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 conc

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 symmet

If the tiro who aspires to be an oarsman has ever seen a really good eight-oared crew in motion on the water, he will probably have been impressed not so much by the power and the pace of it as by the remarkable ease with which the whole complicated series of movements that go to make up a stroke is performed. The eight blades grip the water at the same moment with a perfect precision, making a deep white swirl as they sweep through; the bodies swing back with a free and springy motion; the slid

Let me assume (I am still addressing my imaginary novice) that you have passed through the first few stages of your novitiate. If you are an Oxford or a Cambridge freshman you will have been carefully drilled in a tub-pair, promoted later to a freshmen's four or eight, and during the next term may have been included in the Torpid or Lent-Boat of your College. At any rate, I am assuming that you have by now rowed in a race or a series of races for eight-oared crews on fixed seats. But I prefer to

The novice, having passed successfully through his period of apprenticeship, is by this time ready, let us suppose, to be included in an eight-oared, sliding-seat crew, either for his college or for the rowing club to which he may happen to belong. He will marvel at first at the fragile and delicate fabric of the craft in which he is asked to take his place. One-eighth of an inch of cedar divides him from the waters that are to be the scene of his prowess. In stepping into the boat he must exerc

Now that the novice has been safely launched in his racing-ship, we may hark back for a space and consider some important points connected with the organization and management of an eight-oared crew. And first as to its selection and arrangement. As a general rule, it may be laid down that two middle-weights (men ranging from 11 st. 5 lbs. to 11 st. 10 lbs. or even to 12 st.) will be best at stroke and No. 7; three heavy-weights (12 st. 4 lbs. and upwards) will suit for No. 6, No. 5, and No. 4;

From the hints given in the preceding chapter it will have been gathered that good oarsmen are of all sizes and weights. But it must not be forgotten that no small part of the motive-power of a crew comes from heavy men. By weight I do not, of course, mean that which results from mere adipose deposit; but weight, as it is usually found amongst young men, that depends on the size of the frame and the limbs, and on their due covering of muscle and sinew. I cannot, therefore, too strongly advise a

I may preface what I have to say about ailments by stating, as emphatically as it can be stated, that every man who proposes to take part in a race ought, before he begins practice, to be thoroughly overhauled by a medical man. I do not believe that any man whose heart and lungs and general constitution are sound can be injured by rowing. On the contrary, I have seen scores and scores of instances in which sound but imperfectly developed youngsters were formed and solidified and made into robust

On this tremendous day, towards which all their efforts for weeks past have been directed, the coach will find that all his crew are suffering from that peculiar nervousness to which rowing men have given the name of "the needle." It is a complaint against which no length of experience can harden a man, and the veteran of a hundred races will feel it as acutely as the boy who is engaged in his first struggle. A sort of forced cheerfulness pervades the air. Men make irrelevant remarks about their

A good coxswainless four-oared crew represents skill and watermanship, as distinguished from mere brute strength, in their highest development. I may lay it down as an axiom that any man who can row well in a coxswainless Four will row equally well in an eight-oared crew. The converse of this is, however, by no means true. A man may do good work in an Eight, and yet be incapable of doing himself justice in a Four, or, indeed, of helping the pace of the boat in any way. Rowing of a more refined o

In writing an article on sculling, a sculler must of necessity be egotistical. He can only speak of what he himself feels to be the correct way of doing things, and cannot judge of how a different man feels under the same circumstances. I therefore put in a preliminary plea for forgiveness if in the course of these remarks the letter "I" should occur with excessive frequency. Sculling is so entirely an art by itself, that a man might just as well ask a painter how he produces an impression on a

( Some Hints to Novice Coxswains. ) By G. L. Davis , Cox of the Cambridge Eight, 1875-79; Cox of Leander, 1880-85. Many people think that any one, provided he be of the proper weight, is fitted to fill the post of coxswain. Nobody, however, knows better than the actual rowing man what an amount of useless labour and irritation a crew can be saved by possessing a good man in the stern, not to mention the assistance he can afford both directly and indirectly in getting a crew together. Certainly a

By C. M. Pitman , New College; President O.U.B.C. 1895. If we try to examine the causes of success or failure, of a run of good crews or bad crews from one University or the other, it is impossible to overestimate the importance of good organization, good management, and friendly rivalry in the college boat clubs. In the long run, the success or failure of the University Crew depends in no small measure upon the amount of trouble taken and the amount of keenness shown by the various colleges in

The casual visitor would scarcely imagine that Cambridge resembled either Macedon or Monmouth in the possession of a river. He sees in The Backs what looks rather like a huge moat, designed to keep marauders from the sacred college courts, and filled with discoloured water, destitute seemingly of all stream. This he knows cannot be the racing river. The innumerable bridges forbid the notion, although Ouida has, in one of her novels, sprinkled it with a mixture of racing Eights and water-lilies.

By W. E. Crum , Captain of the Boats, 1893; President O.U.B.C. 1896, 1897. In most books that have been published on rowing matters, a chapter has been devoted to rowing at Eton. But these accounts have been mainly of a historical nature, and have not, I think, dealt sufficiently with the career of an Eton boy, from the time when he passes through the ordeal of the swimming examination up to the proud moment when he wears the light blue at Henley, representing his school in the Ladies' Plate. Be

A country which has produced such scullers as Beach and Searle, not to mention Trickett, Laycock, Kemp, Nielson, Stanbury, and many others of less calibre, may well claim a place in a work treating of the science and art of rowing. In the limits of a chapter it is scarcely possible to give an exhaustive account of Australian oarsmen and oarsmanship, and as the performances of the leading Colonial scullers are sufficiently well known, from their having competed on English waters, this record will

The sport of rowing, as I gather from Mr. Caspar Whitney's well-known book, [14] was in its infancy in America when it had already taken a prominent place amongst our amateur athletic exercises in England. The Detroit Boat Club, established in 1839, was the first rowing organization in America. Next came Yale University, which established a Boat Club in 1843, and was followed by Harvard University in 1846. The first boat-race between Harvard and Yale took place in 1852 on Lake Winipiseogee, New

It would not be right, I think, to send forth a new book on rowing without referring to the controversy that has recently been carried on in the columns of the St. James's Gazette under the general title of "Are Athletes Healthy?" The discussion, which concerned itself mainly with oarsmen, is naturally of very deep interest, not only to them, but to the fathers and mothers who are anxious about the welfare of their energetic sons, and who, if the charges alleged against rowing can be proved, wil

Secretary : J. F. Cooper . Any crew of amateurs who are members of any University or public school, or who are officers of Her Majesty's army or navy, or any amateur club established at least one year previous to the day of entry, shall be qualified to contend for this prize. The same as for the Grand Challenge Cup. Any crew of amateurs who are members of any of the boat clubs of colleges, or non-collegiate boat clubs of the Universities, or boat clubs of any of the public schools, in the United

Just Ready. Cinderella. By Santos . Crown 8vo. Paper wrapper, 6 d. Beauty and the Beast. By Santos . Crown 8vo. Paper Wrapper, 6 d. HALF-HOUR PLAYS. By Amabel Jenner . Rumpelstilskin. Tommy Trout and the Owl. Jack and the Beanstalk. Silverlocks and the Three Bears; and the Snow Queen. Little Prit. Each Play in Paper Wrapper, Price 6d., or bound together in a Volume, Cloth, 2s. 6d. TERRA-COTTA PLAYS. By C. M. Prevost . The Sleeping Beauty. The White Cat. Jack and the Beanstalk. Snowdrop and the S