my+biography

=Sir William Hamilton OBE (Order of the British Empire)=

(1899 - 1978) "Innovator, not imitator"
Bill Hamilton invented the jet boat. Bill Hamilton is a New Zealander. Bill Hamilton never claimed to have invented the jet boat, he once said "I do not claim to have invented marine jet propulsion. The honour belongs to a gentleman named Archimede." His greatest achievement was to improve the idea and make it work in the specialised field of boat propulsion.

Bill was born on 26 July 1899 & died on 30 March 1978. He went to Waihi Prepatory School. He had two kids; Jon Hamilton & June Hamilton. His mum & dad are William Fielden Hamilton and Cora Blakeney. He was born at Ashwick Station near Fairlie, in the South Island, New Zealand.

Bill wanted to make the jet boat so that he could navigate the shallow fast flowing rivers where he lived. The rivers were too shallow for propeller driven boats to navigate as the propeller would hit the river bottom.

When he took one of his early demonstration jet boats to the US, the media scoffed when he said he planned to take it up the Colorado River in the USA, but in 1960 a Hamilton jet boat became the first boat to travel up through the Grand Canyon. The critics were silenced further when the boat also went down river through the canyon.

Hamilton survived an aeroplane accident returning to Rongotai Airport (Wellington) in poor conditions on 19 February 1937. The collision with the anemometer took the starboard wing off the Miles Falcon Six he was travelling in, and killed pilot Malcolm "Mac" McGregor.

Before his death in 1978, Bill Hamilton was recognised for his services to manufacturing with a knighthood. In 1990 he was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame, and in 2004 he was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.

( 1899-07-26 ) ( 1899-07-26 )