SCOLOPENDRA a 30ft long-tail motorboat is the only surviving boat from the Yachtsman Cup race held in Cork Harbour on July 10th 1904. SCOLOPENDRA (meaning centipede), is also considered to be the world’s oldest racing motor boat with a petrol engine.
According to Graham Mackereth; her current owner, “she just slips along….she is very very slippery and handling her is an absolute joy”.
To begin our story we now need to go back to the early 1900s when everyone wanted to go faster on land and water. While the fastest car of the time, the 60 hp Mercedes-Simplex could propel you to 73 mph (117 km/h), there was also a fledgling motor-boat racing fraternity who were rivalling to prove who was the fastest on water.
As road racing on public roads was banned in Britain, the Gordon Bennett road race was moved to Ireland in 1903. “The Irish Automobile Fortnight” was held in the first two weeks of July and car and boat speed freaks from across the world flocked to Ireland. Along with three motor-boat races in Cork Harbour, there was also the 327.5 mile (527 km) Gordon Bennett race on a closed circuit in County Kildare, the Phoenix Park Gymkhana, Speed Trials and Hill Climb Trials in County Kerry.
We previously covered the “Gordon Bennett Cup vintage car race Ireland 1903” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKQw7sTYgL0&t=34s
We recently covered the 120th Anniversary of the Irish Speed Fortnight Hill Climb in County Kerry – “120th Anniversary Charles Rolls Co Kerry Hill Climb” https://fb.watch/pX7jBJuCJb/
On 10th July three motor-boat races were held in Cork Harbour beginning with The Harmsworth Trophy, the first annual international award for motorboat racing and two other races, the Yachtsman’s Cup (Handicap) and Yachts Launches Handicap. Each race began at the Royal Cork Yacht Club, Queenstown (Cobh), and went up the River Lee to the Marina, Cork, a distance of eight and a half nautical miles.
The race results according to the London Times, were:
The Harmsworth Trophy
- S.F. Edge, 40ft. boat, 75 h.p. Napier engine, time 24min. 44sec.
- J.E. Thorneycroft (SCOLOPENDRA), 30 ft. boat, 20 h.p., time 30min. 28 4-5sec.
- F. Beadle, 30 ft. boat, 50 h.p., eight cylinders, M.M. Co. engine, time 27 min. 44 sec.
Yachtsman’s Cup (Handicap)
- Thorneycroft (SCOLOPENDRA ) (handicap, 11 min. 50 sec.), time 33 min. 51 1-5sec.
- Beadle, (handicap 6min. 55 sec.), time 33min. 12 3-5 sec.
- S.F. Edge (scratch), time 27min. 9 1-5sec.
Yachts Launches Handicap:
- H, Compton, 23ft. four h.p., handicap 5min., net time 56min. 31 2-5sec.
- Bowlby, 24ft. six h.p., handicap 12min., net time 1 hour 7min. 50 4-5sec.
- Nicholson, 31ft., six h.p., scratch time, 1 hour 7min. 2 4-5sec.
- Evans, 18ft., two h.p., handicap 12min.; broke down.
While the records show Thornycroft (SCOLOPENDRA) was placed second in The Harmsworth Trophy, she was declared the winner of the Yachtsman’s Cup (Handicap). However, confusion abounds, as to who was the winner of The Harmsworth Trophy as the first annual international award for motorboat racing.
Alfred Harmsworth, owner of The Daily Mail conceived his race as a competition among nations rather than boats or individuals. Participating boats were required to be exclusively designed and constructed by residents of the representing country, using materials and components entirely produced within that nation.
Unfortunately, on 10th July, the inaugural race was marked by chaos, with numerous boats failing to even start, because of the British organisers contending that the French boats were not entirely constructed in France, leading to their exclusion from the competition. As a result, only three participants representing Britain took part.
Even today The Harmsworth Trophy race winner is uncertain and the official Harmsworth Trophy website simply states; “the actual winner of the Harmsworth Trophy remains a mystery.’
It is widely reported that the 40-foot steel-hulled ‘Napier’ motor-boat, at an average speed of 19.53 mph, won the race. However who was at the helm? Selwyn Francis Edge, as the owner of ‘Napier’ is engraved on the trophy, however, some reports also suggest that Campbell Muir was at the helm while the racing driver and journalist, Dorothy Levitt, is also credited with the win.
A newspaper article from The Graphic Newspaper, dated September 5th, 1903 cites a race win for SCOLOPENDRA in the Yachtsman’s Trophy with an average racing speed of 18.2 mph. A brass plaque in the boat celebrates this race win. The article also reported that Napier’s victory in The Harmsworth Trophy was subsequently overturned in favour of SCOLOPENDRA.
SCOLOPENDRA was the first motorboat designed to a ‘racing rule’ and was built in 1902 by Frank Maynard of Strand of the Green for Thornycroft and was fitted with the company’s first petrol engine.
At the 1904 Automobile Show at Crystal Palace, London, SCOLOPENDRA was the centre piece of the Thornycroft stand from there sold and shipped to Canada.
In Canada she was put to work as an armed gun-boat on Lake Erie defending Canadian fishing grounds from an encroaching American fishing fleet. She carried visible battle scars as a result of her service in safeguarding the fisheries, as during the restoration process, traces of shotgun pellets were discovered on her starboard side.
After spending ten years in fishing defence duties she became a house-builders run-about at Parry Sound on Lake Huron. After the death of the owner she went into storage and was then moved to Montreal before being sold to the current owner Graham Mackereth and brough to England. Graham went on to spend ten years restoring SCOLOPENDRA including the fitting of her original Thornycroft A-type petrol engine.
SCOLOPENDRA continues to achieve success in races, notably securing a joint victory in the La Belle Classe Restoration Trophy at The Yacht Club de Monaco (YCM) races in September 2023.
Information Sources and Photo Credits:
Arlette31
Boards.ie
British Pathé News
Caliber – Top Fastest Cars by Year
Christies
Converse Collection – DeGolyer Library
GordonBennettHistory.ie
Graham Mackereth
Harmsworth Trophy Website
Hydroplane History Homepage – Leslie Field
My Classic Boat
Scientific American 1903
The London Times (10th and 13th July 1903)
Yacht Club de Monaco
