The Motor Launch Patrol
Maxwell, Donald London: J. M. Dent and Sons, Limited, 1920. First edition/first printing. Hardcover. xii, 303, [5] p. Includes illustrations. Foreword by Vice-Admiral SIr Roger Keyes. Prologue by Henry R. Sutphen. From Wikipedia: "The Electric Launch Company, later renamed Elco Motor Yachts, (Elco) is a United States boat building and electric motor company that has operated from 1893 until present (with a "hiatus" from 1949 to 1987). It was originally run by Henry R. Sutphen in 1895....Elco first made its mark at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. Fifty-five launches, each 36 feet long and powered by battery-driven electric motors, carried over a million passengers. By 1900, electric powered pleasure boats outnumbered the combined number of boats powered by steam and explosive engines (as gasoline powered motors were called). [citation needed] By 1910, the advantages of the range and power of gasoline came to dominate the market and Elco converted to motor boats. During World War I, the company built five hundred and fifty 80-foot submarine chasers for the British Admiralty. Between the wars, it introduced the 26-foot Cruisette, a cabin cruiser which became successful. This was followed in the 1930s with 30-foot to 57-foot Veedettes and Flattops. During World War II, Elco formed the Elco Naval Division in Bayonne, New Jersey. Nearly 400 Elco PT boats were produced for the U.S. Navy. After experimentation, the first PT boat built in any quantity was the 73-foot type. Later 77-foot and 80-foot types were built. More 80-foot Elco boats were built than any other type of US motor torpedo boat. Perhaps the most notable 80-foot PT boat was PT-109, commanded by future president John F. Kennedy. In the film PT 109, the "Elco" script logo can be seen on the cockpit throttle housing in several scenes. At the end of the war, the company merged with its sister company, Electric Boat, to form the nucleus of a new corporation General Dynamics. In 1949, General Dynamics decided to focus on government contracts for submarines at Electric Boat and military and commercial aviation sales at Convair, and the company was closed until 1987. Today Elco produces hand crafted replicas of some of its classic "launches". The company also still makes electric motors, mainly used to "repower" sailboats and heavy displacement powerboats as a replacement for diesel engines. Their EP Motors range in power from 1 kW-35 kW, which is the diesel equivalent of 2 hp-70 hp. Elco has also worked on recent projects with Hunter Marine to outfit some of their yachts with Elco motors and a combination of solar panels and wind turbines." From Wikipedia: "Donald Maxwell (born in Clapham, Surrey, now part of London, in 1877, died in 1936) was a British writer and illustrator. Donald Maxwell was the son of Dr Frederick Charles Maxwell, a Methodist clergyman and schoolmaster, and his wife Lucilla, also an illustrator. His father had founded the Manor House School in Cambridge in 1876, where Donald's childhood was probably spent. He had at least four siblings: Stanley, Colin, and Gordon (1883 1942), who also became an author and illustrator, and a sister Maud. Both Donald and Gordon became keen yachtsmen and served as official Admiralty artists in World War I. Maxwell trained in London at the Clapham School of Art, the Slade School of Fine Art, and the Royal College of Art. In 1907, he married Fanny Eveline Marie Morgan (died 1954) and lived with her initially in a yacht moored on the River Thames. They moved to Rochester, Kent and then to the adjacent village of Borstal, where their elder daughter Audrey Eveline Lucilla was born in 1909. A second daughter, Veronica Edith Stanley, was born in 1914. In 1930, Maxwell bought the large mid-18th century East Farleigh House in Kent, but moved to the late-18th century Goddington House in nearby Harrietsham shortly before he died in 1936, of septicaemia brought on by a chill. He was buried in East Farleigh churchyard. Maxwell trained in London at the Clapham School of Art, the Slade School of Fine Art, and the Royal College of Art. He was soon writing. Condition: Good. No dust jacket. Cover has some wear and soiling. Spine has some wear and fading.
Keywords: Motor Launch Patrol, H.M.S. Hermione, Zeebrugge, Dunkirk, H.M.S. Vindictive, U-Boat, Emmel, Blockships, Palestine, Minefield, Newarp Lightship
[Book #67944]
Price: $85.00