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The Evolution of Chris-Craft
by
Craig King

 

 

One summer, while spending a relaxing day at the beach, I found myself admiring the
boats. My eyes were drawn to the sleek shining wooden boats. The luster of the wood
and the polished chrome or brass was so impressive. As I listened to the roar of the engines telling me of the power waiting to be released, I began to wonder about the designers of these eye-catching crafts. This led to my discovery of one of the prominent boat makers, Chris Smith, who lived his life in Algonac, Michigan.

Christopher Columbus Smith was born May 20, 1861, in St. Clair County, Michigan. His parents were James G. Smith and Harriet D. Hazard. Shortly after Chris was born, his family moved to Algonac, Michigan. Algonac is located along the St. Clair River, which runs north of Detroit. This area is known as the St. Clair River Delta Region, because of its many channels, islands and, marshes. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was know as a fisherman's and hunter's paradise. Wildlife and fish were plentiful (Rodengen 2).

Chris Smith admired his older brother, Henry, who was a successful market duck hunter, a skilled marksman, a decoy carver, and an excellent boat handler. Chris and his brother Henry supplied ducks to restaurants in Detroit and to local meat markets. When Chris was about fourteen years old, he and his brother Henry bagged about 700-800 ducks a week, which they sold to make money for their family. The boys would trap and hunt muskrat and otter when the duck-hunting season ended as the birds flew south (Rodengen 3).

Chris picked up many skills from his father and mother as well. His father was a well skilled craftsman of all trades. He could make guns and fix almost everything that needed to be fixed at home--and even for friends. His mother was also a very skilled lady in carving duck heads for her husband's duck decoys.

According to Jeffery Rodengen, " It was during the market hunting era, somewhere around 1874, that the Smith brothers would together construct their first boat” (4). Soon after, they began guiding groups of wealthy Detroiters in hunting and fishing parties. The hunters began asking the Smith brothers to build duck boats for them. Chris and Henry had a small boat livery business in Algonac, Michigan, along the St. Clair River called the Smith Boat House. From here they built duck boats, canoes, small rowboats, and sailboats. They would either sell them or rent them to people (Rodengen 6-7).

At the beginning of the 1900's Chris and his brother Henry separated from the boat building business, and Chris changed the name of the business C.C. Smith, Boat Builder; in a few years it would change to Chris Smith & Co., Boat Builder and Livery (Rodengen 12). With the development of the gas engine, Chris began experimenting with powering his boats with gas engines. In the summer of 1905 Chris lost his status as the fastest man in the flats. A man from Algonac brought a boat hull from New York. He also had a 4-cylinder motor to power the boat. He put his boat in the river and set a new speed record at 21.5 miles per hour, which beat Chris's record of 16 miles per hour. Chris was jealous of this boat, and as a result Chris sent his workers out to get all the facts on the boat, so he could redesign his boat to make it go faster (Rodengen 13).

In 1910 a man by the name of John Ryan came to Algonac. (Rodengen 14) He was impressed by the design and speed of Chris Smith's speedboat the Dart. Chris's Dart was considered the fastest boat in Algonac, going at a top speed of 23-26 mph. John Ryan approached Chris to build a boat for him that would beat Chris's Dart. This boat, known as Reliance I, beat the Dart by a comfortable speed. This made Ryan yearn for a boat that would go even faster than Reliance I. As a result, Ryan had Chris build him another boat to go even faster with a larger gas engine. At this point Ryan asked Chris if he would like a partner in his company. Chris accepted the offer, as he knew Ryan would have the capital to invest in the company. Chris continued designing his runabout boats but added a new line of racing boats (Rodengen 21-22).

Ryan was a gambler and his money soon dwindled to nothing. After two years of loosing money at the tracks and investing in personal racing boats, his money was gone. He was broke. As a result, after a two-year partnership, Chris lost the backer for his business in 1912 (Rodengen 33). Chris was troubled by the loss of his partner. He was concerned that he would lose the boat business, until one night in a New York hotel when he had a dream that would help him survive this difficult time. He dreamt that he built a boat for the city of Detroit to win the Gold Cup Trophy Race. Early in 1915, Chris created an association with several Detroiters and called it the Miss Detroit Power Boat Association. The Association sponsored one of Chris's speedboats in the 1915 Gold Cup Trophy Race. He was looking for away to show off his skills as boat builder. Through this race Chris hoped that his boats would soon get the acknowledgement that he was looking for and create orders for his boats. "Miss Detroit was a singe step hydroplane... and was powered by 250-Hp Sterling engine designed by Charles Criqui" (Rodengen 34). The race was held on Saturday August 14, 1915, at Manhasset Bay in New York. The Association won the Gold Cup Trophy Race averaging a speed of 48.5 miles per hour. Chris's boat was the first boat west of New York to win the Gold Cup Trophy Race in New York (Rodengen 34-36). Chris won the Gold Cup Trophy Race for the next three years, which opened up his boat-building industry to the world.

