STRUGGLE AND VICTORY.
AS I passed down the towing path toward the stone house where the
Harvard crew were resting, I saw the blue blades of four slender oars
elevated above the crowd, and passing through the closely wedged
ranks. The men who carried them, the Oxford Four, appeared on the
river's bank--four fine looking young fellows, with the coxswain, a
mere lad, in their rowing suits. They were going to take a paddle
preparatory to the race, for half a mile up the Thames toward the Duke
of Devonshire's. They looked well, and were loudly cheered as they got
into their boat. They paddled up the river.
As I passed the gate of the stone house I saw the Chevalier Wykoff and
George Wilkes standing together and spoke to them both. Just at this
moment the face of Loring, the stroke of the Harvard crew, appeared
looking out toward the river, which was packed with boats full of
people. There was something in the man's face that I did not like. I
had not seen him for a few days previous. He had a huge boil under his
right chin in his neck, with a white crust on the top of it; his eyes
seemed wild, his manner anxious and hurried, and altogether he seemed
very unsteady. I shook hands with him and asked him how he felt.
[Sidenote: ON BOARD THE PRESS BOAT.]
He said slowly, "Pretty well," and after we talked a few minutes he
went in to prepare for the struggle. I stepped back to the towing path
and spoke to Mr. Wilkes, who asked of me "Who is that? Is not that
Mr. Loring, the Stroke of Harvard?" I answered in the affirmative. Mr.
Wilkes then asked me, "What did he say? Does he feel well?" I answered,
"He says he feels pretty well?" Wilkes burst out, "Pretty well! He
doesn't look like it. That man's sick." and in an instant he dashed
into the crowd to find some one and I lost him for the time being.
I walked down to the "Star and Garter" inn slowly, thinking of the last
look I had at Loring, and I felt astonished that he should be ready
to pull a race in his condition. The man was evidently in a state of
exhaustion; he looked overworked, overstrained, and out of condition
for a four mile and three furlong race--he who had, when at his best,
only been used to pull a three mile race, turning at a stake of a mile
and a half distance.
Warned by the noise and rapid movements of the crowd that something
was astir, I made my way by the Star and and Garter, out of whose
windows men were handing porter bottles to their friends beneath, and,
walking to the river's bank, I hailed a boat with two Thames watermen
in it, who pulled me through the line of Police boats to the Press boat
Sunflower, which had her steam up and was getting ready.
Getting on the deck I took a look around me. Above and at our back was
the old Putney Bridge, thick with human beings of both sexes. Beneath
were countless steamboats and small craft, wedged together in a dense
mass, covering the river behind the bridge for acres, and at our stern
a huge iron chain of Vulcanic links stretched from the Star and Garter
to a point off Fulham on the Middlesex shore. The chain in the middle
of the river was under water, but near both shores it was visible to
all the passengers on the steamboats behind Putney Bridge, but also
impassable to them, however they might rage, fume, and curse at their
ill-luck and guineas thrown away.
By the side of the Press boat, the Umpire's boat--a craft similar in
build and appearance--was anchored, many of the passengers wearing
the rival colors; the Americans drinking brandy and soda to refresh
themselves, and the Englishmen giving odds on Oxford with great good
will and humor.
The picture on the river was a most striking one, and worthy of a
master's brush, with its vivid color, the striking dresses of the
crowds, the flags and bunting from housetops and steam funnels; the
green-leaved trees, their branches covered with human fruit, and the
hot August sun, just losing its intensity, as a cool breeze came down
from the direction of Mortlake to ruffle the surface of the river, its
eddies and wavelets sparkling and dancing like diamonds of price.
It was now within a few minutes of five o'clock. There was a sudden
hum above on the river, at a place called the Crab Tree, as the Oxford
crew got into their boat, and the hum became distinct and swelled into
a pronounced noise, and the noise became a great solid, full cheer from
a hundred thousand throats, as the bright blue blades of the Oxford
Four were dipped in the water, and they came paddling down the stream
in their narrow shell to take position by the Umpire's boat near the
bridge. They paddled easily, and took position with a quiet look in
their fair English faces that impressed every American favorably.
