ufacturers for any losses involved. As the government has it in its power to limit the profits and regulate the opera- tion of factories, it will not be involved in losses in adopting a three years’ pro- gram of construction. In this way it can obtain an efficient .and sufficient manu- facturing machinery, which will make it possible to turn out the thousands of aeroplanes needed to give the Allies the balance of power.
(2) Adoption’ of standard types of
Types that have already proved to be suc- cessful should be adopted and produced with- out attempting ‘any changes until better ma- chines have been developed in the experimental department.
To train the thousands of aviators in France, England and Canada, as well as in the United States, there will be, needed thousands of ma- chines of the “penguin” type, and tens of thousands of the advanced training type. The Allies have already agreed on the adoption of the Curtiss J-N-machine for advanced train- ing, and will need tens of thousands of these. Then there are needed thousands of training machines for the training of naval aviators and tens of thousands of the small combat type; of the large three-passenger armed aircraft now being used for photography, spotting artil- lery fire, reconnoitering, and other purposes, and of the very large bombing machines ca-
Hydro-aeroplanes to Free the World
pable of making long-distance raids. For the naval onerations there will also be needed thousands of medium-sized machines for aerial coast patrol work and for long-distance bomb- ing raids, as well as large torpedoplanes and seaplanes for long-distance bombing raids. ;
(3) Experienced aeronautic engineers and aeronautic constructors: .
Experience in aeroplane building is a most valuable factor, and every aeroplane plant that has manufactured aeroplanes, no matter how small the production, should be given orders large enough to permit expansion of manu- facturing facilities to the fullest extent.
(4) Experienced men in quantity production are needed to create large sources of supply for aircraft:
To avoid the failures experienced by large
Clinton D. Backus, who, su pported by contribu- tions from patriotic c iti- zens, or- ganized Aerial
Unit No. 3, at Mastic, L. 1. Prominent college men are now in active training, and members of corps enlisted in the Naval Reserve are studying to be officers, and ready for the government's call
production firms who have taken up the manu- facturing of aeroplanes and motors in the past, arrangements should be made to combine the experienced aeronautic talent and the experi- enced production talent. Manufacturing facili- ties without aeronautic manufacturing experi-
MoToR BoatinG for August, 1917
ence will result in failure in efficiency just as aeronautic engineering experience without quantity production experience will fail in pro- duction.
(5) Labor:
The American aeronautic industry to-day has more trained labor than the British aeronautic industry had in the. begirining of 1914, and it should be possible to dilute this trained labor with untrained men and women to take care of the large aerial program now under con- sideration. In aircraft manufacturing the em- ployment of untrained labor not properly supervised by experienced men spells disaster and means death to aviators.
(6) Materials and supplies:
There may be an excuse for our not having dry lumber, aeroplane cloth and other mate- rials necessary for aeroplanes at present, but there will be no excuse if we do not have it in six months from now. The seriousness of the situation forbids that we allow the important work of securing materials and supplies to be delayed, and it will avail nothing to the country
or to the cause of the Allies to give ex- cuses or justification for not having the materials and supplies on hand when they are needed. For instance, there are hundreds of millions of feet of spruce available, but it has to be properly dried and it would be too much to ask of lumber dealers to undertake to dry it and get it ready for aircraft manufacturing if the government does not consider it necessary to take steps to give reason- able assurance to the dealers that the lumber will be used. (7) Manufacturing facilities: Manufacturing facilities for aeroplanes are available to a tremendous extent, but not so much for the manufacturing of motors, metal parts, etc. Buildings and machinery are costly and take some time to get. Manufacturers should be given assurance of orders immedi- ately so that they may be able to get manufac- turing facilities.
It is well to repeat that the one essential thing to insure quantity production is the one thing which only the government can supply and which it never before did supply, and that is large orders for aircraft extending over a definite period, for the largest production pos- sible, but without penalization of manufacturers or red tape obstacles.
The orders must extend over a definite period of time and every effort must be made to prevent the waste of manufacturing facili- ties, such as there has been.
U, S. Aircraft Production Board which will co-ordinate the work of aeroplane manufacturers for war-time efficiency and place contracts for
everything the government buys in aircraft, Detroit; E A. Be
Left to right, A. G. Cable, Chicago, Secretary; R. L. Montgomery, New York; Sidney G. Walden, eds, Dayton, Ohio; Rear Admiral David W. Taylor, chief of the bureau of construction and repair, Navy; Brig. Gen. Geo. O. Squier, of the Army; and Howard E. Coffin, Chairman
MoToR BoatinG for August, 1917
13
Thirteen Seconds Ahead in 270 Miles Eight Cruisers Fight for the Speed Supremacy in the New York-Albany and Return Race— Luetta Wins the Time Prize and Heleentje the Corrected-Time Trophy
ONG distance racing came back to its own in the recent event on the Hud-
son from New York to Albany and return. Not for many a year has there been so many starters, so much enthusiasm and as close finishes. And for the first time in the history of the Albany race—the classic race is now in its tenth year— every boat which started made the circuit of 270 miles and crossed the finish line, still in the race.
As usual the fastest boat did not win. Engine reliability as well as the energy of the crews played a large part. Each helped, but it was the boat which had the best combina- tion of the two that reached the finish line first.
