page_title: Water speed record
section_title: Before 1910
hierarchical_section_title: Water speed record / Before 1910
caption_attribution_description: English: Steam yacht Feiseen, built in 1893 by Benjamin Franklin "B.F." Wood from the designs of William Gardner and Charles Dell Mosher at City Island, NY for owner William B. Cogswell of Saracuse, NY. It was completely planked in mahogany with 30,000 wooden rivets in her frame and housed a single 600-hp steam engine. Feiseen was commissioned by Cogswell to beat the yachts Norwood and Vamoose and set a new world speed record. On August 25, 1893, she set a new world speed record at 31.6 mph. A few months later she was sold and rebuilt for the Brazilian Navy, adding an armored deckhouse and deck-mounted guns.[1] ↑ International Yacht Restoration School (2006). Yachts Built by Wood. Retrieved on 2008-09-01.
context_page_description: The World Unlimited water speed record is the officially recognised fastest speed achieved by a water-borne vehicle. The current record is 511 km/h, achieved by Australian Ken Warby in the Spirit of Australia in 1978.
  The record is one of the sporting world's most hazardous competitions. Two official attempts to beat the 1978 record resulted in the death of the driver; despite this, there are several teams working to make further attempts.
  The record is ratified by the Union Internationale Motonautique.
context_section_description: Until 1911 the world water speed records were held by steam-powered, propeller-driven vehicles.
  1885, Nathanael Herreshoff's Stiletto: 42.2 km/h (26.2 mph)
  1893, William B. Cogswell's Feiseen: 50.9 km/h (31.6 mph)
  1897, Charles Algernon Parsons' Turbinia: 62.9 km/h (39.1 mph)
  1903, Charles R. Flint's Arrow: 72.5 km/h (45.06 mph)
caption: William Cogswell's steam yacht Feiseen, which set a new world speed record on 25 August 1893 of 50.8 km/h (31.6 mph)
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