Then there was another hum as before, when the Harvard crew came down
from the boat-house of the London Rowing Club, and a tremendous cheer
as their boat came up to the Middlesex shore--in among the seedy long
grass.
And now let us look for a moment at the two crews as they sit there
passively awaiting the order to "go." The Harvard boat is long, narrow,
and the frail cedar wood timbers that compose it are polished like a
steel mirror. Its nose and bow are sharp as a lancet, and amidships it
is but a few inches out of the water. So frail, and yet to carry the
good or bad fortune of a mighty nation's hope.
[Sidenote: LORING'S CONDITION.]
The Harvard crew wore white flannel shirts, the sleeves cut away at
the shoulders, with white drawers shortened above the ankles, and
white fillets bound around their temples to save their heads from
the sun's rays. To a spectator they looked magnificent--all of them
bronzed as they sat well forward in the boat, their skins like a new
guinea. Burnham, the coxswain, had his back to the steamer and faced
the stroke, Mr. Loring. Burnham looked stout, massive, and in good
condition. His broad back, rather too broad for a coxswain, gave an
idea of endurance and "staying" more useful in a stroke than a "cox."
His face was tanned, and his quick, restless eyes scanned the broad
Thames with a short, momentary glance, and then they rested on Simmons,
the hope of the American boat.
Burnham wore a Vandyke tuft at his chin, and a stiff, bristling
mustache of sandy hue. He looked old enough to be father to the Oxford
coxswain. Loring sat with both hands grasping the stroke-oar on the
right side of the boat. His face was turned also, and his dark eyes had
something nervous and flitting in them that I did not like. His body
was as lean as a greyhound's--in fact, he was too lean for a long race.
But the muscles and sinews stood out in bold relief, and the cords of
flesh between the shoulder-blades were hard, and, Loring being slightly
round in the shoulders, it gave him a look of great strength, more
fictitious than real.
He wore a mustache and goatee--not quite so artistic in shape as
Burnham's--and the hair was cropped close to his ears. His face,
however, did not satisfy the Americans, who watched him closely. There
was something that was indefinite, something unstrung, in the lines
that should have been set and hardened like steel bars. He had a
feverish look as he sat forward, with his long, massive arms, grasping
the oars.
Simmons, the pride of the crew, sat behind Loring, his perfect physical
form astounding the Englishmen by its massive and beautiful outline.
The face was gravely handsome, the chin round yet firm, the shoulders
grand in their proportions, and the loins like the waist of an oak
trunk. His naked arms were marble for their shape and purity of skin,
and the neck, proudly resting upon his shoulders, could not have
disgraced the Sun God.
Take him altogether, I never saw such a perfect specimen of manhood
and physical beauty as he looked that day in the Harvard boat. And yet
his eyes, usually intense and piercing, and bluish gray, which always
looked a man in the face, were to-day yellowish and overcast. That
lion heart, which could hardly think of defeat, was torn in a struggle
to maintain composure. He and Loring for four days had been gradually
weakening almost to the point of exhaustion, and these two men, upon
whom the race principally depended, were perfectly aware that their
form was not good, and they were well aware, also, that without their
strength and health the race was lost before it began.
Simmonds towered above all his companions, and he held the wrist of his
oar calmly as he could, while behind him sat Lyman, a grave, austere
looking young gentleman, with a well cut face, mouth, and chin, dark
hair, a resolute look, and a well shaped body; of modest, but athletic
look and determination.
Lyman seemed in very good shape, though a little anxious--as was
no more than natural--about Loring and Simmonds, while the most
insouciant, daring looking man in the boat to-day, is that haughty,
imperious looking fellow who sits in the bow, Joseph Story Fay, a man
of proud will, self confidence, and great endurance. He sits seeming
a careless observer of the preparatory and technical part of the
programme, but those keen, watchful eyes, that seem to stab like a
knife, are bent with no little solicitude on the Oxford boat, which is
almost stationary a few yards distant.
