1909 Hudson-Fulton Regatta
Hudson River, NY, September 25-October 11, 1909

The Hudson-Fulton Celebration
Motorboats play a leading part in the Spectacular Ceremonies
What the Celebration meant Told in Three Chapters Three Hundred Years Ago

When daylight came, on Wednesday, September 2, 1609, the crew of De Halve Maene beheld the low, sandy beaches of the northern New Jersey shore, which appeared to them like "broken islands." The little ship had sailed from Amsterdam on April 4^th of the same year, with a mixed crew of Dutch and English sailors—but a score in all—commanded by an Englishman, Henry Hudson. Hudson was employed by the Dutch East India Company to find a short route to the lands of spices and other things in which the company dealt. He first steered toward Nova Zembla, according to orders, but the ship encountered too much ice, and the crew refused further to attempt to find a northeast passage there. De Halve Maene was only 75 feet long over all, 17 feet beam and 6 feet draft. The determined Hudson then sailed for America. The Western Continent was then supposed to be a narrow strip, probably cut through by a waterway.

De Halve Maene reached the American coast on July 12^th and anchored in a harbor on the Maine coast on July 18^th. After making some necessary repairs to the ship, Hudson sailed to a point below Chesapeake bay, then turned northward and entered the Delaware. He found the river too shallow, and continued up the coast.

At 5 o’clock on the afternoon of September 2d, De Halve Maene came to anchor off a high promontory on the south side of New York bay. Throughout the month of September the ship explored the river which now bears her captain’s name, but which he called "The River of the Mountains." The northernmost anchorage, opposite the present city of Albany, was reached September 19^th. Then the little ship started on the long return voyage.

The records of Hudson show that the festal dish of New York has changed in three hundred years, for he remarks that "in latitude 42 deg. 18 min. he was paid the greatest tribute of hospitality by the natives." They served a nice fat dog—not broiled live lobster.

One Hundred Years Ago

On Monday, August 17, 1807, the American Citizen, a New York newspaper, made this announcement:

"Mr. Fulton’s ingenious Steam Boat, invented with a View to the Navigation
of the Mississippi from New Orleans upwards, Sails to-day from the North
River, near The State Prison, to Albany. The Velocity of the Steam Boat is
Calculated at 4 miles an hour; it is said that it will make a progress of two
Against The Current of The Mississippi; and if so it will certainly be a very
Valuable acquisition to the Commerce of the Western States."

Steamboats were then in the same stage of development as air ships are now, and the populace of New York crowded to the shores to see what "Fulton’s Folly" would do. Some even jeered the inventor. As the crowd watched, great clouds of smoke poured from the stack of the Clermont, and her primitive boiler began to hiss. At one o’clock the hawser was cast off, and the naked paddle wheels began to revolve. The Clermont, amid the awed silence of the multitude, moved out into midstream, steam hissing, the crude machinery creaking and groaning at the task.

A mighty cheer mingled with the stertorus exhaust of the vessel. The boiat made the run to Albany and return at a running speed of something less than five miles an hour, and thus began the history of steam navigation in America. In one hundred years it has reached what students of mechanics believe to be the limit.

The American Citizen said, the following morning:

"We congratulate Mr. Fulton and the Country on his success in the steam boat, which
cannot fail of being very advantageous. We understand that not the smallest incon-
venience is felt in the boat, either from heat or smoke."

NOW

The morning of September 25, 1909, dawned with nature radiant in her early Autumnal splendor. The early sun sparkled on the blue waters of the Hudson, and upon the gaily decked buildings of the New York City waterfront. The city wore once more the blue, yellow and white colors of her youth—the Dutch flag.

In line, up the middle of the river were anchored many warships—representing the naval forces of the United States, of England, of Italy, of France, of Holland, of Mexico, of Argentine Republic and of other nations of the globe.

Even at dawn there were evidences of the celebration. Boats were beginning to move, hundreds of motorboats were being made bright with color by their owners.

