Tethered hydroplane racing Fred Westmoreland

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Celebrating 100 years of tethered hydroplane racing

Fred Westmoreland (cont)

WW1 intervened, and in 1917 he joined the Royal Naval Air Service, starting at HMS President II and then moving to Daedalus, both shore based training establishments. Spending time at the aero engine school in Crystal Palace the gunnery school, Chatham and then the armourers school, Eastchurch. Emerging as a Leading Air Mechanic, Fred ended up at Calshot, which in 1918 became an RAF station and a centre for flying boat operations. Fred was demobbed from there in 1919 back to the Salford estate.

During 1919 Fred became aware of an American boat called 'Elmara' claiming to have beaten 'Evil Spirit's record by achieving over 30mph. It transpired that the boat was an almost exact copy of 'Evil Spirit' and the 30mph was not over a complete run. Fred had regularly beaten this speed but again never over an official distance. He obviously voiced his intention to set a new record and beat 'Elmara', hence the comment from Ted Vanner on this postcard sent in September 1919. Evil Spirit had been put into honorable retirement and so another hydroplane was soon under construction.

The new boat was again flash steam with a uniflow engine, but a new departure because it was a twin-cylinder, poppet valve job designed by Thomas Hindle, who had also done the drawings for Evil Spirit. The new boat Mystery, although it put in some fast practice runs, seemed to suffer from what Fred described as ‘exciting experiences’. The end came when it turned a full sized rowing boat over, and tipped its occupant into the water. This along with another unspecified incident caused the park authorities to ban hydroplanes from the public lakes. Fred blamed the accident on the unfortunate rower, and stated that he would not race again until a safer venue could be found.

With the death of his employer Mr. Ansdell, Fred, in partnership with a Mr. Robinson, setup a vehicle repair and service garage in Trafford Road, Eccles. He continued to build steam and IC engines but did not compete in any further hydroplane events, although he would occasionally give demonstration runs with 'Evil Spirit' at regattas through to 1934.

'Evil Spirit' also ran at Brockwell Park, Dulwich for the 1934 Grand when Fred was invited to present the prizes.

Fred is seen here on the right with George Lutz, Stan Clifford, the 'Chatterbox boats' and 'E BY GUM'.
The young girl is believed to be either Gwendoline or Marjorie Clifford.

Fred was a very ill man by this time, and unable to travel to the 1935 Model Engineer exhibition but with father directing and son doing the work, they managed to build an entirely new 30cc petrol engine and boat, aptly named ‘Two Freds’.

The 30cc single cylinder four-stroke engine, reflects the developments that had taken place since the days of 'Fairhope'. Inclined overhead valves, a carburetter, and ignition by contact breaker and coil.

On its first outing 'Two Freds' completed 38 laps, and later in the season achieved a speed of 19.35mph. In the 1936 Fleetwood Regatta, endurance contest it took first place with a record run of 56 laps.

Unfortunately Fred did not live to witness ‘Two Freds’ running. On 6^th October 1935 aged just 57, Fred died of cancer. Percival Marshall wrote "Everybody who knew Mr. Westmoreland admired him as much for his kindly and always helpful disposition, as for his exceptional engineering skill."

Fred came into a world dominated by steam driven machinery, but in his relatively short life he witnessed the development of the internal combustion engine from its infancy to total domination. The first two strokes had appeared in 1876, Diesel made his name in 1900, and the first aircraft only flew in 1903. Yet in spite of the rapid advances with IC engines, Fred did not see steam beaten during his lifetime, as flash steam tethered hydroplanes held the outright speed record until 1936.

Both Fred’s children were connected with the sport, son Frederick also running tethered hydroplanes and Edna his daughter marrying George C Lutz in 1930. George was a Victoria Steam Boat Club member and used to run a large petrol engined steering boat. This craft was infamous for catching the ‘stopper’ unawares. It had a small open cockpit in the stern, which suggested a convenient hand–hold. If the stopper was rash enough to use it as such, he found to his cost that an extremely hot exhaust pipe lurked beneath. In 1934 George was elected Vice-Chairman of the MPBA.

Colin Fairs in British Maid ahead of George Lutz, racing outboard hydroplanes at the Welsh Harp in 1927.

Frederick, who had become a maintenance engineer, continued to race hydroplanes after Fed’s death, joining the Altrincham MPBC. He built a new 30cc boat for the 1949 season, using the original engine from 'Two Freds'. The as yet un-named boat had its first run at Heaton Park Manchester in June 1949. With the engine converted to glow ignition and a new carburettor to allow running on methanol the boat now named 'Minx' came second at the Altrincham Regatta with a speed of 38.4mph, and won the Machin Cup at 39.8mph in 1953.

Frederick suffered a fatal heart attack and died in 1969 aged 59.


Spark ignition and remarkable exhaust pipe.	The boat and engine as it is today, after 50 years in storage.

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Our grateful thanks to Ken Lawton for providing the archive material that has made these articles possible. Thanks are also due to Peter Hill and John Groves for the valuable information they have provided.