Page:Boating - Woodgate - 1888.pdf/175

 Historical Eisht-oars { Keelless).

. Length. Beam, Builder. 1. Oxford boat, 1857 54 ft. oin. 2 ft. 2)in. Mat Taylor. {at No. 3's rowlock}

2. Eton, 1863. + 57ft.oin. 2ft. tin, Mat Taylor. Depth at stern 6 in.

3 Radley, 1858. 56 ft. oin, 2ft. of in Sewell, for King, Liepth at stern 7}

4. Oxford, 1878 - §7fl-oin. 1ft. roin. Swaddell & Winship. Depth at stern 6 in.

5. Oxford, 1853. 58 ft-oin, ft. rohin. J. Clasper. Depth at stern 6§ in.

These boats are selected because each in its turn won some reputation, and also because they exemplify the builds of different constructors.

No. 1 was always highly esteemed by those who rowed in her.

No. 2 carried Eton at Henley Regatta from 1863 to 1870 or 6871,

No 3 was eulogised by Mr. T. Egan in ‘Bell’s Life,’ on the occasion of her @éx/ in the above-mentioned school match 2, Eton, She retained a high reputation for several seasons, was once specially borrowed by Corpus (Oxon) durmg the summer eights, and was said by that crew to be a vast improvement on their own ship.

No 4 carried Oxford from 1878 to 1882 inclusive, losing only the match in 1879, in which year the crew and not the boat were to blame.

No. 5, after one or two trials, was in 1883 found to be faster than No. 4 (which was then getting old !), and in her the Oxonians won a rather unexpected victory ; odds of 3 to 1 being laid against them.

In addition te these builds, the dimensions recorded by the well-known authority ‘ Argonaut,’ in his standard work on ‘Boat Racing,’ are here given. ‘That writer does not commit himself to saying that they are the des, but simply states that they are