1907 Seattle Independence Day Regatta
Lake Washington, Seattle, Washington, July 4, 1907

Motor Boats to Speed on Lake Motor Boats in Speed Contests Speed Boats Race on Lake Motor Boat Club of Seattle Comet Wins the Motor Boat Race

Seattle, Wash.--The annual Fourth of July races, held under the auspices of the Motor Boat Club of Seattle, took place on Lake Washington, off Leschi Park. The best race of the day was the five-mile consolation event, in which the Meteor, owned by Commodore Clarence H. Jones, overhauled the Papoose within 100 yards of the finish and won the race when it seemed almost an impossibility.

It came pretty near a field day for the Meteor, which also swept the boards in the 40-foot class for the 1907 pennant, 10 miles, and took second in the speed boat handicap race, the Target being first. The Target is owned by Schertzer Bros., and is about a mile an hour faster than the Meteor. In the speed race the Meteor had a handicap of about twelve minutes, and was sailing along beautifully two miles in the lead when something went wrong with the engine. It took the Commodore fifteen minutes to fix things, and then he went whizzing along as if nothing had interfered with the race, but the Target got across the line first in 34 minutes and 31 seconds. No sooner had the Target won the race than she had a mishap. In the meantime the Naida, owned by the Bigelow Bros., also had an accident, and it took some time to get the engine working. Pretty soon she came ploughing across the line.

The free-for-all in which the Comet, holder of the Fourth Perpetual Challenge Cup, and owned by the Washington Motor Boat Co., was to meet the Target was postponed because the Target broke a journal.

In the 18-foot class and under, the Pax, owned by F. F. Evans, won in 24 minutes and 45 seconds. The distance was one mile and return. The Ion, W. M. Price, was second.

In the 21-foot class, distance one mile and return, the Marjorie, owned by L. L. Capps, won in 21 minutes and 51 seconds. Beth, Mrs. C. B. Brussell, was second, Mosquito third and Marguerite fourth.

The 30-foot class, five miles, was won by the Sheffield, H. A. Froehlich, time 38 minutes and 36 seconds, by half a length over the Papoose, C. W. Colby.

In the 40-foot class, ten miles, the Meteor, C. H. Jones, won in 49 minutes, with the Peerless, C. S. Plimpton, second, and Fox, Teachout Fox, third.

(Transcribed from The Motor Boat, July 25, 1907, p. 21. )

[Thanks to Greg Calkins for help in preparing this page --LF]

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