Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/43

Rh ROWING 31 a helping hand to young watermen who showed promise of aquatic fame, and they likewise instituted a coat and badge for scullers. The first record of public-school racing which can now be seen is the Water Ledger of Westminster School, which commences in the j-ear 1813 with a list of the crew of the six-oared Fly. This craft continued for some time to be the only boat of the school, and in 1816 beat the Temple six-oar in a race from Johnson's Dock to Westminster Bridge by half a length. Eton possessed a fleet of boats in 1811, if not at an earlier date, consisting of a ten-oar and three boats with eight oars. In those days some of the crews had a waterman to pull stroke and drill the crew, but this practice was abolished in 1828, as the waterman frequently rowed a bad stroke and the crew were obliged to subscribe for his day's pay, beer, and clothes ; thenceforward the captain of each crew rowed the stroke- oar. The earliest record of a race at Eton is when Mr Carter's four rowed against the watermen and beat them in 1817 ; but the pro- fessionals had a boat too small for them. In 1818'Eton challenged Westminster School to row from Westminster to Kew Bridge against the tide, but the match was stopped by the authorities ; and it was not until 1829 that the first contest between the two schools was brought to an issue. Rowing appears to have commenced at the universities soon after the beginning of the century, but earlier at Oxford than at Cam- bridge. There were college boats on the river for some time before there were any races. Those first recorded at Oxford were in 1815, said to be college eights, but the boats used are more likely to have been fours, when Brasenose was "head of the river " and Jesus their chief opponent. These two clubs were constantly rowing races, but they were not very particular about the oarsmen in the boats, as the Brasenose crew in 1824 was composed of two members of the college, a Worcester man, and a waterman. The first axithentic records commence in 1836, and the Oxford University Boat Club was established in 1839. At Cambridge eight-oared rowing was not in fashion so soon as at Oxford, the first eight (belonging to St John's College) not having been launched until 1826 ; and between that year and 1829 the Cambridge University Boat Club was formed. Eight-oared races were established on the Cam in 1827, when First Trinity was "head of the river," and in 1828 the first Oxford and Cambridge University boat race was proposed and fixed for June 10, 1829, on the Thames, from Hambledon Lock to Henley Bridge. The race was rowed at intermittent periods up to 1856, since which year it has been annual. In 1830 the amateur championship of the Thames was instituted by Mr Henry C. Wingfield, who presented a pair of silver sculls to be rowed for annually by the amateur scullers of the Thames on the 10th August from Westminster to Putney at half flood, but the course and date of the race have been changed since then. The first scullers' race for the professional championship of the Thames was rowed from Westminster to Putney on the 8th September 1831, Charles Campbell of West- minster defeating John Williams of Waterloo Bridge. During the next eight years rowing increased in favour among amateurs, and, as it had taken its proper place among the national pastimes, and the want of a central spot for a regatta was much felt, Henley- on-Thames was chosen, and it was decided that a regatta should be held there in 1839, and the Grand Challenge cup for eight oars was established. This has been an annual fixture ever since, prizes being given for ionv oars, pair oars, and scullers, as well as for eight oars. In 1843 the Royal Thames Regatta was started at Putney, and it gave a gold challenge cup for eight oars and a silver challenge cup for four oars, to be rowed by amateurs. In 1844 Oxford beat Cambridge at this regatta, and in the same year the committee added a champion prize for watermen. About this time the Old Thames Club was established, and they carried off the gold challenge cup by winning it for three years in succession, viz., 1846 to 1848. In 1852 the Argonauts Club first appeared at Henley and won the Visitors' cup, and in 1853 the Royal Chester Rowing Club were successful in the Stewards' cup for four oars, and won the Grand Challenge cup for eight oars the next year. In 1856 the London Rowing Club was established, but those members of it who rowed at Henley were obliged to enter under the name of the Argonauts Club, as, not having been in existence a year, its crew could not compete under its name. The next year, however, they carried off the Grand Challenge cup from Oxford University, and were successful in the Stewards' cup as well. Many more clubs, such as the Kingston, Radley, West London, Twickenham, Thames, Moulsey, and other metropolitan and provincial clubs were subse- quently established, and have met with varied success. Boats. The boats of the present day differ very much from those formerly used, and the heavy lumbering craft which alone were known to our forefathers have been superseded by a lighter descrip- tion, skiffs, gigs, and racing outriggers. The old Thames wherry with its long projecting bow is now seldom seen, and a roomy skiff, often used with a sail when the wind is favourable, has taken its place. The gig is an open boat with several strakes, having the row- locks, or pieces of wood between which the oar works, fixed upon the gunwale, which is level all round. The skiff is wider and longer than the