Morphew

[Paul5388]

I joined last night so I could get the images posted on the Morphew question. I needed an image to illustrate a point I was making and I didn't have a copy, at the time, of the only picture still remaining of the Morphew my dad raced in the Freeport to Galveston Marathon circa 1955, winning in its class.

This picture was developed September 1954, as printed on the back.



Now, the main purpose of the photo was my Little League uniform, but the boat is in the background. Since it was over 50 years ago, I have to stretch what little memory I still have, but I believe this boat had a new deck installed and varnished. The front cock pit seat was so hard, it had foam and vinyl covering it (it helped a bunch!). The hull was covered in fiberglass cloth and fiberglassed and it ran a 40 hp Mercury. At 14', it was pretty fast for the time period, even with the extra weight of the fiberglass!

Part of the inspiration for the project probably came from the hydroplanes that raced about every weekend in the "old river" in Freeport, (the river channel had been diverted at some previous time prior to 1952) behind the Tarpon Inn area. The 20 hp Mercury was pretty much king at the time, but between races there were a lot of Yellow Jackets running the river with 40 hp Mercurys.

We were up close to Livingston at Dam "B" doing some fishing in the Morphew and hit a stump or something that shear the prop key. With a stub of a paddle, the front cover of the Mercury and a syrup bucket lid, we paddled all the way back in. It's a good thing it was as light as it was!

Well, that's my contribution, to help repay for the use of a good image of a Morphew!

[mdaspit]

Oh man, what a fantastic idea, a Freeport to Galveston marathon!
Great photograph.

[Paul5388]

That was back in the days of the draw bridges on the Inter-coastal, so I think it was started from the area between Velasco and Freeport (maybe at the old railroad bridge from downtown to downtown), hung a left at Surfside and went across San Luis pass. It was a round trip affair and necessitated some extra fuel being carried. It was a grueling trip and I think that was the only run dad made.

The course of the Brazos River was changed by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1929 and created the Freeport Ship Channel (AKA "Old River" that opens between the jetties at Surfside and Bryan/Quintana beaches). This shrimp boat sits pretty close to where the river originally ran.



This is many years later, but similar to what we watched every weekend, with rooster tails flying.

[mdaspit]

I rember racing in Freeport once. It was some sort of channel or river or Bajou,
Seems like it was man made because it had berms on both sides, and we raced from a nice little park, with a sandy beach.

Same place?

[sam]

Nice thread. Some Morphew stuff on Boatracingfacts too

[Paul5388]

Just to show I'm not losing my mind about the Marathon, here's a reference I found.

Another was Carl Kiekhaefer’s first Jones’ Tunnel outboard. That was a single-engine boat driven by Bill Cooper and it won the Long Beach (Calif.) Invitational by 12 laps and the Galveston (Texas) Marathon in 1968.

The races were held just to the south of the Tarpon Inn, which was torn down in 1956.


Since there's now a guillotine gate to protect the old river from rising water, I would assume there were levees on the river front, just like we had surrounding the town. However, I don't remember a levee at the upper end, sorta behind the High School.



I haven't been back to Freeport since the middle 1970s, but will probably go again in the near future, since I still have an aunt and a cousin living near there. I have walked around on "street view" and noticed there have been lots of changes over the years.

[Paul5388]

I found a pretty interesting site that has a lot of old Brazoria County photos. One of them is the dam and diversion of the Brazos river at Freeport in 1929.


Images courtesy of the Brazoria County Historical Museum

The original bridge between Freeport and Velasco can be seen in roughly the center of the picture. Avenue A, on the left in Velasco, is the straight line that terminates at the bridge. The boat races were usually held around the bend from the bridge.

The new draw bridge was built on dry land and the channel was dredged under it.


Dredge making final cut, diverting the Brazos River into its new channel in 1929.

[Paul5388]

The hydroplane picture I posted came from boatracingfacts.com, but I don't know my way around there enough to find the Morphew section. I did find the LSBRA, but didn't see much prior to 1965. It's probably there, but without joining, it isn't searchable.

