Rowing Part 16

_Times._

I am not disposed to place much reliance on time as a test of a crew or a sculler, as conditions can never be so identical as to make comparison a safe guide. Still a certain interest attaches to records. It is contended that the Parramatta is a fifth slower than the Thames. The best trial with the tide that I know of is for a mile, 5 mins. 20 secs.

with a four; 4 mins. 47 secs. with an eight. Over the whole course, 3 miles 330 yards, an eight has put up 17 mins. 12 secs., one mile of which was compa.s.sed in 4 mins. 52 secs. On the Yarra the Victorian Eight of 1889 is said to have rowed two measured miles in 10 mins. 2 secs. At Brisbane, in 1895, the Sydney International Eight, with a strong stream, compa.s.sed three miles in 15 mins., but the distance is doubted. On the Nepean course, 3 miles 440 yards, Sullivan beat Bubear in 19 mins. 15 secs., no current.

CHAPTER XVI.

ROWING IN AMERICA.

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 Hampshire, in eight-oared boats with c.o.xswains. Other meetings between these two followed at intervals until 1859, when a College Union Regatta was inst.i.tuted. This took place at Worcester (Ma.s.s.), on Lake Quinsigamond, in six-oared boats without c.o.xswains, the bow oar invariably steering, and was continued, with an interruption of three years during the Rebellion, until 1870, when the course was changed to the Connecticut River. Up to this time two Universities only had competed besides Yale and Harvard; but in 1872 the number increased considerably, and in 1875 no less than twelve different Universities were represented in one race. These were, in the order in which they finished, Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, Dartmouth (Hanover, N.H.), Wesleyan (Middletown, Conn.), Yale, Amherst (Ma.s.s.), Brown (Providence, R.I.), Williams (Williamstown, Ma.s.s.), Bowdoin (Brunswick, Maine), Hamilton (Clinton, N.Y.), and Union (Schenectady, N.Y.). The most eventful of these big regattas was that of 1874 at Saratoga, when nine boats entered. Harvard and Yale, having adjoining stations, unfortunately became engaged in a dispute as to "water," and were left disputing by several boats. Harvard got away from the entanglement first, leaving Yale with her rudder and one oar broken, and went in pursuit of the others; but in spite of the most heroic efforts, were beaten by Columbia and Wesleyan, who finished respectively first and second. In 1876 Harvard and Yale decided to withdraw from these crowded meetings, and in this and the following year they rowed a private match at Springfield in Eights with c.o.xswains, and in 1878 on the Thames at New London, where they continued their annual contest up to and including 1895.[15] In that year there took place a break in the athletic relations between these two Universities, and in 1896 Harvard took part in a "quadrangular" race with Cornell, Columbia, and Pennsylvania Universities. This was won by Cornell, Harvard being second, and was rowed on a perfectly straight four-mile course at Poughkeepsie on the River Hudson, where Cornell, Columbia, and Pennsylvania had decided some previous contests. In the present year, however, the differences between Harvard and Yale were happily adjusted, and a race was rowed at Poughkeepsie between them and Cornell, in which Cornell came in first, Yale defeating Harvard for second place. Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Cornell possess at the present day the most important University rowing organizations, and at all of them the sport is practised with that intense keenness which characterizes the young American in everything that he undertakes. Especially is this the case with Harvard and Yale. Their rivalry has continued for many years, and a meeting between them in rowing, or in any other sport, evokes among their members an eagerness and an enthusiasm of which an Englishman can have little conception. Most of the Universities that took part in the contests of the seventies seem to have dropped altogether out of the rowing world. Last year saw a new arrival in the shape of the University of Wisconsin. These Westerners, in spite of their difficulties of climate, were able to form a very good freshman crew, which defeated the Yale freshmen in a two-mile race. This year the Wisconsin University Eight rowed a two-mile race against the Yale University Eight, but were unable to make much of a show against them.

The United States Naval Academy at Minneapolis can also put a very fair crew on the water, though the course of their studies allows them but little leisure for practice. This year they were defeated by Cornell in a two-mile race. The chief rowing school of America is undoubtedly St.

Paul's, at Concord, New Hampshire. It is divided into two boat-clubs, the Halcyon and the Shattuck, and the teaching and training of the boys are looked after by Mr. Dole, a man of great knowledge and experience in rowing matters. They practise on a large lake situated close to the school buildings, and show on the whole very fair form, though in this respect they cannot equal an Eton crew. Rowing recruits from this school are eagerly sought after by Harvard and Yale, in whose contests old St.

Paul's boys have a very brilliant record. At Groton School, in Ma.s.sachusetts, the boys row in Fours on the river Nashua, their coach being Mr. Abbot, a graduate of Worcester College, Oxford. Rowing, however, at Groton has not yet a.s.sumed the importance it has at St.