Marie, detailed as a revenue boat, sailed down the river, past the war vessels, past the docks where the populace was beginning to assemble. A roar of cannon announced eight bells, 8 a.m. and thousands of boats broke out their gala colors.

Off the Battery the Revenue Cutter Mohican sent an officer on boars Marie, that we might have the authority of our government, and the revenue flag was hoisted to our foremast.

Then we went down to Staten Island, where we found the replica of De Halve Maene at anchor. What a tiny ship she seemed, how strange, how pathetically frail, with her high after superstructure and her ornate, ancient bow. Her crew, sent over from the Netherlands with her, were dressed in the costumes of three hundred years ago. Half a dozen, long, powerful, wicked-looking torpedo boat destroyers were maneuvering around, presenting a strange contrast to the ancient ship. Then came the Clermont, under her own power, uncovered paddles and all, a replica of Fulton’s vessel.

All of this has been told by the able pens, the story of the great naval parade; how the warships of the world fired salutes in honor of De Halve Maene and Clermont as they proceeded up the river. The great sight of the day, to motorboat men, was the countless, wonderful fleet of motorboats, outnumbering all the other craft ten to one, which dashed about the water of New York Harbor and the Hudson River. Of all sizes and types were they, gaily decked out in bunting, with happy crowds of people on board. One motorboat, Tarpon, a new 30-miler, designed by Clinton H. Crane, was employed as a dispatch boat. She is a 41-footer, with 150-hp. Motors turning twin screws, and she dashed here and there through the fleet, delivering messages and giving orders. Through all this muss of water, piled up by a fresh breeze and by the thousands of moving boats, Tarpon’s helmsman stood on a little after-deck steering by an elevated wheel. Tarpon was a lesson in the advance of naval engineering. The Owlet, press boat of the New York Herald, was, like Marie, a temporary revenue cutter.

Led by the torpedo boat destroyers, the parade started up the river shortly after noon, and proceeded up past Spuyten Duyvil, almost to Yonkers, then turned and passed down the river. It would be impossible to describe the scene; nothing like it had ever taken place before, nor will again for many a year.

At night the war vessels were illuminated with thousands of incandescent bulbs, and the motorboat clubs along the river vied with each other for brilliance of lighting effects.

High up on the Riverside Viaduct, at 155^th Street, were marvelous examples of modern fireworks. Two score powerful searchlights rivaled the Aurora Borealis with their fan-shaped flashes of many colors. Then there would appear an image of the Clermont, done in light, full size, with her paddle-wheels revolving and smoke issuing from her tall stack.

And this was honor given to the discoverer of the Hudson River, and to the man who first successfully navigated its waters in a steamboat. Imagine the sensations of Hudson and of Fulton, if they could see the fleet of twelve thousand motorboats—as nearly as one can reckon—which played a great big part in the celebration.

Hudson-Fulton Races

The principal motorboat races held in honor of the Hudson-Fulton celebration took place at Yonkers on September 29^th, at New York on September 30^th, and at Newburgh on October 2d.

At Yonkers

Four classes were provided for, as follows: Class A—High-speed boats over 33 fgeet overall length; Class B—High-speed boats 33 feet and under and over 26 feet overall length; Class C—High-speed boats 26 feet and under overall length; Class D—High-speed cabin boats and boats with standing tops, no restrictions as to length. There were no boats in Class D, but the other three had fine entry lists, favorable weather and water conditions and as fine a course as motorboats ever raced over. The start was off the Yonkers Yacht Club between it and the Marie, anchored out in the river opposite, thence three miles up the river, around a wide circular turn, marked by three stakeboats, down the river almost a straight line 4.77 miles, then around three more mark boats and back, 1.73 miles past the club again. Classes A and B went three times around, making thirty miles, and Class C twice, or twenty miles.

