Produced by Simon Gardner, Chris Curnow and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)
Transcriber's Notes
This Plain Text version prepared for smoothreading uses symbols from the
ASCII and Latin-1 character sets.
Italic typeface is represented by _underscores_. Small capital typeface
is represented by UPPER CASE.
Fractions are shown in the form 1/2, 2-1/4 etc.
Greek transliterations are shown (at this stage) as [Greek: ... ].
[^a], [^e] represent a-acute, e-acute;
['e] represents e-acute;
[E'] represents E-grave;
[oe] represents the [oe] ligature;
[^o] represents Greek omega.
Detailed notes on corrections to the text etc. are listed at the end of
the book.
* * * * *
THE ISTHMIAN LIBRARY: A Series of Volumes dealing popularly with the
whole range of Field Sports and Athletics.
Edited by B. FLETCHER ROBINSON, and Illustrated by numerous Sketches
and Instantaneous Photographs. Post 8vo, cloth, 5_s._ each.
Vol. I. Rugby Football. By B. FLETCHER ROBINSON, with chapters by
FRANK MITCHELL, R. H. CATTELL, C. J. N. FLEMING, GREGOR MACGREGOR,
and H. B. TRISTRAM, and dedicated by permission to Mr. ROWLAND
HILL.
Vol. II. The Complete Cyclist. By A. C. PEMBERTON, Mrs. HARCOURT
WILLIAMSON, and C. J. SISLEY.
Vol. IV. Rowing. By R. C. LEHMANN, with chapters by GUY NICKALLS and
C. M. PITMAN.
Vol. V. Boxing. By R. ALLANSON WINN.
_Other volumes are in preparation, and will be duly announced._
ROWING
[Illustration: THE OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE BOATRACE, 1894.]
The Isthmian Library
Edited by B. Fletcher Robinson
No. 4
ROWING
BY
R. C. LEHMANN
WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY
GUY NICKALLS, G. L. DAVIS, C. M. PITMAN,
W. E. CRUM, AND E. G. BLACKMORE
_ILLUSTRATED_
LONDON
A. D. INNES & COMPANY
LIMITED
1898
* * * * *
AS A SLIGHT TOKEN OF FRIENDSHIP
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK
TO
MR. HERBERT THOMAS STEWARD,
CHAIRMAN OF THE AMATEUR ROWING ASSOCIATION;
CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT, HENLEY REGATTA;
AND PRESIDENT OF THE LEANDER CLUB.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
My thanks are due to the proprietors of the _Daily News_ and of the
_English Illustrated Magazine_ for permission to include in this book
the substance of articles originally contributed to their columns. I
have not added to the Appendix any lists of winning crews, as these are
to be found very fully and accurately set out in the Rowing Almanack,
published every year at the office of the _Field_.
For the rest, I have endeavoured to make the rowing instructions which
will be found in this book as concise as was compatible with perfect
clearness, assuming at all times that I was addressing myself first of
all to the novice. No doubt other oarsmen will differ here and there
from my conclusions. Absolute unanimity on every detail of rowing is not
to be expected.
All I can do is to assure my readers that nothing has been set down here
the truth and accuracy of which I have not proved--at least, to my own
satisfaction.