The Harvard crew had a manly, bold look, taking them in a mass, and a
sombre, matured appearance, their bodies and faces stained deep yellow,
like a crew of Indians, and they also sat, if I may use the word,
taller in their boat than the Oxford crew did in theirs.
[Sidenote: CONDITION OF THE MEN.]
The Oxford crew were boyish, fresh-faced fellows, compared with
them, their light skins and hair making them look more juvenile in
appearance, and beside, they had not such an ascetic look as the
Harvards, who had lived more like monks than athletes, without any
amusement or even beer--for weeks training themselves to death, and
working body and mind too much. The Harvard crew seemed anxious and
careworn, when their faces were studied, and they were certainly not in
good training condition for the race.
Loring had worked like a horse, pulling long distances in broiling
suns; and the crew when together had a bad fashion of rowing the whole
course, while the Oxford men contented themselves with a pull of a
couple of miles at a time, being careful not to overdo the business.
Then, on Sunday the Oxford men always went down to the sea-shore at
Brighton, and drank beer moderately and ate fruit in a jolly sort of
a way, and plenty of roast meats, while the Harvard men lived to some
extent on farinaceous food and porridge and figs and mutton, a favorite
dish of theirs when roasted--and to be brief, they were too anxious to
win, and the consequence came in the shape of a fidgetty, nervous, and
overtrained condition.
Besides, the stroke of the Harvard crew was too labored and fiery and
energetic to last, for the amount of powder belonging to them. The arms
were with them the great impelling power, and the recover was too high
up in the chest, while the Oxford men recovered a little above the pit
of the stomach, which is less wearisome and distressing. In catching
the oar forward they expended too much force, and spent a great deal of
strength in dropping it, while their strength would have been better
used in holding the water just before the recovery.
The coxswain, too, was naturally uncertain of his Stroke and Simmonds,
both men being in poor condition; and Loring told him before the race,
in case that he flagged to sprinkle his face and that of Simmonds, with
water. This alone was enough to make Burnham rather shaky, and not a
little doubtful of his crew. A few lengths lost by wild steering or
nervousness, and it would be of course impossible to win in the case of
two crews so very closely matched otherwise. I say all this advisedly,
and I am sure the conclusion will bear out my premises. In addition,
they had tried half a dozen boats while in training, and displaced two
of their crew. Whether it was wise to make this change or not, I have
no means of knowing, and cannot say.
The Oxford crew having paddled their boat a little nearer the Press
steamer, I now had a good look at them. They all had a fresh, fair,
English look, and were not, as far as I could see, at all fagged before
going into the race. Darbishire, the Stroke, was the first man who
caught my eye. He did not look at all burly in frame, and his figure
was lower in the thwarts of the boat by a head, than that of the
gigantic-framed Cornwall Celt, Mr. Tinne.
Darbishire had a merry blue eye and a turn-up nose, indicating good
humor. His body was well set, his shoulders compact, and his hair,
though short, had a proclivity to curl and kink. He had a broad
forehead, a mouth a little turned down at the corners and arching, and
his chin was moderately firm.
Yarborough was far more determined in his look, and sported a pair of
thin, mutton-chop whiskers. He was the darkest-skinned and darkest-eyed
man in the Oxford boat, besides being a fine oarsman and a victor
of many college matches. His nose was of the snub order, and the
chin dimpled, the forehead being broad and white, and the hair, like
Darbishire's, inclined to curl. He was what would be a "big small" man,
and was as compact and tough as a hickory nut.
Tinne was, however, the giant of the crew. I never saw a more glorious
looking fellow than this clear-skinned, handsome Cornwall lad, with his
splendid clearly cut profile, frank, merry face, laughing eyes, and
thoroughbred look.
It was worth a day's walk to see Tinne pull. He was a man a good deal
after the style of our own Simmonds, but not so gravely reserved. He
was not as tall as Simmonds, but a great deal heavier, and looked as if
he could pull a man-of-war's gig in a race, with those grand shoulders
and hips broad as a barrel of beer. Yet, with all his great physique,
his gait was as light as a girl's, and the feather of his oar when
taken from the water was artistic in itself.
