This summer, MOHAI and Vanishing Seattle invite you to join us for a Lake Union cruise on the Virginia V. During the event, Cynthia Brothers of Vanishing Seattle will discuss notable businesses, past and present, that call the shores of Lake Union home.
Below, explore the story of one of the most iconic of these businesses: Jensen Motor Boat Company.
Jensen Motor Boat Company, circa 1935
MOHAI, SHS5521
Jensen Motor Boat Company was founded in 1922 by Tony Jensen (1889-1963), a Danish immigrant who came from a family of boat builders. In 1927, Tony, his wife Bessie (1892-1968), and two partners moved the company to 1417 NE Boat Street on Portage Bay, in the east arm of Lake Union. The company specialized in building boats with experimental designs.
Tony and Bessie built a boat shop with living quarters above where they raised their sons George and Anchor. This photo, taken from Portage Bay, shows the property in the mid-1930s.
Hydroplane Slo-Mo-Shun IV, 1950
MOHAI, SHS15962
Sons George (1915-1977) and Anchor (1918-2000) grew up and joined the family business. In 1949, Anchor Jensen and Ted Jones designed and built the Slo-Mo-Shun IV for Stanley “Stan” S. Sayres’ Slo-Mo-Shun Hydroplanes. Sayres drove the boat for the World Water Speed Record of 160.3235 mph in 1950, which helped to establish the hydroplane racing industry in Seattle. Sayres would soon break his own record, racing the hydroplane at 178.497 mph in 1952. Slo-Mo-Shun IV was donated to MOHAI in 1959 and today can be seen in the museum hanging in the atrium.
This photo shows the hydroplane on the water in Lake Washington during its first record setting year.
MOHAI, 1959.1701.c.1
Slo-Mo-Shun IV and her sister ship, Slo-Mo-Shun V, won the Gold Cup every year from 1950 to 1954. This hand-drawn certificate from the Union of International Motorboating (UIM) declares in both French and English that SLO-MO-SHUN IV, owned by Stanley Sayres and driven by Joe Taggart, won the Best Performance Gold Cup, Unlimited Class on August 7, 1955, during a 15-mile heat on Lake Washington. The boat’s speed was recorded that day as 166 kilometers per hour.
Anchor and Dewitt Jensen at Jensen Motor Boat Company, 1997
MOHAI, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection, 2000.107.19970422.17.08, photo by Phil H. Webber
The Jensen Motor Boat Company continued to work on boat repairs and construction throughout the twentieth century. In this photo, an unidentified man (left) consults with Anchor (center) and Dewitt (right) Jensen near the hull of a boat. Anchor’s son Dewitt worked as a civil engineer but helped his father out as needed. Anchor lived above the shop and spent most of his time in the work area. He and six subcontractors worked on 100 to 150 boats a year; some 40% of those were wooden boats.
Anchor Jensen died in 2000, and the business passed to Dewitt Jensen (1952-). In November 2018, the company announced its sale, and the business closed in August 2019.
The images featured above were added to MOHAI’s online collection thanks to a grant supported with funding provided by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.