_The illustrations are reproduced from photographs by Messrs. Stearn, of
Cambridge; Messrs. Gillman, of Oxford; Messrs. Marsh, of
Henley-on-Thames; Messrs. Hills and Saunders, of Eton; Messrs. Pach
Brothers, of Cambridge (Mass.); and Mr. J. G. Williams, of East
Molesey._
R. C. L.
_October, 1897._
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTORY 1
II. FIRST LESSONS ON FIXED SEATS 14
III. FIRST LESSONS ON SLIDING SEATS 38
IV. COMBINED OARSMANSHIP IN EIGHTS 55
V. COMBINED OARSMANSHIP IN EIGHTS (_continued_) 72
VI. COMBINED OARSMANSHIP IN EIGHTS (_continued_) 89
VII. OF AILMENTS--OF TRAINING AND DIET--OF
STALENESS--OF DISCIPLINE--OF COACHING 109
VIII. OF THE RACE-DAY--OF THE RACE--OF THE
NECESSITY OF HAVING A BUTT--OF LEISURE
TIME--OF AQUATIC AXIOMS 128
IX. FOUR-OARS AND PAIR-OARS--SWIVEL ROWLOCKS 144
X. SCULLING. _By_ GUY NICKALLS 157
XI. STEERING. _By_ G. L. DAVIS 176
XII. COLLEGE ROWING AT OXFORD. _By_ C. M. PITMAN 194
XIII. COLLEGE ROWING AT CAMBRIDGE 211
XIV. ROWING AT ETON COLLEGE. _By_ W. E. CRUM 234
XV. AUSTRALIAN ROWING. _By_ E. G. BLACKMORE 255
XVI. ROWING IN AMERICA 270
XVII. A RECENT CONTROVERSY: ARE ATHLETES
HEALTHY?--MR. SANDOW'S VIEWS ON THE
TRAINING OF OARSMEN 288
APPENDIX--HENLEY REGATTA RULES; RULES OF
THE A.R.A.; RULES OF THE C.U.B.C. AND
O.U.B.C. 307
LIST OF PLATES.
PAGE
THE OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE BOAT-RACE, 1894 _Frontispiece._
FIRST HENLEY REGATTA PROGRAMME _To face_ 6
FIXED SEATS. NUMBER 1 20
" " 2 22
" " 3 24
" " 4 26
" " 5 30
SLIDING SEATS. NUMBER 1 38
" " 2 40
" " 3 41
" " 4 42
" " 5 44
" " 6 45
" " 7 47
" " 8 48
" " 9 50
" " 10 52
" " 11 54
SNAP-SHOTS--CREW IN MOTION. NUMBERS 1 AND 2 56
" " " " 3 AND 4 58
" " " " 5 AND 6 61
" " " " 7 AND 8 64
MR. C. W. KENT 78
MR. H. G. GOLD 81
HENLEY REGATTA, 1897 130
HENLEY REGATTA: A HEAT FOR THE DIAMONDS 157
A BUMP IN THE EIGHTS 194
A START IN THE EIGHTS 202
THE GOLDIE BOAT-HOUSE 211
A HARVARD EIGHT ON THE RIVER HUDSON, AT POUGHKEEPSIE 272
COACHING ON THE RIVER HUDSON 284
ROWING TYPES. NUMBER 1 289
" " 2 298
" " 3 301
" " 4 303
" " 5 305
ROWING.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
My object in the following pages will be not merely to give such hints
to the novice as may enable him, so far as book-learning can effect the
purpose, to master the rudiments of oarsmanship, but also to commend to
him the sport of rowing from the point of view of those enthusiasts who
regard it as a noble open-air exercise, fruitful in lessons of strength,
courage, discipline, and endurance, and as an art which requires on the
part of its votaries a sense of rhythm, a perfect balance and symmetry
of bodily effort, and the graceful control and repose which lend an
appearance of ease to the application of the highest muscular energy.
Much has to be suffered and many difficulties have to be overcome
before the raw tiro, whose fantastic contortions in a tub-pair excite
the derision of the spectators, can approach to the power, effectiveness
and grace of a Crum or a Gold; but, given a healthy frame and sound
organs inured to fatigue by the sports of English boyhood, given also an
alert intelligence, there is no reason in the nature of things why
oarsmanship should not eventually become both an exercise and a
pleasure. And when I speak of oarsmanship, I mean the combined form of
it in pairs, in fours, and in eight-oared racing boats.
Of sculling I do not presume to speak, but those who are curious on this
point may be referred to the remarks of Mr. Guy Nickalls in a later
chapter. But of rowing I can speak, if not with authority, at any rate
with experience, for during twenty-three years of my life I have not
only rowed in a constant succession of boat-races, amounting now to
about two hundred, but I have watched rowing wherever it was to be seen,
and have, year after year, been privileged to utter words of instruction
to innumerable crews on the Cam, the Isis, and the Thames. If, then, the
novice will commit himself for a time to my guidance, I will endeavour
to initiate him into the art and mystery of rowing. If he decides
afterwards to join the fraternity of its votaries, I can promise him
that his reward will not be small. He may not win fame, and he will
certainly not increase his store of wealth, but when his time of action
is past and he joins the great army of "have-beens," he will find, as he
looks back upon his career, that his hours of leisure have been spent in
an exercise which has enlarged his frame and strengthened his limbs,
that he has drunk delight of battle with his peers in many a hard-fought
race, that he has learnt what it means to be in perfect health and
condition, with every sinew strung, and all his manly energies braced
for contests of strength and endurance, and that he has bound to himself
by the strongest possible ties a body of staunch and loyal friends whose
worth has been proved under all sorts of conditions, through many days
of united effort.