[Sidenote: HALL, THE COXSWAIN.]
This huge fellow, weighing 192 pounds on the day of the race, was
formidable enough to intimidate the boldest betting American of us
all. Tinne, like his friend Willan, the bow oar, had been president of
the Oxford University Boat Club, and had never known defeat. Willan,
the Bow, looked as if the matter was mere play, while he amused himself
with the oar and watched Walter Brown, who held the nose of the Harvard
boat from a launch, with a keen alert look. His white Guernsey shirt
was open at the neck, and it showed a wonderfully muscular but white
throat. His shoulders were broad across, and his fingers grasped the
oar as if they were riveted with steel nails to the frail shaft.
[Illustration: THE OXFORD CREW.]
The most innocent looking boy I ever saw in a boat was Hall, a slight,
frail, girlish looking lad, and coxswain of the Oxford crew. Weighing
one hundred pounds on the day of the race, and being about seventeen
years of age, he was the last person that a man would choose for a
coxswain, who knew nothing of the mysteries and science of the art
of rowing as practiced in England. His skin was light and almost
transparent, the blue veins in his face being very prominent. His hair
was very light, and his eyes blue as the sky. A handsomer lad could not
be found, but he seemed delicate enough to be blown away with a breath.
The face was weak, and the mouth of a curious shape, the corners being
drawn down, and giving him a soft, credulous look.
Looking at him there in his dark-blue jacket of thin flannel--all the
rest of the crew were in white shirts cut away at the elbows, and white
drawers shortened at the ankles--he looked so innocent and lady-like,
that it needed but a crinoline and silk skirt to transform him into a
pretty English girl of the period.
And yet that delicate boy had a great trust, and "Little Corpus," as
he was called from his college at Oxford, well deserved it all, for
his knowledge of the river was unrivaled, and his steering was simply
perfection. Nothing could be finer. A New York betting-man, who lost
heavily, declared that he was a "young weasel" for sagacity and cool
nerve.
By the time I had taken a good look at both crews, the arrangements had
all been made, and the two boats had been brought by their coxswains
up to a line stretched across the river, and the crews now lay in their
boats, with bodies bent forward, their faces set, their oars grasped
with energy, the coxswains with the ropes in both hands, and the stroke
of each boat having his oar blade poised a few feet above the water.
Walter Brown held the nose of the Harvard boat, and John Phelps, a
rugged looking Thames waterman, had his grip fastened on the Oxford
boat, waiting for the word to go. Loring's eyes are blazing with
unwonted fire; Darbishire seems confident and easy, with his ears
dilated like a pointer, and a death-like silence reigns all over that
swarming river--just now the noise was deafening; the Americans have
ceased to drink any more brandy and soda; Tom Hughes looks up the river
to see if all is clear; Mr. Lord, of the Thames Conservancy, reports
all clear--and the bulky figure of Blakey, the starter of the race, is
seen to ascend the paddle-box of the Lotus steamer, and his voice rings
over the water, and is heard with a thrill, for the decisive moment has
come at last.
"I shall ask," says Blakey, "are you _Ready_--are you _Ready_, and if
you do not stop me I shall give the word Go, after which God speed you
both."
"Are you ready?"
"No!" shouts Darbishire.
"Are you ready?"
"No!" again, distinct and clear, from Darbishire.
"Are you _Ready_?" No answer this time from either crew.
"GO!"
A hundred thousand throats, as if made of cast-iron, bellow forth: a
hundred thousand eyes are dazzled for a moment as the diamond drops
fall from the upraised blue blades of Oxford and the white blades of
Harvard. Walter Brown executes a war dance in an instant after he has
sent the Harvard shell a full length on its way. The 'Rah, 'Rah, 'Rah,
of Harvard pierces the air; the masses on the banks of the river begin
to show incipient symptoms of madness. Both boats are off, Harvard
pulling like demons, and Oxford has just got into her careless, easy
swing, pumping away like machines. The two steamers start on a
helter-skelter race, and the greatest boat race the world ever saw has
just begun for better or for worse.
