Hales Trophy

Hales also wished to formalize the rules regarding the contest, which up to then had no official form, though they were, by tradition, widely recognized.

Following the retirement of United States in 1969 the award languished, until revived in 1990 for the Incat built passenger/car ferry Hoverspeed Great Britain when she established a new speed record for a commercial vessel on her eastbound delivery voyage without passengers that year.

[5] The four-foot-tall, nearly 100-pound Hales Trophy is made of solid silver and heavy gilt fashioned with a globe resting on two winged figures of Victory standing on a base of carved green onyx, with an enamelled blue ribbon encircling the middle, and decorated with models of galleons, modern ocean liners and statues of Neptune and Amphitrite, god and goddess of the sea.

The trophy is surmounted by a figure depicting speed pushing a three-stacked liner against a figure symbolizing the forces of the Atlantic, which is represented in blue enamel with the traditional ocean liner route indicated by a red enamelled line.

[11] In 1986, Richard Branson was successful in setting a new eastbound transatlantic speed record in the powerboat Challenger II.

In 1990, the 242-foot (74 m) catamaran passenger/car ferry Hoverspeed Great Britain was scheduled to take a delivery voyage from her Australian builders to begin cross channel operations.

After Hoverspeed Great Britain's successful voyage, the Maritime Museum considered challenging the decision on the grounds that Hales donated the award for ships providing Atlantic passenger service,[4] but decided not to because of the cost of legal fees.

In 1992, the Italian powerboat Destriero made a voyage at 53.09 knots (98.32 km/h), breaking Challenger II's record, though she was not awarded the Hales Trophy either.

[11] The trophy resided on the premises of the owners of Cat-Link V, Scandlines, until 2010 when they opted to put it on display in the lobby of The Danish Shipowners' Association, Amaliegade 33, Copenhagen.