Haul up all standing--Boat Races--Interest in the sport--
Excitement general--Arrangements--Jockeyism--Regatta--
Preparations--The Start--The Race--The Result--Launch and
First Cutter--Race described con-amore--Suggestion of an
Old Salt--Satan and Sailors.
But I must cease my digressions, lest my sickness become epidemic, and
extend to my readers, in which event I should fear they would not be "at
home" to me. To continue:
To fill up the time, and give some relaxation to the men, had boat races
between the different crews in the "Typa."
It was surprising to see with what interest the sailors entered into the
sport, and the excitement produced by the contests; bets ran high
amongst them, and Tattersalls, previous to the great St. Leger Stake,
could not produce a greater scene of excitement than did our top-gallant
forecastle and forward gangways, during the preparations for a race; the
claims of different candidates for an oar would be carefully canvassed,
and the coxswains became, for the nonce, men of vast importance, for
upon their _ipse dixit_ in selecting the crews, the success of the boats
was thought mainly to depend. Then the non-combatants had their favorite
boats and men, and their suggestions would be strongly urged.
The enthusiasm even extended to the officers, and produced an excitement
as deep, if not so loud, upon the quarter deck and poop. Sums were
raised amongst them, and set up as prizes for the crew of the winning
boat, and suppers on shore, and segars in hand, hung upon the success of
the second or third cutters--the first cutter and the launch.
Every plan known to experienced boatmen was resorted to; every
unnecessary impediment that could offer the slightest obstruction
removed; the bottoms of the boats, after having been well scraped, were
_secretly greased_, and the pintals of the rudder carefully oiled, the
weight of the oars well calculated, and the trim of the boats arranged
by placing breakers of water fore, aft, or amidships, as it was thought
their weight might be required to give a proper balance.
The oars, too, were carefully overhauled, scraped, pointed, and newly
leathered; the rowlocks, in which they were to be placed, arranged, and
nothing that skill or experience could suggest, was neglected to secure
success.
_Preparation for the race._--The hour big with fate to the crews of the
second and third cutters approached. One bell in the afternoon watch had
been struck, and preparations commenced. The respective crews having
taken the lightest kind of a dinner, divested themselves of all
unnecessary clothing, tied handkerchiefs around their heads, and making
their belts taut around their bodies, stood by, ready for a call. The
boats, their oars all in, and extra ones secured handily to the
gunwales, in case of accident, with a coxswain in each, lay at either of
the booms,--second cutter on starboard, third on the port side; and the
arrangement was that they should both lay upon their oars and await the
signal, which was to be the dropping of a handkerchief by the umpire,
who was first to see that neither had the advantage. A few minutes
before two bells, the boatswain's mate piped away the crews, and they
descended into their respective boats by the booms.
_The start._--After being seated, and having peaked their oars by way of
a salute, the order was given to "let fall;" splash went their oars into
the water, and anxiety was depicted upon every countenance. "Take your
stations"--"Back your oars, third cutters"--"Steady there, second
cutters," were the orders given and repeated with only an alteration in
the titles of the boats, as the crew of each with a natural impulse
strove to prevent the other from stealing a length upon them; from this
impatience it was found impossible to make their position exactly
relative; but at last the handkerchief was dropped, and off they shot
with the velocity of arrows from a bow, the second cutter having the
advantage of half a length in the start.
_The race._--The distance to be rowed was one mile and a half to a
stake boat, round that, and back. The prize, a bag containing sixty-four
dollars, suspended from an oar in the stake boat. The second cutter
having the start, kept the distance open between her and her competitor
(now extended a full length), which pulled up steadily in her wake; the
coxswain of the leading boat dexterously anticipating all his pursuer's
efforts to pass, and keeping him dead in his wake until they had shot
over half the distance between the ship and the stake boat, when, by a
desperate effort, the third cutter appeared to leap bodily out of the
water, her oars quivering like the wings of a bird, from the impulse
given by those muscular arms. Side by side, their oars almost
overlapping, they dashed like the wind towards the prize. Now came the
tug--a single tarpauling would at one moment have covered them both and
retained its position, so steadily did they pull; it was apparently a
tie, when an unusual movement was observed on board the third cutter.