[Sidenote: HARVARD'S LIGHTNING STROKE.]
No man that day who witnessed the start of the two boats--the terrific
spring of the Harvard crew, and the cool, rythmical measure of the
Oxford stroke--can ever forget that moment of moments, unless, indeed,
his blood be thinner than water and his pulse of ice. The Harvard crew
caught the water first, and were well on their way before the crowds
were recovered from the shock. Loring swept away like a tiger after his
prey, and Burnham--who had won the toss for choice of position, steered
in on the Middlesex shore, the Oxford crew having won a blank, and
having to keep in, consequently, on the Surrey side--showing very good
judgment at first, and keeping his boat well under way. It was but a
minute, and Harvard was a full length clear in the water of the Oxford
boat, Loring pulling forty-two strokes a minute, and Simmond's elbows
going backward and forward like a steam engine.
The Oxford crew, after a pause, recovered from their slight surprise,
and fell into stroke as if a piece of mechanism were propelling their
narrow shell. Darbishire is now rowing beautifully, and has settled
down to hard work, while Tinne's great shoulders, bob up and down with
superhuman energy, his glorious chest expanded to its full power,
and he pulls with the magnificence of incarnate force, while "Little
Corpus," the coxswain, is as quiet as a mouse, watching every stroke of
the Harvard crew, as he sets in the stern sheets of the Oxford shell.
Oxford has started with thirty-eight strokes, and now, when Mr.
Darbishire sees Loring putting on the steam at forty-four, he quickens
his stroke to thirty-nine, and Hall gets the boat headed a little
toward the Middlesex shore.
The Star and Garter is fast disappearing from the stern of the Press
boat, and the Umpire's boat follows closely, neck and neck almost.
The crowds at a place called the "Creek," where a little stream runs
tributary to the Thames, are shouting "Oxford" all their might and
main. Fay, in the bow of the Harvard boat, seems to hear the taunt,
and begins to show evidence of his strength, by pulling the bow-side
around slightly, which compels Burnham to put his rudder down and keep
off from the Oxford boat.
At Simmond's boat-house the jam is tremendous, and the crowd cheers
Harvard as she sweeps by a length ahead; and Oxford going a few
feet wild at this point, the Harvard men on the two steamers shout
themselves hoarse, and one man with a Magenta-ribbon takes off a new
hat, carefully inspects it for a moment, and then in a delirium of
frenzy kicks the crown of it in, and presents it skyward as a peace
offering.
The people on the Surrey towing-path seem all mad, Oxford is not
showing speed enough for them, and the stands and shows and booths are
deserted as if they had never been in existence, the crowds pressing
forward to the bank of the river wildly. Passing the "Willows," a
pleasant little grove of trees, with a quaint stone house nestled in
their bosom, a loud cheer is given as the Oxonians spurt a little,
while at the same time the water falls, or rather dashes from Loring's
oar with increased vehemence, for Harvard is now pulling at the
tremendous pace of 45 strokes a minute, a thing unheard of before in an
English boat race.
At "Craven Cottage" Oxford gains slightly, but the fact is hardly
noticed by the Harvard men, who can see but one thing, and that is
the Harvard boat, now ahead by a length and a half. I never imagined
that Loring could do the work he is now doing, which is superhuman,
and therefore cannot last. At the "Soap Works," a crazy old place,
Darbishire seems to be creeping up, and his stroke is most assuredly
telling on the Harvard energy and fire. Oxford is now pulling 40, and
the cheers are deafening from the shore, while cries and exclamations
and yells of encouragement come from the countless wherries, stationary
barges, and craft of all kinds that line the Surrey side.
[Illustration: THE UNIVERSITY RACE.]
"Well pulled, Willan. Nobly done for Exeter," shouts an excited Oxford
University man from a small boat. "You are sure to win."
[Sidenote: BURNHAM'S BAD STEERING.]
"Oh, _go_ it Harvard; _go_ it Harvard. 'Rah--'Rah--'Rah--'Rah. Hit her
up, Loring."
"Keep your steam on, Burnham. Don't get frightened."