Six racers started in Class C, when the signal was fired at 2 p.m., Gunfire, Haida Papoose, Say, Arrow, Scamp and Mercury. The Hadajr had intended to start, but she was another victim of Hudson River driftwood and had lost her rudder. Mercury dropped out on the first round, and the speedy little Say, that recently won the championship of the Connecticut, had difficulty with one of her cylinders, and had to run the race on only two cylinders. Gunfire II made the fastest time, but lost first prize to the Haida Papoose on time allowance.

There was an intermission of two hours before Classes A and B started, and it was perhaps well there was, for the quaint old galley De Halve Maene, and the replica of Fulton’s Clermont, accompanied by a flotilla of motorboats, steam yachts and tugs, passed up the river right over the course. At 4 p.m. the Class A boats were started. Dixie II ran away from her two competitors, Barber and Sonona, but this was expected. It was sporty on the part of the others to enter against Dixie; more should follow their example. The Tarpon would have raced also had she not broken her propeller by striking driftwood. A steam launch from the revenue cutter Androscoggin kept the course clear of boats and also towed several floating logs that were on the course.

The best race of the day was in Class B. Nine boats started, Vivien, Elmer L., Den, Peter Pan II, Barbara II, Sciota, Jan II, Ta Ta and Nellie B. Viven came home well in the lead, followed by Elmer L., Den and Peter Pan II, in the order named. One of the conditions of this race was that all boats must finish before 6 p.m., so those finishing after that hour were not timed. This was a rather unfortunate condition for those who persevered and found the judges had gone ashore when they finished in the dark.

At New York

The races at New York were held under the auspices of the New York Motor Boat Club, and included a long-distance race to Peekskill and return for cruising boats and races for other classes over the club’s course of ten nautical miles. The events all brought out a good number of starters, and the finish between Haida Papoose, Den and Elmer L. provided a thrilling moment. These three fast boats all crossed the finish line within two seconds. There was a big crowd of spectators at the clubhouse and thousands more viewed the races from Riverside Drive. The weather conditions were ideal, and despite the presence of the war vessels in the middle of the river, and the myriads of spectator craft, the course was kept pretty clear. Avis made a fine run to Peekskill and return, and the performance of Dixie II, while not wonderful for her, served to hold popular interest.

Gunfire II, after having made a fine start, was forced to withdraw. A rivet holding a swash plate in her fuel tank gave way, so that pressure feed on her carburetor was lost.

At Newburgh

The motorboat races at Newburgh were run over a course in the Hudson River starting just below the Fishkill ferry and reaching to a mark boat set just above Cold Spring, five miles away, making ten miles once around. The speed boats traveled the longer distance, and all others the ten-mile course. There were no starters in the class for speed boats from 40 to 33 feet, but seven boats of the 33-foot class were gotten away on the second signal. Four of them failed to finish. Haida Papoose made the twenty miles in 1 hour 11 minutes 5 seconds. Her time allowance over Gunfire II made her the winner, her corrected time being 54 minutes 6 seconds. Gunfire II made the shortest elapsed time of 1 hour 19 minutes 6 seconds.

F. C. Haven’s Avis, scratch boat among the larger class of cabin cruisers, finished the ten-mile course in 53 minutes 7 seconds and was the winner. She had three competitors. In all, seventeen boats crossed the starting line, and the time of thirteen of them was taken at the finish.

(Transcribed from MotorBoat, Oct. 10, 1909, pp. 33-40)

***

The closing events of the Hudson-Fulton celebration on the Hudson River were held on October 7tg, 9^th and 11^th at Albany, Troy and Cohoes respectively. The motorboat races which were a prominent feature of the ceremonies in Troy, were exceedingly interesting. Of greatest interest was the performance of Gunfire II, owned by W. J. Brainard, of New York City, when she covered the 15-mile course in 37 minutes 8 seconds—a new record for the upper Hudson. The race was started off the city front at Broadway, and the course extended from that point to the lower bridge at Albany and return. Spectators were given an excellent chance to view the event, and a large crowd was in attendance. The start was somewhat delayed owing to an accident to Swizzle, which necessitated her withdrawal and the substitution of Swizzle Jr.

