Harmsworth Cup

The Harmsworth Cup, popularly known as the Harmsworth Trophy, is an historically important British International Trophy for Motorboats.

Garfield Wood holding the Harmsworth Trophy

History

The Harmsworth was the first annual international award for motorboat racing. Officially, it is a contest not between boats or individuals but between nations. The boats were originally to be designed and built entirely by residents of the country represented, using materials and units built wholly within that country. The rules were somewhat relaxed in 1949[1] and may have been relaxed further since.

It was founded by Alfred Charles William Harmsworth in 1903.

In 1903, the course was from Cobh (Queenstown) to The marina in Cork. It was a poorly organised affair, with many boats failing even to start due to the British organisers claiming the French boats were not completely built in France, and thus they were excluded from the race. Thus there were three entries, but the organisers insisted in running heats before the final race. Mr F Beadel was excluded from competing in the final despite putting in a better time over the 8 and a half mile course than Thornycroft [2] [3] England won the trophy in 1903 with Dorothy Levitt driving a Napier powered, 40 foot steel hulled boat at 19.53 mph at Queenstown (now Cobh) in Cork harbour, Ireland. It was owned and entered by Selwyn Edge the owner of Napier Motors. France won in 1904. In 1907, it was won by Americans for the first time.[4] The US and England traded it back and forth until 1920. From 1920–1933, Americans had an unbroken winning streak. Gar Wood won this race eight times as a driver and nine times as an owner between 1920 and 1933.

Time Magazine said of the 1920 race: "Many a race between shadowy contraband-carrying rumrunners and swift, searchlight playing patrol boats has been run on the narrow Detroit river. Last week 400,000 persons lined the river's edge to watch millionaires race millionaires."[5]

The Harmsworth was reinstated in 1949[1] and remained in American hands until 1959. In 1959, Canadians won the award.[6] The driver, Bob Hayward, won the Harmsworth again in 1960 and 1961. He died in another race in 1961. The Harmsworth was not run again until 1977, and continued to be run until 1986.[7]

In 1989 it was awarded to Stefano Casiraghi, husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco.

The trophy has been awarded sporadically from 1986 through to 2018, with a total of eleven earned in that time.

Trophy Winners

Napier motor yacht, 1903

Miss America II

Year	Venue	Boat	Owner	Country	Driver(s)	Ave. Speed (mph)
1903	Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland	Napier I	Selwyn Edge	UK	E. Campbell Muir/Dorothy Levitt	19.53
1904	Solent, UK	Trefle-à-Quatre[8]	Emile Thubron	France	Charles-Henri ("Hemri") Brasier	26.63
1905	Arcachon, France	Napier II	Selwyn Edge	UK	Lord Montagu	26.03
1906	Solent, UK	Yarrow-Napier	Lord Montagu	UK	Lord Montagu	15.48
1907	Solent, UK	Dixie I	Edward J. Schroeder	USA	Barkley Pearce	31.78
1908	Huntington Bay, United States	Dixie II	Edward J. Schroeder	United States	Barkley Pearce	31.35
1910	Huntington Bay, USA	Dixie III	Frederick K. Burnham	USA	Frederick K. Burnham	36.04
1911	Huntington Bay, USA	Dixie IV	Frederick K. Burnham	USA	Frederick K. Burnham	40.28
1912	Huntington Bay, USA	Maple Leaf IV	Sir E. Mackay Edgar	UK	Thomas Sopwith Sr	43.18
1913	Osborne Bay, UK	Maple Leaf IV	Sir E. Mackay Edgar	UK	Thomas Sopwith Sr	57.45
1920	Osborne Bay, UK	Miss America I	Garfield Wood	USA	Garfield Wood	61.51
1921	Detroit, USA	Miss America II	Garfield Wood	USA	Garfield Wood	59.75
1926	Detroit, USA	Miss America V	Garfield Wood	USA	Garfield Wood	61.12
1928	Detroit, USA	Miss America VII	Garfield Wood	USA	Garfield Wood	59.33
1929	Detroit, USA	Miss America VIII	Garfield Wood	USA	Garfield Wood	75.29
1930	Detroit, USA	Miss America IX	Garfield Wood	USA	Garfield Wood	77.23
1931	Detroit, USA	Miss America VIII	Garfield Wood	USA	George Wood	85.86
1932	Detroit, USA	Miss America X	Garfield Wood	USA	Garfield Wood	78.49
1933	Detroit, USA	Miss America X	Garfield Wood	USA	Garfield Wood	86.94
1949	Detroit, USA	Skip-a-long		USA	Stan Dollar	94.1
1950	Detroit, USA	Slo-Mo-Shun IV		USA	Lou Fageol	100.6
1956	Detroit, USA	Shanty I		USA	Russ Schleeh	90.2
1959	Detroit, USA	Miss Supertest III	J. Gordon Thompson	Canada	Bob Hayward	104.0
1960	Picton, Canada	Miss Supertest III	J. Gordon Thompson	Canada	Bob Hayward	116.3
1961	Picton, Canada	Miss Supertest III	J. Gordon Thompson	Canada	Bob Hayward	100.2
1977		Limit Up		UK	Michael Doxford
1978		Taurus		Australia	Doug Bricker Doug Bricker
1979		Uno Mint		UK	Derek Pobjoy
1980		Long Shot		USA	Bill Elswick
1981		Satisfaction		USA	Bill Clauser
1982		Popeyes		USA	Al Copeland
1983		Fayva Shoes		USA	George Morales
1984	UK/Bahamas			UK	Hill, Jones & Wilson
1985	UK/Bahamas			UK	Hill, Jones, Wilson & Williams
1986	St. Louis, USA/UK			USA	Seebold/ Seebold, Thornton
1989	Atlantic City, USA	Gancia Dei Gancia		Monaco	Stefano Casiraghi
1993	Cowes, UK	La Nueva		Argentina	Daniel Scioli	91.6[9]
1994	Cowes, UK	BP Marine		Norway	Andreas Ugland	51.3
1995	Cowes, UK	Admiral Casino Tivoli		Austria	Hannes Bohinc	86.56
2002	Cowes, UK	Super Classic 40		Italy	Buonomo/De Simone	52.40
2003	Cowes,UK	Wettpunkt.com		Austria	Hannes Bohinc	78.00
2004	Cowes, UK	Grand Argentina Sony		Italy	Fabio Buzzi/Lord Beaverbrook	75.93
2010	Cowes, UK	Red FPT		Italy	Fabio Buzzi	59.58
2011	Cowes, UK	Cinzano		Germany	Markus Hendricks	65.26

See also

• Henry Seagrave
• Hubert Scott-Paine
• Betty Carstairs

References

1. 1949 Race of the Giants
2. Cork Examiner 13 July 1903
3. 1904 Harmsworth Trophy
4. 1907 Harmsworth Trophy
5. Time Magazine
6. 1959 Harmsworth Trophy
7. All Harsmworth races
8. (the four-leaf clover was the french symbol of Brasier, automobile manufacturer)
9. Cowes Winners 1961-2018

External links

• The iconic Harmsworth Trophy will be awarded in 2018
• 2018 Rules
• The British International Harmsworth Trophy-TRIUMPHS
• The Trustees, British International Harmsworth Trophy
• The Speed Boat Kings at Channel4.com
• The Harmsworth Trophy to be competed for in 2011
• "Racing Boat Like Flying Fish Triumphs For England" Popular Mechanics, November 1930 photo and story of Miss Britain I