"What's the matter with Harvard, now," says a Harvard man to a
dignified English gentleman on the Press boat.
"Wonderful stroke, sir; 'fraid it can't last. Great power, sir, in the
Oxford crew," says the old gentleman rather curtly.
"Well done, Simmonds, you are the man for my money," cries a Western
man who has a bottle of soda water in his hand, and has been betting
heavily all the way down the river on the boat.
Opposite the "Doves," Harvard goes away splendidly from Oxford; but
now the Harvard men on the steamboats begin to notice something queer
in the steering of Burnham. Briefly, he is steering wide of his race,
and very badly, and his nerve seems to be going, for the boat looks
quite unsteady and veers in the water more than she ought to. Now
we are rounding a bend in the river, and the great, single span of
Hammersmith Bridge looms up before us. Every coigne of vantage on this
immense pile, from one side of the river to the other, is covered
with vehicles, broughams, carriages, 'busses, and at least thirty
thousand people are clustered and hanging on to the structure in a most
astonishing manner. It was a mad sight, that bridge, with the great
swaying masses, pushing, shouting, and fighting to get a look at the
boats.
Cries of "Hoxford," "Hoxford," come down from above our heads as we
near the bridge, and the excitement is perfectly terrific. We have
already passed a quarter of a million of people, to estimate them in
the rough, and still they line the banks above us in impenetrable
masses. The waving of handkerchiefs and shouting is enough to make a
man lose his senses, if the race did not claim so much attention from
the spectators.
Harvard prepares to shoot under the bridge, being still a length and a
half ahead, but Loring is not doing his work so stoutly now, although
the Harvard boat glides through the water at 46 strokes a minute. The
pace is too hard and it will not and cannot last five minutes longer.
Oxford steers out from the Surrey bank to shoot the bridge, and
"Little Corpus" makes a circuit to avoid an eddy where the tide is
bad, while Burnham is mad enough to go away from the race by giving
room to Darbishire's boat, whose coxswain never loses an inch by weak
or ill-judged steering, Burnham going out of his way too much to
accommodate Oxford, instead of keeping on and taking Oxford's water in
a direct line. It was at this place that Harvard lost the race, wholly
by Burnham's bad steering and Loring's nervousness.
"Oh, my God! what are you doing Burnham, why do you steer so?" shouts
an excited Yale man in the Press boat thinking vainly that Burnham
will hear him; but Harvard is too far on our bow to hear the warning
voice, and here she loses a full half length. The excitement is now
beyond description. From all the vast stagings that are erected on the
Surrey side, decorated with English bunting and covered with thousands
of people, comes a glad swell of triumph, borne on the breeze, and
striking despair to every American heart.
Now, at this moment, after shooting Hammersmith bridge, Loring's oar
seems to hang loosely from the gunwale of the boat, and his head is
bent forward as if he were about to faint. In an instant the coxswain,
Burnham, dashes water into his face and chest, and repeats the ablution
five or six times, throwing the water also on Simmonds, who is weakened
from the pace he has been pulling.
The Harvard stroke now goes down to 42, to 41, and to 40; for Loring is
knocked up, and the pulling is being done by Fay, on the bow side, in
despair. Elliott, the boat-builder, standing on the paddle-box of the
Lotus, is black in the face from shouting, "Harvard! Harvard!" "Pull up
Harvard!"
[Sidenote: OXFORD'S VENGEANCE STROKE.]
There goes that same steady, wonderful, glorious stroke of Oxford,
like the knell of doom, not to be stopped until victory perches on her
gallant crew. At Chiswick Island Loring spurted and made a despairing
effort; but the man is sick and gone for the race, and it is no use
hallooing now, for Oxford forges past the Harvard boat with a will
and power that calls forth a shout from the assembled multitude, which
rings in the ears of Loring's crew like a sentence of death.