At the start Gunfire II dashed a boatlength ahead of her competitors, followed by Swizzle Jr. and Elmer L. of Albany. This order was maintained for some distance, but on the run from Albany to the finish point Swizzle Jr. gave way to Elmer L, and the latter finished second. Gunfire II won both prizes, making the best time over the course and winning against the allowance of the others. She ran from New York to Troy, 153 ¼ miles, under her own power. She left New York at 4 p.m., October 7^th, reached Newburgh at 6:25 p.m., and Troy at 3 p.m. the following day. The elapsed time of the boats was as follows: Gunfire II, 37 minutes 8 seconds; Elmer L. owned by Lansing DeLong of Albany, 43 minutes 1 second; Swizzle Jr., owned by J. A. Powers of Troy, 52 minutes 11 seconds. Gunfire II is now tuned up, and her owner thinks she is capable of close to 25 miles an hour. She turned a three-bladed 18x28-inch wheel at 1175 r.p.m.

Besides the race, prizes had been offered for the best decorated boats from a historic and decorative point of view. The first prize was won by Alice H, of the Shenandoah Yacht Club. She is owned by Dr. George S. Haswell of Watervliet. Iris II, of Albany Yacht Club, owned by Vice-Commodore Matt. McCarty, and Valiant, owned by J. T. Marsh of the Shenandoah Club, were tied for second place. The fleet of the Albany Yacht Club was in line, and the motorboats made a splendid showing.

The cups which Gunfire II won are the Record cup, offered by the Troy Record, and the John Stanton cup. The officials in charge of the race were: Judges, Frank S. Scopes, of Albany; D. W. Halpin, of the Grant-Ferris Co.; James c. Fox, Shenandoah Yacht Club, and W. B. McKinney, of Albany; time-keeper, Augustus J. DeLong; starter, Commodore Fagg, of the Shenandoah Yacht Club. A large gathering of yachtsmen were present during the celebration, among them members of Poughkeepsie, Yonkers, Tarrytown, Ossining and New York City clubs.

At Cohoes a river parade, which started at 9:45 on the evening of the 11^th, was one of the most brillianr spectacles ever witnessed on the upper Hudson River. More than one hundred gaily decorated and illuminated motorboats, and a number of canoes and rowboats were in the parade, which formed along the west shore of the river. The flagship Cambour, in command of Commodore Mitchell led the fleet, followed by the judges’ boat Valiant, the tug Roosa with the Troy City Band aboard, and then the first division commanded by Vice-Commodore John G. Cole in the motorboat Lucile. The second division consisted of cabin motorboats of 20 feet or more in length, led by the motorboat Lorraine. The third division consisted of open motorboats and was led by the Marion. The fourth and fifth divisions consisted of rowboats and canoes, but they were led respectively by the motorboats Gabere and Winona.

The parade started on the signal of a rocket from Thirteenth Street, Laningsburg, proceeding up the west side of the river, thence across and down the east side to a point below Glen Avenue, Troy, returning up the west side to the starting point. During the parade there were many brilliant displays of fireworks along the shore.

With fully eight thousand spectators looking on from the banks of the Hudson River, and with hundreds more watching from boats, the river front at Albany presented an animated scene during the aquatic sports held on October 7^th, in connection with the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, under the auspices of the Albany Yacht Club. The program included two motorboat events, both of which proved very exciting.

The race for speed boats was run over a twenty-mile course, starting from a stake boat off the clubhouse of the Albany Yacht Club, up the river and around an abutment of the upper bridge; thence down stream to and around a stake boat off Stony Light, and return to the starting point. The course measures ten miles, and the speed boats were sent around twice.

The entries included Elmer L., of Albany; Swizzle and Swizzle Jr., of Troy. Swizzle took the lead at the start, but could not hold it, and Elmer L finished the first lap in the lead. Elmer L was not passed by either of her competitors thereafter, and won in 57 minutes 52 seconds. Swizzle Jr. finished second, Swizzle having withdrawn.