A motor, new as far as long distance racing is concerned in Metropolitan waters, estab- lished itself once for all in the estimation of all motor boat- men who heard of its per- formance. A three-cylinder
Grand Republic, which has done service on the Hud- son for 40 years, gave the racers a hearty salute
Frisbie, stowed away under the cockpit floor of Luetta, the winner of the time prize, so far out of reach of human hands that it could be oiled only with the greatest difficulty, did the trick. To do more than oil was almost beyond human power without practically put- ting the boat out of the race. Yet a few mo- ments before the starting gun her flywheel was given a quarter turn by hand, and it was not until nearly thirty hours later that the throttle was touched with one single excep- tion, when Luetta was slowed down for a few moments near Athens in order to let those at the wheel be sure whether it was a floating city or a circus on wheels coming down the river. But as soon as the deck force discovered it was only a Standard Oil tug with a tow of oil barges, all of which were showing every conceivable light except those which they should have, they threw open the throttle once more and the motor returned to her grind of 550 r.p.m. once more. At that speed she re- mained without a miss for the entire trip.
By Charles F. Chapman
Luetta, winner of the time prize and second on corrected time by seconds
Nothing could have been more per- fect. Even the clock-like regularity and rhythmic click of the moving parts impressed one so much that it was several hours after the finish had been reached before he realized that it was all over. Twenty-nine and a half hours, running at full speed
without an ad- justment ex- cept a little oil- ing, “every hour on the hour” is a rec- ord for any motor in a “5 cruiser.
i Fs Strictly speak- ~~) ing the Albany “ae: §6race is not a : race as the term is generally un- derstood these days by the layman. It is more of an en- durance contest for craft and power plants, primarily de- signed and built for com- fortable cruis- ing and having almost every other qualifica- tion except ex- treme speed.
The race was first run in 1909 before the ad- vent of the ex- press cruiser or high speed mo- tor, and even before the in- ternal combus- tion motor was as reliable and respected as it is to-day. The Albany race has always been noted for its attractiveness for these essen- tials, and while many theories have been ad- vanced as to the reason for falling off in the interest in racing, yet this Hudson River event has steadily held its own, and is. as popular to-day as ever. Only once did the high speed cruiser attempt to break in, and this was two years ago when Flyaway III made her world’s long distance which has never since been equalled in a race. But this performance
Mabelle V, Helen B and Kittie C Il crossing the line, neck and neck
Thirteen Seconds Ahead in 270 Miles
MoToR BoatinG for August, 1917
A quartering view of Luetta as seen by the rest of the fleet of racers. Insert shows the owner after sticking faithfully to his post for 29 hours
tended to scare away the small and b<althy craft the following year. regatta committee very wisely limited the
race to out-and-out cruisers.
The event this year was also watched with interest, as it was the first held under the new handicapping rules adopted by the Ameri- can Power-Boat Asso- ciation last winter. The results were very gratifying and showed that the rules give much more equitable results than were even expected. The winner on corrected time won by only 28 minutes in 270 miles, and most of that can be accounted for in the delay of the second boat in getting gasoline at Albany. The third boat on cor- rected time was only 13 seconds behind the second boat, and so on down the list. The winner was a low rater, but the second boat was next to scratch, so the new rules no longer give all the advantage to the low rating boats at the expense of those which rate high.
The first Albany race was held in 1909 in which contest eight cruisers and five open
This season the
UNITED STATES POWER SQUADRON FROM NEW YORK emen
A DiST_ BY CHART! TIME [ABEAM OF
2.00 INY Meter Boat Club 247 3.31] Fiermont 4.15 [Rockland let
5.05] er planks Pe o10|West Pint Lt 6.56] Newburgh | 8.23] Rougheepsie| 953] Kingston 11.00} Saugerties
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PRICE 25 CENTS
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boats started. Three of these fell by the way- side and Elmo II finished in 30 hours, 50 minutes, making the best time.
LOG BOOK. ALBANY
The follow-
MOTOR WACHT .VETTA 6 } Le a
6-30-17
DATE 7-1-17 BAR.
Bet 29.95 |
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A reproduction of a page from Luetta’s log book. Many owners would do well to study this and plan to keep as complete a record of their trips
ing year eleven cruisers started, of which only seven finished. Fog encountered during the upper reaches of the river cut the best run-
A minute after the gun which sent the boats off on their 270-mile voyage.
ning time down to 32 hours, 17 minutes, the time prize winner again being Elmo II. 1911, motor boat racing was at its height, and
In
twenty-three boats went over the starting line —a world’s record for a long distance race—twenty of which successfully negotiated the 270-mile route. Ex- cellsior won the time prize in 27 hours 56 minutes.
1912 saw the record lowered by 21 minutes by Thistle, which won over 18 starters, seven of which withdrew be- fore the finish. A year later, Blue Peter V startled the world by finishing in 23 hours 55 minutes in a field of 10 starters, three of which failed to return. In 1914 Fabius was home first in the cruis- er class of eight, nos- ing out Thistle which was held up in the last 100 yards by a river steamer, after she had trailed Thistle for most of the distance. Fabius’ time was 23 hours 41 minutes 50 seconds, and Thistle’s 32 seconds slower.
Flyaway III knocked spots out of all records