Still the gallant fellows struggle on, inspired by an agony which none
may describe in such a race, and they never falter for an instant, but
pull as if they were determined to win. During the first mile and a
half of the race, Burnham received the back wash of the Oxford boat, by
keeping all the time in a line behind Darbishire's crew with a seeming
blunder that actually called tears of rage to the eyes of Americans on
the steamboats. Getting along by Chiswick Church, which was crowded
with people, the Oxford crew pulling 40, their boat was a length ahead
of the Harvard bow oar, and Hall, the coxswain, took care that no
ground should be lost by his steering. Then Darbishire spoke the word
to his crew, and throwing all the powder they could into their backs,
they gave Harvard only the alternative of pulling to Barnes's Bridge
for an honorable defeat.
Never for a moment did Oxford flag, but kept the stroke as if grim
death was at their heels, yet all the time throughout the race they
seemed easy in their style, and regular as the pendulum of an eight-day
clock.
The want of time and catch in the Harvard stroke was very noticeable at
Barnes's Bridge, and here the same immense crowds were gathered as at
the bridge at Hammersmith, and now the Oxford boat being positively a
length and a half ahead, and no mistake, the cries and shouts were most
appalling. Past the green fields in the Duke of Devonshire's meadows a
large crowd was gathered, who hailed the appearance of the Oxford crew
with great and significant pleasure.
The race was now lost, virtually. Harvard was out of time--knocked
up--and the men in her boat were laboring like oxen in chains. The
morale of the Harvard crew was gone a mile below Barnes's Bridge, when
Loring's oar hung loose for the first time, and nothing human could now
give old Massachusetts a victory. It was a gallant struggle, too, and
nobly waged. Passing the "White Cottage" and the "White Hart" in the
race for the Ship Tavern at Mortlake, the Harvard crew, in the last
quarter of a mile, put on a desperate spurt and rowing for a minute and
a half at 44 strokes, they gained ground on Oxford, whose crew seemed
as fresh as when they began.
Now is the last desperate struggle. Pull, Harvard; you cannot hope to
win. Pull, Harvard, and pluck the sting from defeat! Both crews go at
it for a minute, and Loring's last spark of fire is given to drive his
boat through the water. There is a shout from the Ship Tavern, where
the American flag is displayed. Oxford comes by with that terrible
vengeance stroke, the terror of many a gallant Cantab oarsman. There is
a shout which splits the clouds almost, a report of a gun, and Oxford
has struck the tow line, a boat and a half's length ahead, (not three
lengths ahead as was reported,) the race is lost and won, by about 65
feet, and the most gallant display ever seen on the Thames is over, and
the dark blue swarms go home triumphant at heart. Bridges, river bank,
and church steeple are deserted, as the Oxford crew paddle their boat
along side of the Harvard crew, and, raising their hands in air, give
the defeated oarsmen a hearty English cheer and shake hands with them,
and the Harvard boys cheer back, and Charles Reade, who stands on the
deck of the steamer Lotus, lifts his straw hat in respect to Loring,
who smiles back sadly at him, and all is over. The children's children
of those two crews will yet tell of that day's struggle, which for one
hour served to call back the Homeric days of Greece.
The distance pulled by the Harvard and Oxford crews was four miles and
three furlongs, without any turning at a stake boat. The day was a very
warm one, the thermometer being at 87° Fahrenheit--in the shade.
The names and weight of the crews were as follows:
OXFORD UNIVERSITY. HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
1. Darbishire, (stroke) 160 lbs. 1. Loring, (stroke) 154 lbs.
2. Yarborough, 170 " 2. Simmonds, 170 "
3. Tinne, 192 " 3. Lyman, 155 "
4. Willan, (bow) 166 " 4. Fay, (bow) 155 "
Hall, coxswain, 100 " Burnham, coxswain, 112 "
____ ____
788 746
[Sidenote: BEATEN BY EIGHT SECONDS.]
The time occupied by both crews in pulling the race was as follows:
Oxford, 22 minutes 20 seconds.
Harvard, 22 " 26 "
Both crews did their best, but the Oxford style of rowing, and their
form, was superior to that of Harvard. Rowing with a coxswain will
one day supersede the Harvard bow-steering. The Harvard crew received
perfect fair-play and courtesy, and all the stories to the contrary
which have been circulated are untrue.
[Illustration]