The second motorboat race was for cabin boats, and there was greater interest in this event than in the speed boat contest. The entries were Spindrift, owned by C. R. Butler; Widgeon I, owned by William Martin, and Casino, owned by John Brown. The course was the same, once around. Spindrift won, Widgeon II taking second place, and Casino third. The winner’s time was 1 hour 7 minutes.

(Transcribed from MotorBoat, Oct. 25, 1909, p. 37.)

***

If the late lamented Henry Hudson had kept right on past Sandy Hook and the Clermont’s paddle wheels had failed to work satisfactorily, there is no telling how much fun the sailing men and motor-boat owners, whose craft hail from New York and adjacent ports, would have missed during the week in which the month of September, 1909, ended, and October, 1909 began. Not only were there naval parades on Saturday, September 25, one escorting the facsimiles of Half Moon and Clermont from Staten Island to the official pier at 110^th Street and the other an illuminated night pageant, but there was a third naval parade on Friday, October 1, one division starting from Albany and the other from New York, meeting at Newburgh. The Aquatic Sports Committee provided a series of motor boat races off Yonkers on Wednesday, September 29, a second off the New York Motor Boat Club on Thursday, September 30, and a third series of contests for both motor and sailing craft off Newburgh on Saturday, October 2d. While the naval parade of September 25 left much to be desired, and the Half Moon’s ramming of the Clermont mixed things up for a while and caused such a delay that many of the motor boats never got above the Battery, the line of warships extending from the mouth of Spuyten Duyvil Creek to the Battery was an awe-inspiring spectacle, and the night parade of excursion boats and the evening illumination of the warships gave the historic Hudson a carnival appearance such as it has never before presented.

The races were very well attended, and the entry lists for most of the events were fairly full ones. The huge fighting machines, in their dark gray war paint, scarcely enlivened by their holiday decorations of bunting, served as a grim background to hundreds of gaily decked motor boats and steam yachts, whose white paint and shining brasswork threw back the sunlight in sharp contrast to the martial fleet. Everything that would float, and some craft whose ability to float at all seemed little short of miraculous, were pressed into service during this memorable week.

If there was any commercial towing being done during those seven days one could not but wonder what tugs were doing it, for every tow-boat that was ever heard of, and many whose existence was wholly unsuspected, were crowded from bow to stern with eager pleasure-seeking crowds, all curious for a glimpse of the replicas of the Half Moon and Clermont.

A close examination of the former craft tended to fill the observer with admiration of the nerve of the men who crossed the Atlantic in a craft offering as much windage in proportion to her draft as she showed, and to produce doubt in the modern sailor as to whether she really would not make better time if sailed stern-first. How she ever "hung on" when hove-to, or even with a beam wind, passes understanding. An observation of the Clermont under power, with the amount of water that was generously distributed by her unguarded paddle wheels, demonstrated most conclusively that here at last was found a craft in which a passenger could get wetter in a shorter time than aboard a modern racing motor boat on a record-breaking run.

On Wednesday these two historic craft took their way up the river and anchored off Yonkers. Then, while the motor boat races were holding the interest of the general public , they quietly made their escape, their natural snail-like pace being somewhat expedited by the tow lines of two powerful tugs.

The boats that participated in the motor boat events off Yonkers, and their performances, are covered by the table, following:

The day was pleasant and the water calm—a very different condition from that which prevailed on Thursday, the 30^th, when the second series of motor boat races took place off the New York Motor Boat Club. On this day the river was rough and a strong ebb tide was running—so strong, in fact, that tug C. P. Raymond, which served as committee boat, was constantly dragging her mud hook and continually being sent forward to keep in line with the club’s flagstaff, which served as the shore mark of the starting line.

The competitors in the events were divided into five classes: Class A, consisting of high-speed motor boats over 33 feet, which were sent on a race of 30 miles, three times around the 10-mile course. Class B, for high-speed boats under 30 feet, going over the same distance. Class C, for cruising boats of over 40 feet, to Peekskill and return. Class D, for cruising boats under 40 feet, going a distance of 20 miles, twice around the course. Class E was for open launches not classed as high-speed or cruising boats, going over the same course and distance as Class D.

