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Lot Essay
Of the four Dixie designed by Clinton H Crane, Dixie II was perhaps the most successful. In 1907, her elder sister had clocked speeds of 29mph to win the prestigious Harmsworth Trophy. Her owner, Edward F. Schroeder, Commodore of the Motor Boat Club of America, now asked designer Crane to guarantee a speed of 35mph with the new boat he was considering to defend the Trophy.
To get the necessary horsepower Clinton Crane, a graduate at both Harvard and Glasgow University, approached his brother Harry. A former MIT graduate, employee of both Bell Telephone and the Westinghouse, Henry M. Crane had started up an automobile business with Allen W. Whiteman of Bayonne, New Jersey. By 1907 the Crane-Whitman Co. had already built two 4-cylinder cars at their shop, when Clinton asked his brother for help. Harry replied he could build an engine developing 220hp.
The Crane brothers made a pact. If one would risk the cost of the hull, the other would risk the cost of the engine. The guarantee-contract was signed and both brothers went to work on their respective tasks.
Clinton then hired a testing tank in the Government Model Basin in Washington D.C. from Admiral E Taylor and developed a 40ft hull design with the precision of a battleship. These tests indicated that 207hp would propel the hull to 35mph if weight could be kept on target.
Having whittled 600lbs from the design, the full-scale hull was built in planked mahogany at B. F. Wood's yard, City Island. She measured 39ft 3in. with an extreme beam of 5ft 4in. Once ready she was taken across the River Hudson by truck to Bayonne where installation of the ingenious, 2205lb V-8 Crane-Whitman engine, with its hemispherical combustion chambers took place. Harry had also developed a make-and-break ignition for motor-launch racing.
During her first trials on 27th July 1908, Dixie II was soon achieving unheard of speeds of 37mph.
The British challengers were Wolseley-Siddeley, owned by the richest man in England, the Duke of Westminster and Lord Howard de Walden's Daimler II with three engines totalling 525hp, both of them heavy offshore type racers. The contest, which took place that August in Huntingdon Harbour, saw Dixie II successfully defend the Trophy at an average 32.15mph, with her engine giving less than optimum rpms. After the race, she made four timed runs over Hampstead Harbour, observed by officials from the New York Yacht Club, averaging 35.75mph: a new world's record. On this occasion Clinton steered the boat while Harry obtained the full 900rpm from his engine.
Dixie II went on to win the APBA Gold Cup in 1908, again following up with a new world's record of 36.6mph. She successfully defended the Gold Cup in 1909 and 1910.
To get the necessary horsepower Clinton Crane, a graduate at both Harvard and Glasgow University, approached his brother Harry. A former MIT graduate, employee of both Bell Telephone and the Westinghouse, Henry M. Crane had started up an automobile business with Allen W. Whiteman of Bayonne, New Jersey. By 1907 the Crane-Whitman Co. had already built two 4-cylinder cars at their shop, when Clinton asked his brother for help. Harry replied he could build an engine developing 220hp.
The Crane brothers made a pact. If one would risk the cost of the hull, the other would risk the cost of the engine. The guarantee-contract was signed and both brothers went to work on their respective tasks.
Clinton then hired a testing tank in the Government Model Basin in Washington D.C. from Admiral E Taylor and developed a 40ft hull design with the precision of a battleship. These tests indicated that 207hp would propel the hull to 35mph if weight could be kept on target.
Having whittled 600lbs from the design, the full-scale hull was built in planked mahogany at B. F. Wood's yard, City Island. She measured 39ft 3in. with an extreme beam of 5ft 4in. Once ready she was taken across the River Hudson by truck to Bayonne where installation of the ingenious, 2205lb V-8 Crane-Whitman engine, with its hemispherical combustion chambers took place. Harry had also developed a make-and-break ignition for motor-launch racing.
During her first trials on 27th July 1908, Dixie II was soon achieving unheard of speeds of 37mph.
The British challengers were Wolseley-Siddeley, owned by the richest man in England, the Duke of Westminster and Lord Howard de Walden's Daimler II with three engines totalling 525hp, both of them heavy offshore type racers. The contest, which took place that August in Huntingdon Harbour, saw Dixie II successfully defend the Trophy at an average 32.15mph, with her engine giving less than optimum rpms. After the race, she made four timed runs over Hampstead Harbour, observed by officials from the New York Yacht Club, averaging 35.75mph: a new world's record. On this occasion Clinton steered the boat while Harry obtained the full 900rpm from his engine.
Dixie II went on to win the APBA Gold Cup in 1908, again following up with a new world's record of 36.6mph. She successfully defended the Gold Cup in 1909 and 1910.