In the July 1904 issue of The Rudder magazine, there's an amusing firsthand account by L.A. Dixon of the optimistic purchase of a very early gasoline-powered auto-boat somewhere on the coast of Maine. "Last March," writes Dixon, an experienced sailor who claims pure ignorance of powerboats, "the power boat fever struck me and it struck me bad, and nothing would help me any until I bought a gasoline launch." The writer visits a builder (whom he identifies only as "Mr. H.") and buys a 23', 4-hp launch, with the intent to run it home. "I asked the builder to come aboard and start the thing for us, as I did not know the vaporizer from the flywheel. I kept a stern line out while he started her and then after he had jumped ashore I cut the line with my knife and started on the trip of 45 miles, with about 36 miles of it right out on the open ocean. As I passed out of hearing of the boatbuilder and his men I heard them singing 'Mr. Dooley', and that song, I think, I shall always remember."
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机译：在1904年7月的《 The Rudder》杂志上，洛杉矶·迪克森（L.A. Dixon）有一个有趣的第一手资料，他乐观地购买了缅因州沿海某处的早期汽油动力汽艇。经验丰富的水手狄克逊写道：“去年三月，纯粹是对摩托艇的无知。”“摩托艇发烧使我震惊，使我震惊，在我购买汽油发射装置之前，没有任何帮助。”作者拜访了一个建筑商（他只将其标识为“ H.先生”），并购买了23英尺，4 hp的发射器，目的是将其运回家。 “我要求建造者上船，为我们开始做这件事，因为我不知道飞轮上的蒸发器。当他启动她时，我保持一条严厉的线，然后他跳上岸后，我用刀把线切断了。然后开始了45英里的旅程，其中大约36英里就在大海上。当我不愿听到造船厂和他的同僚的声音时，我听到他们在唱“杜利先生”，那首歌我想，我会永远记得的。”
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