MISS BRITAIN III. AFIRE

Taranaki Daily News, 26 September 1933, Page 9

MISS BRITAIN III. AFIRE

PAINE’S SPEEDBOAT SAVED

ATTEMPT ON SEGRAVE’S RECORD

BOAT DAMAGED IN HARBOUR.

FIRST APPEARANCE SINCE U.S.A.

By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.

London, Sept 24.

Making its first appearance since its return from America, where it competed in the Harmsworth Trophy races, Mr. Scott Paine’s Miss Britain 111. caught fire in Poole Harbour while attempting to break Sir Henry Segrave’s record in the presence of thousands of spectators.

The boat was traversing the course at 80 miles an hour when the engine burst into flames. Mr. Scott Paine and his mechanic fought the fire with an extinguisher and dozens of motor boats rushed to their aid and subdued the flames. The engine and the rear portion were burned but the hull is intact.

REVOLUTIONARY MIDGET BOAT.

“SEEMS TO FLY OVER SURFACE.”

Miss Britain 111. is a midget and a weakling compared with the American defender of the Harmsworth Trophy. Its single engine is one of 1375 h.p. The American boat, Miss America X., has four engines of an aggregate of 7800 h.p. Miss Britain HI. is only 241 ft in length, has a beam of Bft, and has barely two inches freeboard.

There are in the engine installation and in the fittings a score of new contrivances and arrangements, some them revolutionary, and some most certainly to be adopted by engineers generally. Among them is an entirely new method of exhaust.

Mr. Scott Paine has been trying since 1927 to challenge for the trophy. He defrayed the ’ entire cost, which would be not far short of £20,000.

The design of Miss Britain 111. derives additional interest from the fact that it owes much to aviation. Its designer, builder and pilot, Mr. Scott Paine, was for many years identified with British. aircraft construction. Many details of aircraft construction are embodied in the motor-boat’s design. . Its engine is the Napier racer used in. the Gloster seaplane built for the Schneider Trophy contest of 1929. Mr. Scott Paine’s new boat, moreover, seems to fly over the surface of the water, which it. disturbs so little as barely to cause a ripple. In its wake a small rowing boat is scarcely rocked. \