Gar Wood’s lasting legacy

During the First World War the Trophy was stored in ‘Enchantress’ – an Admiralty yacht moored in Southampton. At that time, the yacht was the home of the Royal Motor Yacht Club (RMYC) – the custodians of the Harmsworth Trophy. An incendiary dropped during a Zeppelin raid in 1915 set fire to the yacht and reports from the time state that: “An officer of the RMYC raced through the smoke to save the Trophy”.

He was largely successful, although the original teak foundation recording the names of the Trophy’s holders since its early days was destroyed.

Gar Wood won the first competition after the war (in 1920). He took the fire-damaged Trophy back to America and replaced the charred teak plinth with Honduran mahogany, taken from the bottom of his race boat Miss America I. As he said at the time:

Another victim of the 1915 ‘Enchantress’ fire was the original 1903 Deed of Gift in which the future Lord Northcliffe granted custody of his Harmsworth Trophy. A new Deed was signed in 1921 which, once again, confirmed the Royal Motor Yacht Club as trustees of the Trophy.