Paul's, baseball being considered of the first importance, and the captain of baseball having the right to claim rowing boys for his team.

Not a few Groton wet-bobs have, however, done well in Harvard and Yale crews. Besides these two rowing-schools, there is also the High School of Worcester (Ma.s.s.), whose Eight this year--the first, I believe, in its rowing history--rowed a severe but unsuccessful race against the Harvard freshmen on Lake Quinsigamond, and later in the summer won the race for Intermediate Eights at the National Regatta held on the River Schuylkill at Philadelphia.

[14] "A Sporting Pilgrimage" (published in 1895 by Messrs. Osgood, McIlvaine & Co.), one of the best all-round accounts of English sport that it has ever been my good fortune to read.

[15] For many of these details I am indebted to an article by Mr. J. A.

Watson-Taylor in the _Granta_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A HARVARD EIGHT ON THE RIVER HUDSON AT POUGHKEEPSIE.]

To an English reader, with his experience of Henley Regatta, it will seem strange that the Universities in America should take little or no part in any rowing contests except their own private matches, and should have no voice, and apparently no wish to have any voice, in the general management of the sport outside the Universities. But such is the case.

The National a.s.sociation of Amateur Oarsmen of America has more than sixty clubs affiliated to it, but neither Harvard nor Yale nor Cornell is amongst the number. The National a.s.sociation holds a successful regatta every year in August, but no really representative Eight from Harvard or Yale has ever, I believe, taken part in it. With that exception, this a.s.sociation corresponds to our Amateur Rowing a.s.sociation, and in its const.i.tution states its object to be "the advancement and improvement of rowing amongst amateurs." By Article III.

of the a.s.sociation an amateur is defined as "one who does not enter in an open compet.i.tion; or for either a stake, public or admission money, or entrance fee; or compete with or against a professional for any prize; who has never taught, pursued, or a.s.sisted in the pursuit of athletic exercises as a means of livelihood; whose membership of any rowing or other athletic club was not brought about, or does not continue, because of any mutual agreement or understanding, expressed or implied, whereby his becoming or continuing a member of such club would be of any pecuniary benefit to him whatever, direct or indirect;[16] who has never been employed in any occupation involving any use of the oar or paddle; who rows for pleasure or recreation only, and during his leisure hours; who does not abandon or neglect his usual business or occupation for the purpose of training, and who shall otherwise conform to the rules and regulations of this a.s.sociation (as adopted August 28, 1872, amended January 20, 1876, and July 18, 1888)."

[16] This clause is intended especially to prevent any so-called amateur oarsmen being surrept.i.tiously compensated for rowing, as, for instance, by being furnished lucrative employment in sinecure positions.

"Any club which shall issue or accept a challenge for the purpose of holding a professional race, shall be for ever debarred from entering an individual or crew in the Regattas of the a.s.sociation, and such club, if connected with the a.s.sociation, shall be expelled."

In point of strictness, it will be noticed this Rule does not suffer by comparison with that of our own Amateur Rowing a.s.sociation.[17] Indeed, in some respects it is both fuller and stricter. Practically the only difference is that whereas we disqualify as an amateur one who has been employed in manual labour for money or wages, or who is or has been by trade or employment for wages a mechanic, artizan, or labourer, or engaged in any menial duty, this exclusion finds no place in the American Amateur definition. The Laws of Boat-racing adopted by the a.s.sociation are practically the same as our own.

[17] See Appendix.

It may be interesting to contrast the organization and management of rowing at an American University with the systems that a long tradition has consecrated at Oxford and Cambridge. In our Universities, in the first place, each particular sport is entirely independent of all others. Each has its own club, its own funds, derived from the subscriptions of its members, and each manages its own affairs and arranges its own contests, except occasionally in the matter of convenience of date, without any reference whatever to the others. A don is usually treasurer of these clubs, but he has no special authority or control merely because he is a don. His experience and greater knowledge are placed at the disposal of undergraduates in matters of finance; that is all. Certain general University rules as to time of residence, etc., have to be observed, but beyond this the dons a.s.sume absolutely no authority at all in the sports of the undergraduates. The undergraduates themselves, through undergraduate officers, elected by themselves, make all their own arrangements as to dates, matches, and everything else connected with their compet.i.tions; and a don would as soon think of flirting with a barmaid as of interfering with these matters in virtue of his donship. This point is really of capital importance. The responsibility of everything connected with the sports of the University thus falls upon the proper shoulders--those, namely, of the undergraduates who take part in them. The full glory of the victory is theirs, and a defeat they must feel is due to them alone. They cannot shift the blame to any don or committee of dons, and, as they must acknowledge themselves responsible, so the necessity of taking steps to restore the fortunes of their club is the more strongly brought home to them. The captain of a Boat Club is its absolute autocrat as regards work and discipline and the selection of his crew. The coach whom he asks to instruct them may possibly be old enough to be his father, but the coach, none the less, defers with an almost filial respect to the captain, through whom all executive orders are issued. In practice, of course, the wise captain is guided in most matters by his coach, but, should a serious difference arise between them, it is the coach who must give way to the authority of the captain. This uncontrolled management of their sports by the undergraduates is, it seems to me, no unimportant part of a University education; and a man may learn from it even more valuable lessons in conduct, self-control, and the treatment of his fellow-men, than from all the books, papers, and examinations of his University curriculum.