It has often been objected to rowing, either by those who have never
rowed, or by those who having rowed have allowed themselves to sink
prematurely into sloth and decay, that the sport in the case of most men
can last only for a very few years, and that having warred, not without
glory, up to the age of about twenty-five, they must then hang their
oars upon the wall and pass the remainder of their lives in an envious
contemplation of the exploits of old but unwearied cricketers. Judging
merely by my own personal experience, I am entitled to pronounce these
lamentations baseless and misleading, for I have been able to row with
pleasure even in racing boats during the whole period of nineteen years
that has elapsed since I took my degree at Cambridge. But I can refer to
higher examples, for I have seen the Grand Challenge Cup and the
Stewards' Cup at Henley Regatta either rowed for with credit, or won by
men whose age cannot have been far, if at all, short of forty years, and
of men who won big races when they were thirty years old the examples
are innumerable. But putting actual racing aside, there is in skilled
rowing a peculiar pleasure (even though the craft rowed in be merely a
fixed seat gig) which, as it seems to me, puts it on a higher plane than
most other exercises. The watermanship which enables a party of veterans
to steer their boat deftly in and out of a lock, to swing her easily
along the reaches, while unskilled youths are toiling and panting
astern, is, after all, no mean accomplishment. And in recent years
rowing has taken a leaf out of the book of cricket. Scattered up and
down the banks of the Thames are many pleasant houses in which, during
the summer, men who can row are favoured guests, either with a view to
their forming crews to take part in local regattas, or merely for the
purpose of pleasure-rowing in scenes remote from the dust and turmoil of
the city. Let no one, therefore, be repelled from oarsmanship because he
thinks that the sport will last him through only a few years of his
life. If he marries and settles down and becomes a busy man, he will
enjoy his holiday on the Thames fully as much as his cricketing brothers
enjoy theirs on some country cricket field.
Of the early history of boats and boat-racing it is not necessary to say
very much. It is enough to know that the written Cambridge records date
back to 1827, though it is certain that racing must have begun some
years previously; that Oxford can point to 1822 as one of the earliest
years of their College races; that the two Universities raced against
one another for the first time in 1829; and that Henley Regatta was
established in 1839, when the Grand Challenge Cup was won by First
Trinity, Cambridge. Opposite is a facsimile copy of the programme of
this memorable regatta.
Those who desire to go still further back, have the authority of Virgil
for stating that the Trojans under Aeneas could organize and carry
through what Professor Conington, in his version of the "Aeneid," calls
"a rivalry of naval speed." The account of this famous regatta is given
with a spirit and a richness of detail that put to shame even the most
modern historians of aquatic prowess. After reading how Gyas, the
captain and coach of the _Chimaera_--
"Huge bulk, a city scarce so large,
With Dardan rowers in triple bank,
The tiers ascending rank o'er rank"
--how Gyas, as I say, justly indignant at the ineptitude and cowardice
of his coxswain, hurled him from the vessel, and himself assumed the
helm at a critical point of the race, it is a mere paltering with the
emotions to be told, for instance, that "Mr. Pechell, who owes much to
the teaching of Goosey Driver, steered a very good course," or that he
"began to make the shoot for Barnes Bridge a trifle too soon." How,
too, can the statement that "both crews started simultaneously,
Cambridge, if anything, striking the water first," compare with the
passage which tells us (I quote again from Professor Conington) how
"at the trumpet's piercing sound,
All from their barriers onward bound,
Upsoars to heaven the oarsman's shout,
The upturned billows froth and spout;
In level lines they plough the deep--
All ocean yawns as on they sweep."
