page_title: National Police Gazette
section_title: Frank Samuelsen and George Harbo
hierarchical_section_title: National Police Gazette / Frank Samuelsen and George Harbo
caption_attribution_description: English: Drawing of Frank Samuelson and George Harbo's rowboat "The Fox." They used this boat in the first recorded rowboat crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.
context_page_description: The National Police Gazette, commonly referred to as simply the Police Gazette, was an American magazine founded in 1845. Under publisher Richard K. Fox, it became the forerunner of the men's lifestyle magazine, the illustrated sports weekly, the girlie/pin-up magazine, the celebrity gossip column, Guinness World Records-style competitions, and modern tabloid/sensational journalism.
context_section_description: In 1896, the Police Gazette also allegedly offered a prize of $10,000 (about $300,000 in 2018 money) to the first to row across the Atlantic Ocean, though no contemporary source exists confirming a Police Gazette offer of any significant monetary prize. In the same year, George Harbo and Frank Samuelsen invested their savings in an 18-foot rowboat, which they named 'Fox' after the editor of the Gazette, Richard K. Fox. Despite crossing the Atlantic in 55 days (a record not broken until 2010, albeit by a team of four rowers) the Police Gazette never paid the men the promised prize money, though no contemporary sources exist showing the money was ever offered by the Police Gazette or that the men were expecting a substantial sum from the Gazette. Numerous sources report the men were expecting either no money or only whatever money could be raised from exhibitions following successful completion of the voyage. Sources also show Richard K. Fox and the Police Gazette offered and provided towing of the 'Fox' to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn—the last outside propulsion used by Harbo and Samuelsen until reaching Europe; payment of expenses incurred by the American consulate in Le Havre for their food, clothing, and temporary shelter upon reaching the continent; two gold medals commemorating the achievement; and publicity within the pages of the Police Gazette. The Gazette was also the only newspaper willing to attach its name to the endeavor as others considered it too risky.
caption: Record-setting Fox surf boat.
exif: {}