At an American University a very different situation exists. I will take the case of Harvard, not merely because it is more familiar to me, but because it is typical in its general features, though not, of course, in all its details, of the position taken up by the authorities at most American Universities with regard to the sports of the undergraduates.

From the earliest days of athletic exercises the Faculty, or Governing Body, of the University has kept a very tight control over them. It has issued rules and ordinances, allowing or forbidding certain compet.i.tions, deciding not only the number, but the date and place of matches in which it was allowable to take part, and regulating and controlling the conduct of those undergraduates who took part in athletics. This system, no doubt, originated at a time when the numbers at Harvard were comparatively small, and when the men entered College at an age considerably younger than is usual in England. But the numbers at Harvard have increased by leaps and bounds, and the age of undergraduates is now on an average the same as at Oxford and Cambridge.

In recent years, indeed, a slight change has been found advisable. The control of all athletics, whether rowing, baseball, football, or track athletics, is vested in what is called an Athletic Committee, composed of three professors (_Anglice_, dons), three graduates of the University, and three undergraduates. These nine, who are not selected on any representative system, promulgate laws, conduct negotiations, settle dates, and generally perform those details of business which in England are left entirely to the undergraduates. For instance, the negotiations for a resumption of athletic relations with Yale University were on the Harvard side managed by and through the Athletic Committee.

Moreover, the Athletic Committee has in its hands the appointment of coaches for the crew, and for the football, baseball, and athletic teams. The captain of a crew or a team is, to be sure, elected by the undergraduates themselves, the established system being that the crew should, before disbanding itself, elect the captain for the ensuing year. But no election of this kind is valid until it has been confirmed by the Athletic Committee. From the above account, in which I have confined myself to facts, and have not attempted to criticize, it will be seen how profound are the differences between athletic organizations at English and American Universities.

But there are further differences which have nothing to do with the system of control and management. An English University is composed of many colleges, each entirely independent, so far as the management of its affairs are concerned. An English University Boat Club is organized on the same principle. It is made up of representatives of all the College Boat Clubs, and combines these autonomous inst.i.tutions for what may be termed Imperial purposes. College rowing at Oxford and Cambridge foments a keen and healthy rivalry, and to no small extent helps to keep up the standard of University rowing. In America, on the contrary, the University is one, and apparently indivisible. There are no colleges, and, therefore, there is no aggregation of College Boat Clubs such as we have at home. The want of this element is, no doubt, a serious disadvantage to an American University Boat Club. The only element of rivalry comes from the compet.i.tion of the four different cla.s.ses (_i.e._ years, as we should call them--freshmen; second-year men, or "soph.o.m.ores;" third-year men, or "juniors;" and fourth-year men, or "seniors") against one another in an eight-oared race in the spring.

Beyond this there has been hitherto no internal compet.i.tion between members of the University Boat Club. Compare this single race with the long series of contests in which an English University oarsman takes part. He may begin in October with the Fours, row in the University Trial Eights in December, and in the University crew in the following March. Then come the College eight-oared races in May or June, followed by Henley Regatta in July, to say nothing of pair-oar races, and sculling races, and College Club races, or of the various Thames regattas, in which he may take part during what remains of the summer.

He thus gains invaluable lessons, both in watermanship and in racing experience, which are not open to his American cousin.

For this absence of compet.i.tions in an American University Boat Club, the severe American winter, which closes the rivers from about the middle of December until early in March, is only partly responsible.

During October and November the rivers are open; but up to the present very little advantage has been taken of these valuable months. At Harvard there has. .h.i.therto been no race or series of races for Fours or Pairs or Scullers, and freshmen, during their first term, have been exercised on a rowing machine, when they might, with infinitely greater profit, have gained instruction on the water.

Early in January, when the undergraduates have returned from their short Christmas vacation, a "squad" for the University crew has generally been formed and sent to the "training-table," and the men composing it have been put into regular exercise, consisting of running varied by occasional skating, and of rowing practice every day in the tank. When the ice breaks up in March an Eight appears upon the water, and practises regularly from that time until towards the end of June, when its race against the rival University takes place. This long period of combined practice has many obvious drawbacks, which will at once strike an experienced oarsman. I believe better results might be obtained by allowing members of the University "squad" to take part in the Cla.s.s races, and then, after a period of rest, selecting the University crew.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COACHING ON THE RIVER HUDSON.]

