For the week of September 7, 2026.
On September 9, 1919, the HD-4 hydrofoil craft set the world marine speed record on Bras d’Or Lake in Nova Scotia. Designed by Frederick Walker ‘Casey’ Baldwin and Alexander Graham Bell, the hydrofoil craft reached a speed of 114 kilometres per hour—a record it held for a decade. The development of the HD-4 is a significant example of early-20th-century technological innovation in Canada.
Hydrofoils are wing-like structures, resembling aerofoils, that lift a moving boat’s hull from the water to reduce resistance. The first experiments with this type of craft took place in the mid-19th century. This was a time of great technological experimentation, which saw the design and construction of the earliest aircraft by the turn of the 20th century.
The Aerial Experiment Association, formed in 1907, exemplified this age of innovation. Mabel Hubbard Bell provided crucial funding for the research and experimentation of members Casey Baldwin, John A. D. McCurdy, Glenn Curtiss, Lieutenant Thomas A. Selfridge, and her husband Alexander Graham Bell. The Association designed and built four aircraft. The first test flight took place in the United States on March 12, 1908. Baldwin took the Red Wing to 319 feet, becoming the first Canadian to fly an aircraft. After the Association moved to the Bell estate of Beinn Bhreagh near Baddeck, Nova Scotia, McCurdy flew the Silver Dart half a mile on February 23, 1909. This was the first controlled, powered flight in Canadian history.
In August 1908 Baldwin and Alexander Graham Bell designed and tested a hydrofoil craft known as Drome No. 6. Although the Aerial Experiment Association disbanded in March 1909, Baldwin stayed at Beinn Bhreagh and continued experimenting with hydrofoils. He worked closely with Bell, but did most of the designing, building, and testing of the technology himself. In November 1911 Baldwin built the first of the HD (for hydrodrome) series. The HD-1 reached up to 80 kilometres per hour. The HD-2, completed in November 1912, and the HD-3, in July 1913, yielded similar results.
During the First World War (1914–1918), Bell theorized that hydrofoil technology could be adapted for use by naval forces. In 1919 the United States Navy lent Bell and Baldwin two 350-horsepower Liberty engines for experimentation. Baldwin added the engines to his HD-4 in 1919 and soon began testing, which culminated in the record-setting run on September 9. He raced the HD-4 down a 1,600-metre course on Bras d’Or Lake. The 18.3-metre-long cigar-shaped craft lifted above of the water onto its hydrofoils as it reached a record speed of 114 kilometres per hour. This record remained undefeated for the next ten years.
Despite this success, the United States Navy lost interest in the venture and the HD-4 ended up beached at Beinn Bhreagh, where it remained for decades. Baldwin continued to design new HD-series hydrofoil crafts in the years that followed. Bell-Baldwin Hydrodromes Ltd. was federally incorporated in 1920 but never sold a single craft and closed in 1923. Baldwin experimented with the technology on and off until the Second World War (1939–1945), when he sold several hydrofoil crafts to the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force. After his death in 1948, the navy began development of a fast hydrofoil escort as an anti-submarine vessel. Named in honour of the site of Baldwin and Bell’s hydrofoil tests, in 1969 the HMCS Bras D’Or (FHE-400) set the record for the fastest warship at Halifax, at 117 kilometres per hour.
