SPEED-BOAT WONDER

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 220, 31 August 1932, Page 4

SPEED-BOAT WONDER

MISS ENGLAND THE THIRD KAYE DON’S ACHIEVEMENT OVER 119 MILES AN HOUR. London, July 19. Conditions were perfect when Mr. Kaye Don and bis mechanic, Dick Garner, made theit attempt on the water speed record on Loch Lomond. It was shortly after 5 a.m. when they made their first run. The week had been a very anxious one. In her first trial Miss England 111 so alarmed the spectators that they urged Mr Don not to go out in the boat again. She dug her nose in the clam waters, then stood on her tail. She looked as if she would sink at any moment in the depths of the lake. An adjustment was made. Still she lumbered along in her terrifying way. Further modifications, and then—the slipway broke. Then it was discovered that the engines were not being sufficinetly cooled. The scoops at the back of the- boat were not sucking up the water, and the giant power units quickly overheated. A dozen times Mr Don sent the boat hurtling toward the measured mile, only to be compelled to shut off the engines because of tho terrific heat At last the scoops were taken from the back of the boat and placed beside the front step. The effect was immediate and most gratifying. LOCATION OF THE TROUBLE. The water was scooped up and sent through the pipes, in and out of tho .jackets, and expelled through the ports. At last the cooling trouble had been located and cured. Mr. Don, his eageriiess fighting his patience, never gave up hope. When things lookel blackest he said that ho would break the record or break his neck. In his first attempt over the measured mile yesterday his average speed for the two runs in oppo.site directions was 117.43 miles an hour.The previous record, set by Garfielfl A. Wool in American waters, was 111.71 miles on hour.

Tho boat was very soon leaping over the water and gathering speed with lightning rapidity. In a cloud of white foam she flashed toward the measured mile and passed the two timekeepers like a bullet. Back again on the return run she role the water perfectly, and then eased up, waiting for the signal of success or failure. Then a Vere;> pistol fired a green light, signifying that the record had been broken, and cheers echoed round tho sunlit loch, Tho official figures in miles per hour issued by the timekeepers were:— Northward run, 117.10 miles an hour: southward run, 117.76 miles-an hour; average, 117.43 miles an hour.

RESULT OF SECOND EFFORT. Later, not content with his first efforts, Mr. Don took out the boat again, and this time averaged '119.3 miles an hour for the two runs. In the northward run he averaged 120.50 miles an hour, and is therefore tho first man to travel on water at more than two mile* a minute, and on the southward run he averaged 119.12 miles an hour. The equality of the figures proves that the conditions of weather and water must have been ideal for at-, tempts on speed records. In the afternoon again Mr Don attempted to improve on his earlier speeds. New propellers had been fitted, and the attempt was in the nature of an experiment. He made one run over the measured mile- at-a speed of 119.1 miles an hour, but on the return journey came to a standstill through a failure of petrol. It was then decided that uo further attempts should be made to improve on the record. Miss England 111. will now be shipped to America to contest the International Trophy at Detroit ■against Wood’s new Miss America X. in September.