In the early 1920s, a group of gentlemen playing poker in the back room of the Citizens Bank in St. Michaels turned their talk to reviving the tradition of log canoe racing on the Miles River. The first organized successful race was among three canoes: Sam, Island Blossom and Mary Rider competed on July 4 th that year.
The 10 poker-playing gentlemen became the founding charter members of the Miles River Yacht Club to essentially organize log canoe regattas. John P. Cosden was elected Commodore of the new club in 1920 and served until 1926. The club grew into “The Home of the Log Canoes,” and interest in racing these unique craft grew along with it.
In 1926 Bill Green, skipper of the Mary Rider, asked then-Governor Albert C. Richie for permission to sponsor a subscription campaign for a perpetual trophy to be known as “The Governors Cup.” The Cup was presented to MRYC in 1927 by Gov. Richie and accepted by Bill Green in trust to the Club. Bill Green was elected Commodore in 1928. Embossed on the face of the Cup is the 1898 version of Island Bird.
George Wilson in Magic was the first winner in 1927, but Bill Green in Mary Rider won it in ’28, ’29 and ’30. According to covenants spelled out in a letter of June 21, 1927 from Gov. Richie, a three-time winner in succession had the right to permanent possession. Capt. Green thought otherwise. The Cup became a perpetual trophy, as engraved on the trophy and approved by Gov. Richie.
Thus the history of log canoe racing on the Miles River, the Governors Cup and the Miles River Yacht Club as “Home of the Log Canoes” are all inextricably entwined.
