Motor Yachting
Napier expanded into marine engines and launches. In 1903 a S.F. Edge's Napier launch won the inaugural British International Harmsworth Trophy for speedboats at Cork Harbour in Ireland, driven by Dorothy Levitt. She achieved 19.3 mph (31.1 km/h) in a 40-foot (12 m) steel-hulled, speedboat fitted with a 3-blade propeller. As both the owner and entrant of the boat, "S. F. Edge" is engraved on the trophy as the winner. The third crew member, Campbell Muir, may also have taken the controls.
On 8 August 1903 Levitt drove the Napier at Cowes and won the race. She was then commanded to the Royal yacht by King Edward VII where he congratulated her on her pluck and skill, and they discussed the performance of the boat and its potential for British government despatch work.
Later in August Levitt won the Gaston Menier Cupat Trouville, France. This was described as the five mile world's championship of the sea and the prize was $1,750 prize.
In October 1903 Levitt won the Championship of the Seas at Trouville, and the French government bought the boat for £1,000.
The 1905 boat Napier II set the world water speed record for a mile at almost 30 knots (56 km/h).
Read more about this topic: Napier & Son
Famous quotes containing the word motor:
“We disparage reason.
But all the time it’s what we’re most concerned with.
There’s will as motor and there’s will as brakes.
Reason is, I suppose, the steering gear.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)