SUPERLATIVE ERA
In the early decades of the 20th Century, technological advances in land, sea and air transport were followed, and also instigated by, a seemingly unending stream of races, record-breaking attempts and public challenges. Personal reputations and fortunes were made and lost in a never-ending blare of publicity. 'Old' money, industrial money and the 'would-be-rich' vied with each other to go faster, further and higher – to own the most innovative car, plane or boat, and leave everyone else standing. In terms of record breaking, the stakes were high, and many lives were lost, but history was there for the making: you could dream up a challenge and go for it, or smash an existing benchmark. These were exciting times.
The American Vanderbilt dynasty is a prime example of existing wealth underpinning sporting ventures: its various heirs used the legendary millions rolling in from the family’s railroad, one of the very first high-speed, turbine-driven yachts, was a match for anything comparable in American waters: every little detail of her design (Cox and King), her nine propellers on three shafts powered by pioneering Parsons steam engineering, and every contest she entered, was reported by the swarming press.