It may be noted in passing that no one else seems to have felt in the
least inclined to yawn, for
"With plaudits loud and clamorous zeal
Echoes the woodland round;
The pent shores roll the thunder peal--
The stricken rocks rebound;"
which seems, if the criticism may be permitted, a curious proceeding
even for a stricken rock during the progress of a boat-race. Finally, a
touch of religious romance is added when we learn that the final result
was due, not to the unaided efforts of the straining crew, but to the
intervention of Portunus, the Harbour God, who, moved by the prayer of
Cloanthus, captain of the _Scylla_, pushed that barque along and carried
her triumphantly first into the haven--invidious conduct which does not
appear to have caused the least complaint amongst the defeated crews, or
to have prevented Cloanthus from being proclaimed the victor of the day.
Only on one occasion (in 1859) has Father Thames similarly exerted
himself to the advantage of one of the University crews, for during the
boat-race of that year he swamped the Cambridge ship beneath his mighty
waves, and sped Oxford safely to Mortlake. Lord Justice A. L. Smith,
amongst others, still lives, though he was unable to swim, to tell the
exciting tale.
Before I take leave of this Virgilian race, I may perhaps, even at this
late date, be permitted as a brother coach to commiserate the impulsive
but unfortunate Gyas on the difficulties he must have encountered in
coaching the crew of a trireme. Not less do I pity his oarsmen, of whom
the two lower ranks must have suffered seriously as to their backs from
the feet of those placed above them, while the length and weight of the
oars used by the top rank must have made good form and accurate time
almost impossible. A Cambridge poet, Mr. R. H. Forster, has sung the
woes of the Athenian triremists and their instructor--
"Just imagine a crew of a hundred or two
Shoved three deep in a kind of a barge,
Like a cargo of kegs, with no room for their legs,
And oars inconveniently large.
Quoth he, '[Greek: pantes pros[^o]]' and they try to do so.
At the sight the poor coach's brains addle;
So muttering '[Greek: oimoi],' he shouts out '[Greek: hetoimoi],'
And whatever the Greek is for 'paddle.'
Now do look alive, number ninety and five,
You're 'sugaring,' work seems to bore you;
You are late, you are late, number twenty and eight,
Keep your eyes on the man that's before you."
So much for the trireme. But neither the Greeks nor any other race
thought of adapting their boats merely to purposes of racing until the
English, with their inveterate passion for open-air exercise, took the
matter in hand. African war-canoes have been known to race, but their
primary object is still the destruction of rival canoes together with
their dusky freight. In Venice the gondoliers are matched annually
against one another, but both the gondola and the sandolo remain what
they always have been--mere vessels for the conveyance of passengers and
goods. The man who would make war in a racing ship would justly be
relegated to Hanwell, and to carry passengers, or even one "passenger,"
in such a boat is generally looked upon as a certain presage of defeat.
Consider for a moment. The modern racing ship (eight, four, pair, or
single) is a frail, elongated, graceful piece of cabinet work, held
together by thin stays, small bolts, and copper nails, and separating
you from the water in which it floats by an eighth of an inch of Mexican
cedar. The whole weight of the sculling-boat, built by Jack Clasper, in
which Harding won the Searle Memorial Cup, was only nineteen pounds,
_i.e._ about 112 pounds lighter than the man it carried. Considering the
amount of labour and trained skill that go towards the construction of
these beautiful machines, the price cannot be said to be heavy. Most
builders will turn you out a sculling-boat for from [L]12 to [L]15, a
pair for about [L]20, a four for [L]33, and an eight for [L]55. But the
development of the racing type to its present perfection has taken many
years. Little did the undergraduates who, in 1829, drove their ponderous
man-of-war's galleys from Hambledon Lock to Henley Bridge, while the
stricken hills of the Thames Valley rebounded to the shouts of the
spectators--little did they imagine that their successors, rowing on
movable seats and with rowlocks projecting far beyond the side would
speed in delicate barques, of arrowy shape and almost arrowy swiftness,
from Putney to Mortlake--in barques so light and "crank" that, built as
they are without a keel, they would overturn in a moment if the balance
of the oars were removed. The improvements were very gradual. In 1846
the University race was rowed for the first time in boats with
outriggers. That innovation had, however, been creeping in for some
years before that. Mr. Hugh Hammersley, who rowed in the Oriel boat
which started head of the river at Oxford in 1843, has told me that in
that year the University College boat, stroked by the famous Fletcher
Menzies, was fitted with outriggers at stroke and bow; and the bump by
which University displaced Oriel was generally ascribed to the new
invention.
