Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

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ROW
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
year 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 authentic
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 four 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
plaee. 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
I N G
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 Newcastle-on-Tyne, who is
generally believed to have been its inventor; but the first outriggers,
which were cnly 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 stakes, 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 stake 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 Hew 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
pail’s 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 Bowing.—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 seat
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