_The result_--This was caused by the breaking of the bow oar, which
snapping short off, dropped into the water, and fouled the starboard
oars; not an instant was spent in shipping another, but the advantage
had been lost. The second cutter, with her full power, shot ahead,
rounded the stake boat and led the way back; her opponent recovering
from the accident, and following so closely, that the two appeared like
one boat of unusual length as they approached; but the struggle was
unequal. Two third cutters, unable to stand the additional labor, gave
out. The flag was hauled down from the fore as the second cutter passed
the line, and the third, contending to the last, came in about three
boats' lengths astern.
The next race was between the launch and the first cutter; the launch, a
heavy boat, called by sailors the "Purser's Gig," pulling sixteen oars;
first cutter, a fast craft, with a crack crew, pulling just eight. This
was _the_ race of the Regatta, and excited much interest. Various were
the opinions as to the result, and to use a phrase of the turf, "bets
were even;" not that any serious amounts of money were risked, for that
would have been "_contra bonos mores_;" but several suppers and sundry
boxes of segars hung on the balance.
Both the boats were put in capital order, and the crews of both were
sanguine of success. The launchers depended upon the power they
possessed in a double bank of oars; the first cutters upon the qualities
and lightness of their boat. Impelled by these hopes, they started. I
happened to be in the launch; we took the lead after a fair start, and
led the cutter around the stake boat, a distance of more than a mile;
but that which had given the launch a great advantage on the first
stretch, proved a serious drawback on her return, the prevalence of a
very high wind, which increasing, kicked up a tremendous sea, and
causing her to roll and pitch, very much deadened her headway. Gradually
the first cutter crawled up; gallantly the launchers contested the space
they had gained. "Give way, lads! give way, they're gaining on us!" and
the oars bent like willows in the hands of the hardy launchers; but in
vain this expenditure of strength; one half of it was lost in a heavy
lurch, which sent the starboard oars glancing in the sunbeams, dripping
salt tears from their blades into the exulting wave, and nearly
unseating the men. Like the Giselle, the agile cutter skips alongside.
"Pull steadily now, men!" "Pull with a will!" It is vain; side by side
we plunge, but the cutter evidently gains; a glimpse of blue sky is
apparent at the back of her steerer; it increases; the slanting beams of
the setting sun shines full in our eyes. It is noticed by the
crew--sailors are superstitious, and their hopes sink with the sun; "But
it will rise again! Give way, boys, give way! we'll beat them yet!"
Again they put forth all their power, and the bow oars nearly touch. But
the wind increases, the sea rises, a heavy swell knocks us back from the
vantage we had gained. The third cutter, buoyant as a cork, perches an
instant on the crest of a wave, and then rushes down its opposite side
with a cheer from its crew. The race _was_ to the swift, but "the battle
was not to the strong;" the "Purser's Gig" was distanced.
But, if the launch had been beaten, its crew were not conquered, and the
coxswain, old Andrews, captain of the forecastle, who, with a picked
crew, would have undertaken to have pulled the boat across his own
maelstrom, offered his whack--the sum to his credit on the purser's
books, on his discharge,--against a plug of tobacco,--upon the issue, in
moderately smooth water; whilst I, with others, had not lost confidence
in the strong arms that impelled the "purser's gig;" although I did not
incline to make one of her crew in a contest in which old A. proposed to
beat the devil, on his own lake of fiery brimstone, with his favorite
launch; but A. was excited by the race, and had got a tot of a mixture
which assimilated to that "_fire water_," and forgot that his boat was
not framed of asbestos; besides, I fear he held his satanic majesty
slightly in contempt from the nautical notion that he possesses power
over sailors no more within his dominions.