Archive material

Peter Collins was a formula one racing driver in the 1950's, one of the three golden boys of British motorsport of that era, that also included Stirling Moss and Mike Hawthorn. Peter successfully raced for Ferrari from 1956 until his fatal accident at the German Grand Prix in 1958, just two weeks after winning the British Grand Prix.
Peter and his father had a lifetime love of boats and yachts. His father kept a yacht at Dartmouth called Genie Maris which Peter often used while Peter himself lived mostly on his own yacht Mipooka in Monte Carlo and ued his Albatross to commute around the harbour.
Peter married an American actress and Broadway star, Louise King, who's father Andrew Cordier was Under Secretary at the United Nations. Whilst married to Peter, until his tragic accident, Louise wrote home to her parents describing her life in the top flight of motor racing and the day to day life at Ferrari. The extracts from her letters included below make reference to their Albatross.
These two photographs below appeared in Paris Match no.488 in a tribute to Peter that appeared after the German Grand Prix in 1958.

The photo to the left is a photo taken during the Monte Carlo Grand Prix 1957, of Peter Collins, Mike Hawthorn and Louise King sitting in Peter's Albatross.

The extracts from Louise's letters home:

"…Monte Carlo was wonderful in a silly sort of way. There were many, many people there who came to the race because it was in Monte Carlo and therefore much fun was had by all. On Friday Peter bought an Albatross. It is a little 12ft aluminium speed boat that doesn’t go very fast, but fast enough to ski behind so I’m happy. He got it very cheaply and as it turned out we were very glad we had it. On Saturday during practice he just about drove his car into the harbour and luckily a lamp post stopped him. So he came back to the pits and we got into the boat and went to view the damage. Met some very nice people on the way and had a wonderful time. Don’t worry, I know this sounds ridiculous but if he had gone into the water nothing more would have happened than losing a rather expensive Ferrari and Peter would have had a nice swim. Well to make a long story short the next day (3 laps after the start of the race) the same thing happened except this time he had company. Stirling Moss was first, then Peter and then Mike Hawthorn all did the same thing in just about the same place. It was Stirling’s fault since his brakes failed and caused a wooden fence to fly around a bit and stop Peter and Mike. Anyway Peter walked back to the pits, we hopped into the speedboat and did the same as the previous day. To top it all off on Monday we were cruising around in the boat and a large yacht was trying to leave the harbour but had several anchor chains caught on its anchor. So Peter came to the rescue and was in the process of removing the chains when he slipped and fell into the water. It seems the harbour had its eye on him and it was inevitable that he should go for a swim. Well it was quite a weekend but I’m glad it’s over and we’ve had a chance to ‘rest up?’ We’re at Nurburgring now and things are about as peaceful as they could be at a race – which isn’t very peaceful…"

"….You last heard from me from Reims I think. After that we went up to London and picked up a 10 ton truck and drove to Aintree which is just outside Liverpool. It may sound strange and it was but some people asked Peter to ‘road test’ the truck and thren write an article for one of the commercial magazines on it. It was a deal I don’t quite approve of since 10 ton trucks were never made to carry wives I’m sure but it paid quite well. Peter drove it to Aintree and then we went to Dover to pick up the Albatross (our little speedboat from Monte Carlo) then we took it to Dartmouth and finally we returned the truck to London and I was happy to see the Mercury again…."