In 1915 Gar Wood Industries invested in Chris Smith's business, gaining a controlling interest in the C.C. Smith Boat & Engine Company. For the next six years Chris designed and built boats for Gar Wood. In 1922 Chris ended the partnership with Gar Wood, and Chris established Chris Smith & Sons Boat Company (Rodengen 54). Chris and the Smith family would be in control of the boat business once again.

It was not until the year 1922 that the name Chriscraft began to appear on Chris' boats. It was published in Motor Boat, a magazine in which the Chris Smith & Sons Boat Company advertised four different boats all carrying the name Chriscraft. The name Chriscraft comes from two different accounts. Some think that Chris's son Hamilton suggested the name, while others think that Chris's daughter Catherine suggested the name. Regardless, the name Chriscraft appeared in 1922 (Savage 20).

In 1930 the Depression hit America. Chris-Craft was one of a few boat companies to survive the Depression. This was due largely to the fact that the Chris Smith & Sons Boat Company had very little debt before the Depression struck. During the Depression Chris-Craft made several changes which included cutting back on payroll, creating a line of low cost utility boats, and expanding the plant during a time when it was cheapest to do so (Savage 36). Chris-Craft was on it feet at the end of the Depression, ready to keep up with the demands of production.

In the fall of 1939, sadness hit the town of Algonac, Michigan, with the death of Christopher Columbus Smith, who died at the age of 78 (Rodengen 119). In the past ten year, Chris had no longer been involved in the day-to-day operation of the boat business. He was letting his sons run the company, but he was still designing boats and keeping up with the employees of the factory. He loved visiting the boiler room and talking with his favorite employees (Savage 47).
WWII changed the world of the Chris-Craft Company, as they were called upon to meet the demands of the United States during wartime. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, the United States Government came to Chris-Craft with the first of many government contracts to build landing boats. They had five months to deliver 1,025, thirty-six foot-landing boats. Next, the Navy ordered 105 harbor picket boats or PT boats (Rodengen 136). The United States Government expected the production schedule to be met.

Jeffery Rodengen commented, in The Legend of Chris-Craft, about the company’s ability to meet the government requirements:
Chris-Craft was able to meet and even exceeded the fantastic production demands placed by the Government due to their twenty-year history of precision in-line manufacturing ability. They had very little new ground to break in meeting the challenge, they were instead able to expand on basic and time-proven production principles in increase the flow of production. (137)

In the production of the war boats, the company was required to build the boats of plywood, a new material for Chris-Craft to use in boat building. They also used Thiokol, a new glue, which would be very helpful in the building of Chris-Craft boats in later years (Savage 51).

The Chris-Craft Corporation received the Navy "E" award in 1942. This is the highest honor to be given to any American plant or industries. Chris-Craft received the Navy "E" award because they were a business devoted to efficiently producing ships to meet the Government contracts (Rodengen 137-138).

As Chris-Craft moved into the 1950s, many changes took place in the Chris-Craft industry. The most important change was in the selling of Chris-Craft by the Smith family, which brought to a close the story of Chris-Craft in Michigan.

In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed writing about Chris Smith and the history of Chris-Craft. I try to imagine what it must have been like in Algonac in the early 1900s, as Chris began his boat business. I feel I can almost sense Chris' excitement as he began work on a new design. He was always a dreamer, never afraid to take a chance. The boats Chris built were very stylish, maybe even elegant for the time. Chris started from humble roots, as does the story of Chris-Craft. Through hard work and luck, Chris left his mark in the boating industry of the world.

Works Cited

  • "Chris Craft History." Chriscraftboats.com. 2002. 3 Mar. 2003
    <http:(/wvvw.chriscraftboAst.com.>.
  • Rodengen, Jeffrey L. The Legend of Chris-Craft. Florida: Write Stuff Syndicate Inc, 1988.
  • Savage, Jack. Chris-Craft. Wisconsin: MBI Pub. Co, 2000.
 
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