gig and of greater depth, and, rising higher fore and aft, with rowlocks placed on a curved and elevated gunwale, has greater carrying power and rows lighter than the gig. The wherry rises high at the bows with a long nose pointed upwards and a very low stern, being consequently unsuited for rough water. The modern racing boat differs much from the foregoing, as its width has been decreased so as to offer as little resistance to the water as possible, while it is propelled by oars working between rowlocks fixed on projecting iron rods and cross pieces which are made fast to the timbers. These rods and cross pieces are rigged out from the side of the boats, and hence the term outriggers. These boats are constructed for single scullers, for pairs, for fours, for eights, and occasionally for twelve oars. The outrigger was first brought to perfection by the late Henry Clasper of Kewcastle-on-Tyne, who is generally believed to have been its inventor ; but the first outriggers, which were only rude pieces of wood fastened on the boat's sides, were used in 1828, and were fixed to a boat at Ouseburn-on-Tyne. The first iron outriggers were affixed to a boat in 1830 at Dents' Hole on Tyne. In 1844 Clasper, who had been improving upon these inventions, made his first boat of the kind and brought her to London ; but her outriggers were only 8 inches in length, and she was built of several strakes, with a small keel. In process of time keels were dispensed with, the outriggers were lengthened, and the skin of the boat is now composed of a single strake of cedar planed very thin and bent by means of hot water to take the form of the timbers of the boat. It is fastened by copper nails to curved timbers of ash, one extremity of which is fixed into the keelson while the other is made fast to long pieces of deal that run from end to end of the boat and are called inwales. The timbers in the middle are thicker than the rest, so as to support the iron outriggers which are fastened to them, and the thwart, which is wider than it used to be in order to carry the sliding seat, which works backward and forward with the oarsman, is screwed to the inwales. This seat moves to and fro on rollers made of steel, wood, or brass, and travels over a distance varying from 12 to 6 inches according to the judgment of the instructor. The sliding seat seems to have been the invention of an American oarsman, who fixed one to a sculling boat in 1857, but it was not until 1870 that he had mastered the principles sufficiently to discover how much was gained mechanically and physically. The value of the improve- ment is now universally recognized, but it was some little time before it was understood and came into general use. The members of the London Rowing Club, who defeated the representatives of the New York Atalanta Club at Putney in June 1872, used sliding seats, and the club also had them fitted to their eight, which easily carried off the Grand Challenge cup at Henley a few days after- wards. In 1873 the sliding seat was adopted by the crews rowing in the University boat race. The Americans have also the credit of two other inventions, viz. , the steering apparatus, which enables a crew to dispense with a coxswain, and the swivel rowlock ; but, though the former is now fitted to the majority of non-coxswain pairs and fours, the use of the latter is confined for the most part to sculling boats. In outrigged eights, fours, and pairs the outriggers are placed, one for each thwart, at each side alternately, but in gigs, skiffs, wherries, and funnies they are placed opposite one another, so as to be used on either side at discretion. The oars generally used are about 12 feet long, varying with the width of the boat, and sculls are as much as 10 feet long. Directions for Rowing. In modern rowing the oarsman, grasping the handle of the oar with both hands, sits forward on the edge of his seat, stretches out his arms until they are fully extended the blade of the oar being, just previous to entering the water, at right angles to its surface. It is then dipped into the water just so far as to cover it, and the handle pulled towards the oarsman's body, the weight bf the latter being thrown backward at the same time, so as to make one movement, and the legs pressed hard against the stretcher, and the handle finally pulled home to the chest with the arms, the elbows being allowed to pass the sides until the handle of the oar just touches the lower extremity of the breast. The blade of the oar thus appears to be forced through the water, but in reality this is very slightly the case, as the water, which is the fulcrum, remains almost immovable. In sculling, the operation is the same except that the sculler has a scull in each hand and drives the boat himself, whereas a man rowing an oar must have one or more com- rades to assist him. Rowing is made up of two parts, the stroke and the feather. Feathering is turning the oar at the end of the stroke by lowering the hands and dropping' the wrists, thus bringing the flat blade of the oar parallel with the surface of the water, and is generally considered to include the driving forward of the handle of the oar and the consequent carrying back of the blade previous to the beginning of a new stroke. When prepared to embark, the pupil should lay his oar on the water if an outside or upon the land if a shoreside oar, and step into the boat with his face to the stern, when he should at once Beat himself and ship his oar, and then try the length of his stretcher to see that it suits his length of leg. This arranged, he should