The article in the Scarborough Evening News for Thursday 23rdJuly 1964, states Miss Velocity was brought to Scarborough in 1929 by Mr Norman Martin. The picture shows her in the South Bay.
Norman was an RFC/RAF pilot in the 1stWorld War and also said to be responsible for introducing the sport of water skiing to this country. She was new then and was one of at least three nearly identical speedboats purchased at the same time for use in Scarborough. She was manufactured by the American firm of “Chris Craft” and known as a “runabout”.
We don’t know exactly what model she was. A description of the boat produced for, or by, a later owner (Mr Neville Darby), was:-
“A 27’ Chris Craft triple cockpit speed boat with upswept deck and flat windscreen believed to date from 1929/1930. The hard chime hull is of carvel construction in mahogany. The original engine was a Chrysler Majestic “Silver Dome” 150bhp eight cylinder in line engine, serial number 306429 - 1.”
Chris Craft did a few visually similar models of 24’, 26’ and 27’ length and she could easily have been one of those. However the windscreen using two pieces of glass with centre vertical is not typical of Chris Craft boats of the late 20’s. It is seen in some photographs of speedboats from Gar Wood Industries. So she may have been a variant of models such as “Baby Gar” or “Baby Gar Jnr”.
Garfield Wood who owned Gar Wood Industries was a very successful racer of speedboats in his leisure time immediately after the 1stWorld War and it was Chris Smith of “Smith and Sons” – later to become “Chris Craft”, - that designed and built his racing boats.
Garfield Wood was a partner in business with Chris Smith at one point building boats, but later they amicably split into separate companies. Chris Smith formed Chris Craft in the mid 20’s. Both companies were located close to each other in Algonac, Michigan, USA. It's understood some Gar Wood boats were still made in the Chris Craft factory for a few years after the split, which is the timescale Miss Velocity was probably built in. There would have been a manufacturers plate inside the engine compartment which would have had the model name and serial number. This would have cleared up the matter, but the plate was not saved or the details noted when she moved on. However Miss Velocity is a close and direct descendent of many race winners and speed record holders.
The full article by Brian (& Kathy) Mulvana can de downloaded as a pdf by clicking here.