[sam]

So why not join?

[Paul5388]

Sam,

Boats for me were a long time ago. I have never owned a boat and probably never will. I spent 3 1/2 years on a guided missile cruiser, which got a lot of the desire for water out of my system. I'm not a good fisherman and I never could get up on a pair of skis.

That said, I feel it wouldn't be in keeping good faith to join another forum. I really have nothing to contribute, so I would just be dead weight, like I am here.

My passion is really at http://forums.handloads.com/, where I am also Paul5388.

Here's 611 feet capable of 30+ knots, I'm a life member of the USS Little Rock CLG-4 Association. The picture was made a month before I went aboard.

[mdaspit]

Sam,

Boats for me were a long time ago.

That said, I feel it wouldn't be in keeping good faith to join another forum. I really have nothing to contribute, so I would just be dead weight, like I am here.

Listen Paul, I'm speaking for myself, but I'm pretty sure a lot of guys would agree with me when I say it's impossible to separate history and the old race boats from what makes guys interested in racing boats today.

It's like something was stirred somewhere deep inside when I first saw these boats from the old days. Big round noses with those unmistakable green tanked mercs clamped on the back. There was something about the combination of varnished mahogany, and paint, and numbers on the sponsons, just sitting there in the water, a bunch of them, lined up, just waiting to have the rope pulled.

All down the beach guys totally focused on tweeking their set ups, and talking pit jive... getting ready for their heat.

Man, what a thrill. When I went to see them, I would run from the parking lot to the beach to see that sight, hear that noise, smell that smell. I would just stand there and stare at those boats, and study every screw, and bolt. Up and down the beach, middle of summer, on the lake, all day long.

Don't think you have nothing to contribute.

You posted that picture of that kid in a Little League uniform, and it reminded me of my own backyard, and my dad's boat, and my baseball cap that I spent hours getting the crease just right.

That's why I'm racing today, and that's what guys mean when they say once you get the "Jones" for it, you can't get rid of it, Because it's all wraped up together man, and you can't think of part of it without all of it rushing in.

My opinion Paul? You made a huge contribution when you took the time to post that photograph.

Hang around for a while.

[dcrummett]

I grew up there!

The makeshift traile made from the front axle of a carr, the boat, the frame home with an exhaust fan... I grew up that same way! I didn't play baseball, well two years 10 and 11 year old, but was piss poor at it. The Green Top mercs, however, had my attention back there too... and yes, Mark, it's an uncurable disease that starts with the sound of stacks and the smell of castor oil.. then you find the people racing are "family"... need I say more.

Thanks for the photo (of the ship, too!) My old man was a SeaBee.

Dan

[Paul5388]

Ah yes, the old window fan that could be set for intake or exhaust. That's the best we could do in 1954! No one had A/C, except the stores and the Showboat Theater down on 2nd Street. Movies were $.09 when we first got there, but quickly went to $.11 due to some sort of tax.

We moved to Freeport in 1952, when I was in the second grade. The move to Lake Jackson was in 1960, only a year before Carla came through, but I was in boot camp for all of that hurricane excitement.

I don't know what happened to the Morphew, because we had a 16' Glastron in 1956 with that same white gas burning 40 hp Mercury.

I'm also remembering a Sea King that may have been on the Morphew to start with. The weekend races probably inspired dad to get the Mercury.

As I was cruising around the internet, looking at Yellow Jackets and such, I ran across this video from the 1940s on boat races. This ought to make you smell the fuel and get your blood pumping.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJH24Y3_Y9c

I wrote this last night, but forgot to actually send it.

[Paul5388]

As I cruised more on the internet, I decided I had better save the meager amount of information I ran across on Morphews. It seems that the best source of information so far has been on this site. After I finally figured out how to search, boatracingfacts.com didn't bring up a single hit. Maybe I just think I know how to do a search there?

I have enjoyed the trip into the past and even viewed some Yellow Jacket videos to enhance my journey!