The boats finishing in their respective classes and their performances were as follows:

Probably the most enjoyable of the three events, however, was the series of races for sailing yachts and motor boats held off Newburgh on Saturday, October 2d.

The motor boats, of course, arrived under their own power; but the Hudson winds being fickle and the tide a known and adverse proposition of about four miles per hour for a considerable portion of each day, arrange-ments were made for the towing of all the sailing craft from their home ports to Newburgh and back again after the races.

The motor boats were classified as follows:

Class A. High-Speed boats of not over 40 feet and over 33 feet over-all length, over a course of 20 nautical miles

Class B. High-speed boats of 33 feet over-all length and under, over a course of 20 nautical miles.

Cabin cruising boats, not more than two classes, to be classed by rating, over a course of 10 nautical miles.

Hunting cabin boats, not more than two classes, to be classed by rating, over a course of 10 nautical miles.

The results of the motor boat events follows:

The committee in charge of the racing, consisting of Commodore A. B. Fry, Charles P. Tower, H. A. Jackson Jr., and Geo. P. Granbery, representing New York, and N. D, Belknap, M. W. Collyer and W. A. Kidd, of Newburgh, are to be congratulated on the showing made, though it is to be regretted that a course on Gravesend Bay, at the mouth of the river, was not chosen. There is comparatively little sailing done on the Hudson to-day, and four-fifths of the boats had to be towed from 70 to 80 miles and return, to compete, whereas from 80 to 100 sail could easily have been gathered on lower New York Bay.

From Newburgh the motor boats went on up the river, racing at the various important towns, winding up at Troy on October 9 with a regatta in which all the fast boats of the upper Hudson were included.

(Transcribed from Yachting, November, 1909, pp. 355-358.)

***

Fleischmann’s Boat Wins Hudson Race
Haida-Papoose, Elmer L, and Den Finish Close Together in Class B
NO COMPETITOR FOR DIXIE II
Motor Boat Races Over Course of Thirty Miles—Craft in Danger

One of the closest motor boat races that has ever been contested on the Hudson River was run off yesterday in the special events, which was a part of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, the races starting from the New York Motor Boat Club/ In Class B, which was for high speed boats under thirty-three feet, three of the little craft, whose only essential is speed, crossed the line so close together that it seemed a blanket could be tossed over all of them. The winner was Max C. Fleischmann’s Haida-Papoose, which led for practically the entire course. The second boat was the Elmer L, owned by Lansing de Long, which poked its nose through the water barely twenty yards back of the winner, and the Den followed, with just a little water showing between its bow and the stern of the Elmer L.

The Den was the first to get away, but when the circuit of the ten-mile course had been completed the Haida-Papoose had pulled into a big lead and looked like an easy winner. The next circuit was not so favorable to the leader, the other boats crawling up a very appreciable extent. The last leg, which completed the thirty miles, the distance of the race, brought the rear boats still nearer, and coming across the river to round the committee boat at the finish the three racers were on almost even terms.

There was general disappointment over the failure of the Dixie II to have a competitor in the Class a event, which, as a result, was rather uninteresting. The fleet craft was sent over the full distance of thirty miles, doing the course at slightly less than thirty miles an hour.

At one stage of the race the Dixie came very close to turning over, shipping a great deal of water in the choppy sea on the upper part of the course, and after the race was over the boat was again in danger on a short trip up the river. She went far over on her side and as a matter of fact those who saw the occurrence shouted on the committee boat that the Dixie had gone over. She was righted, however, a second later.

The Avis, owned by F. C. Haven, showed the way in the race for cruising power boats over forty feet in length, from New York to Peekskill. This event was started in the morning and the Avis led practically from the first, the finish time showing that there was a difference of nearly an hour between first and second.

(Transcribed from the New York Times, Oct. 1, 1909, p. 11.)

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

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