In 1857 the University race was rowed in boats without a keel, and oars
with a round loom were used for the first time by both crews. At the
Henley Regatta of the preceding year the Royal Chester Rowing Club had
entered a crew rowing in this novel style of keelless boat for the Grand
Challenge and the Ladies' Cups. Her length was only fifty-four feet, and
her builder was Mat Taylor, a name celebrated in the annals of
boat-building, for it is to him, in the first instance, that our present
type of racing-boat owes its existence. "The Chester men," Mr. W. B.
Woodgate tells us in his Badminton book on boating, "could not sit their
boat in the least; they flopped their blades along the water on the
recovery in a manner which few junior crews at minor regattas would now
be guilty of; but they rowed well away from their opponents, who were
only College crews." They won, as a matter of fact, both the events for
which they entered.
One might have thought that with this invention improvements would have
ceased. But in course of time the practical experience of rowing men
suggested to them that if they slid on their seats, both the length and
power of their stroke through the water would be increased. At first
they greased their fixed seats, and slid on those. But it was found that
the strain caused by this method exhausted a crew. In 1871 a crew of
professionals used a seat that slid on the thwarts, and beat a crew that
was generally held to be superior, and from that moment slides, as we
now know them, came into general use. In 1873 the University crews
rowed on sliding seats for the first time. Since then the length of the
slide has been increased from about nine inches to fifteen inches, or
even more, a change which has made the task of the boat-builder in
providing floating capacity more difficult; but in all essentials the
type of boat remains the same. It ought to be added that the Americans,
to a large extent, use boats moulded out of _papier mach['e]_, but this
variation has never obtained favour in England, though boats built in
this manner by the well-known Waters of Troy (U.S.A.) have been seen on
English rivers. The Columbia College crew won the Visitors' Cup at
Henley in 1878 in a paper boat, and she was afterwards bought by First
Trinity, Cambridge, but she never won a race again.
[Illustration: THE FIRST HENLEY REGATTA.]
HENLEY REGATTA
_June 14th_, 1839.
[Illustration]
_Entrances for the_
GRAND CHALLENGE CUP.
OXFORD.--BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE,--Blue Cap, with Gold Tassel; Rosette,
yellow, purple, and crimson.
CAMBRIDGE.--TRINITY BOAT CLUB,--Blue stripe Jersey and Trowsers;
Rosette, French blue.
OXFORD.--ETONIAN CLUB,--White Jersey, with pale blue facings;
Rosette, sky blue.
OXFORD.--WADHAM COLLEGE,--White Jersey, with narrow blue stripes,
dark blue cap, with light blue velvet band, and light blue scarf.
_Entrances for the_
TOWN CHALLENGE CUP.
WAVE.--White Jersey, pale blue facings.
DREADNOUGHT.--Blue Striped Shirt, blue Cap
ALBION.--Blue Striped Jersey, crimson scarf.
TURN OVER.
* * * * *
ORDER OF THE RACES.
GRAND CHALLENGE CUP.
The first trial heat will commence at FOUR o'clock precisely.
The second trial heat will follow immediately.
The final heat will take place at SEVEN o'clock precisely.
The Race for the
TOWN CUP,
Will take place at SIX o'clock precisely.
Previous to each Race, a Signal Gun will be fired at the Bridge to
clear the course, another when the course is clear, a third at the
Island when the Boats start, and a fourth at the Bridge to announce
that the race is ended.
Lithographic Drawings of the Cups,
_Two Shillings per pair_,
And the Henley Guide, Two Shillings,
May be had of HICKMAN & KINCH, Post-Office.
Hickman & Kinch, Typ. Henley.