Canada's Hunt for the Harmsworth Technology and Nationalism (1934-1961)

Abstract

Beginning in the 1940s, two Canadian families tried to challenge for the Harmsworth Trophy, symbol of international power-boating supremacy. Canada's Hunt for the Harmsworth follows first the Wilsons of Ingersoll Ontario, then the Thompsons of London, as they tried to build and race the fastest speedboat of their day. The paper illustrates the impact of technology on Canadians in post Second World War Canada, and it demonstrates how the story of these challengers caught the imagination of the press and the nation. Canada's Hunt for the Harmsworth chronicles a story that could never again unfold as it did, and concludes that in attempting to master the technology of the time, simple sportsmen were seen as celebrities, even heroes.