The record for the fastest transatlantic crossing typically conjures images of bygone ocean liners with opulent amenities and decadent meals featuring roast squab and foie gras. Not stuffed crust pies from Pizza Hut. In the course of the Nineteen Nineties, high-speed catamaran ferries upended the concept of what ships could possibly be the head of maritime travel. Nevertheless, historians and enthusiasts fought tooth and nail to guard the ocean liner’s legacy.
At the middle of this dispute was the Hales Trophy. Shipping corporations, like Titanic’s operator White Star Lines, fought one another to finish the fastest transatlantic crossing with a passenger liner and earn the unofficial Blue Riband as a mark of prestige. The Hales Trophy was created in 1935, but only three ships ever won the award on account of World War II and the rise of passenger air travel.
The SS United States won the Hales Trophy in 1952 after a three-day, 12-hour voyage from England to Recent York. The de Havilland Comet, the primary jet airliner, entered industrial service that very same yr. No other ship challenged the record and former record-holding ocean liners were retired in the course of the Nineteen Sixties. United States Lines took its record liner out of service in 1969.
USL loaned the Hales Trophy to the U.S. Maritime Marine Academy Museum on Long Island to be displayed as a relic of the bygone age. Nevertheless, if there’s a trophy to be won, someone going to attempt to take it. British music and retail magnate Richard Branson broke the record in 1986 with a 72-foot powerboat. USL and the museum refused handy the Hales Trophy over on the idea that the award’s deed stipulated that it was for passenger liners. It also allowed officials to stay up their noses and derided Branson’s challenger as “a little bit toy boat.”
A brand new breed of ship arrived on the scene in 1990, high-speed catamarans. Australian manufacturer Incat brought fast catamaran ferries to market that yr. Multi-hulled cats have two distinct benefits in comparison with traditional monohulled ships. First, they’re way more stable. Second, they face far less water resistance while moving forward.
Incat built a 241-foot-long catamaran ferry for Hoverspeed, an English Channel ferry company. The ferry named Hoverspeed Great Britain was fitted with 4 massive 4,825-horsepower V-16 marine diesel engines that powered 4 water jets. A complete power output of 19,300 hp might sound impressive, however the SS United States was rated at 240,000 hp.
Hoverspeed Great Britain crossed the Atlantic two hours faster than the SS United States in June 1990 and the controversy began. USL and the museum again refused handy over the trophy, however the ferry was undisputably a passenger vessel. They considered fighting legal motion with their lawyer telling the Recent York Times:
“Definitely, the museum doesn’t own the trophy. If the Queen Elizabeth 2 challenged for the trophy, there could be no problem in turning it over to a professional passenger liner.”
The lawsuit was called off once it was realized how expensive the legal fees could possibly be. Nevertheless, this wasn’t the tip of the story.
Off the recognition of James Cameron’s “Titanic,” Carnival Cruise Lines thought it could capitalize on the fervor for the golden age of ocean liners. Carnival went all in, buying the Cunard Line and announcing plans for Queen Mary 2 in 1998. The cruise line also commissioned two replicas of the Hales Trophy, one to display on a ship and one to loan to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Museum permanently.
Even will a brand new replica filled the empty plinth, museum curator Frank Braynard was still bitter concerning the saga. He told the Recent York Day by day News in 1998:
“We were very pleased with it, and along got here this rattling little ferry boat and so they claimed it,” said Braynard. Sherwood sued for the trophy in an English court. “We fought like hell to maintain it,” said Braynard. But eventually, they surrendered when counsel advised that they were fighting a losing battle.
Also in 1998, two different Incat-built catamaran ferries shattered the mark set by Hoverspeed Great Britain over the span of two months. The second run in July 1998 still stands because the record today. Cat-Link V, operated by Danish ferry company Scandlines, crossed the Atlantic from Recent York to England in only 2 days, 20 hours and 9 minutes.
This Article First Appeared At jalopnik.com
