Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 April 1904 — FUTURE OF THE AUTO BOAT. [ARTICLE]

FUTURE OF THE AUTO BOAT.

Device May Yet Lead to a Revolution in Yachting Sport. The landsman who is not a motor crank has been somewhat puzzled to understand the furor over automobile boats and why they are called such and not fast launches. These speedy craft, however, are in a class by themselves, and their introduction may cause a revolution In small boats for pastime and water communication, similar to the effects of the automobile on the use of horseless vehicles. The automobile boat 1 s merely an automobile engine in a hull modeled for high rpeed. The advantage over steam and naphtha launches have begun to be hinted at In the trials already made at home and abroad. In a contest on the Seine the winning boat maintained an average speed of twenty-five miles an 2our and faster times have been made over shorter courses. The first njatch race in this country had as a competitor a motor boat that had covered a measured mile in two minutes and twenty-six seconds. Yachts capable of such high speed are of huge cost, operated by picked crews, and have been comparable with the latest designs of torpedo craft. The automobile boat Is nothing more than a thirty-foot launch, weighing, with Its engine, less than 8J) pounds, but capable of developing more than twenty horse power. A yacht or torpedo-boat capable of a speed of twenty-five miles an hour measures its horse power by thousands. The motor boat is handled and steered by one man, who controls rudder and engines just as he controls his automobile. These craft made a sensation in England and France before they attracted much attention in this country, but the coming season Will see lively racing on local waters and a big boom in the demand for these handy little boats, whose speed and ease of handling are wholly new in small craft. —Illustrated Sporting News.