SEGRAVE’S FORESIGHT

Taranaki Daily News, 28 August 1930, Page 13

SEGRAVE’S FORESIGHT

DANGER OF WRECK.AG E. “Speed wi11..-be the keynote of the world in future, and thia country has got to lead if it is going to live," wrote Sir Henry Segrave, who met his death attempting to achieve the motor-boat speed record at Lake Windermere on Friday, June 13. The article from his pen containing this declaration appeared in the Sunday Express beside the notice of his tragic fate. “When an accident happens, it is no use saying, ‘What’s the use,’” continued Sir Henry. “There is a use. It has taught someone something, and the lesson learned may be worth all the risk and all the loss. I know, for example,* perfectly well that I shall face certain risks when I try to do 100 miles an hour on water. For example, there is a definite risk that the revolutions of the propeller at that speed may fail to drive the boat forward, but revolve it instead —the tail wagging the dog with a vengeance. In that case my crew and I will-hit the water as hard as if we had been flung against a brick, wall —and we shall be flattened as flat as biscuits. Water at that speed is as hard as rock. “There is another risk, the danger of floating wreckage. A bottle, a piece of ■wood —either would be sufficiently solid to pierce the hull like a bullet if we hit them at such a speed. Even a fish might be a danger. “Then the risk of the propellor breaking is even more serious. It might cause a deflection of course which would result in the boat capsizing. “But it is all part of the game.”