Notwithstanding, however, all these disadvantages, rowing at American Universities has reached a high standard--a result due to the extraordinary earnestness and enthusiasm of those who take part in it.

The American University oarsman is in every respect as strong and as well-developed in physique as the average Englishman. All he lacks is the prolonged racing experience, which makes the Englishman so formidable and robust an opponent. There are men amongst the old oars of Harvard, Yale, and Cornell, who have made skilled rowing their special study, and whose knowledge of all points of the game is fully as great as that of our English oars. Yale, in particular, has, during the last ten years, been able to turn out some wonderfully fine and powerful crews; but the tendency amongst the American University oarsmen, during recent years, has been to sacrifice body-swing to the mere piston action of the legs on a very long slide. There is now, however, a reaction, due to the visits paid by Cornell and Yale to Henley in 1895 and 1896, and the long body-swing and general steadiness, which are marked features of English rowing, are now being very successfully cultivated in America.

At the five chief rowing Universities--Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Cornell--it is also customary to train a freshman crew every year, not merely for the local cla.s.s races, but for compet.i.tion against one another, the races taking place a few days before those in which the University crews compete. This year Yale defeated Harvard by something more than a length, Harvard being about three-quarters of a length ahead of Cornell. The race--a two-mile one--was very severe, and the crews, considering their material, showed, on the whole, better form than that displayed by the University crews. A week later the Cornell freshmen defeated those from Pennsylvania and Columbia over the same course. It is surprising to see what good results can be obtained from these freshmen crews. The men composing them have, for the most part, not rowed before coming to the University; they have had no graduated system of instruction on fixed seats. Up to March, all their rowing has been done on hydraulic machines in the gymnasium. They then launch a sliding-seat Eight and practise for the Cla.s.s races at the beginning of May. After that they are carefully taken in hand, and trained for their race in June against the other Universities. It is from this freshman crew, and from the older hands, who may have been rowing in the Cla.s.s races, that the 'Varsity crew of the following year will be recruited.

The number of students at American Universities is thus stated in Mr.

Caspar Whitney's book: Harvard, 3100; Yale, 2400; Pennsylvania, 2500; Columbia, 1600; Cornell, 1800; as against about 2400 at Oxford, and 2800 at Cambridge.

I ought to add that the use of swivel rowlocks is almost universal in America, and that all their Eights are built with the seats directly in a line in the centre of the boat. Boats of _papier mache_ have had a great vogue, their builder being Waters of Troy; but there is now a reaction in favour of cedar boats, as being stiffer and more durable.

The Harvard and Yale boats this year were built by Davy of Cambridge (Ma.s.s.), and were beautiful specimens of the art. American boats, however, cost at least twice as much as English boats. T. Donoghue, of Newburgh, N.Y., makes most of the oars that are used in first-cla.s.s racing. They are lighter by a full pound than our English oars, and are every bit as stiff. It is a real pleasure to row with them.

CHAPTER XVII.

A RECENT CONTROVERSY: ARE ATHLETES HEALTHY?--MR. SANDOW'S VIEWS ON THE TRAINING OF OARSMEN.

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 t.i.tle 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, will, of course, do their best to dissuade their offspring from indulging in this pernicious exercise. I should have preferred to discuss the matter in the earlier chapters of this book, but the printing was already so far advanced as to render this course out of the question, and I am therefore compelled to deal with it somewhat out of its place in this final chapter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROWING TYPES.

NO. 1.]

It would be idle to deny that there was some reason for beginning this discussion. Within the past two years three magnificent young oarsmen, Mr. H. B. Cotton, Mr. T. H. E. Stretch, and Mr. E. R. Balfour, have died; the first after an illness of six months' duration, the other two after being ill for less than a fortnight. They were all Oxford men, had rowed in victorious races both at Putney and at Henley, and two of them--Mr. Cotton and Mr. Balfour--had been actually rowing and racing till within a short time of the attack that proved fatal to them. Mr.

Stretch had not raced, except in scratch Eights at Putney, since the Henley Regatta of 1896, some ten months before he died.

It has been a.s.serted that these three untimely deaths were due directly to the severe strain undergone both in preparation for racing and in the actual races in which these oarsmen took part, and that had they been content with unathletic lives they might have lived on for many years.

Can that be proved? I admit that I do not wish to think the allegation capable of proof, for these three were my familiar friends. I had coached and trained them all; with two of them I had rowed in several races; I had spent innumerable happy days in their society, and the sorrow I feel in having lost them would be terribly increased if I were forced to believe that our favourite sport had had any part in hastening their end. In these cases I will confine myself to stating facts within my own knowledge, and will leave those who read my statement to say whether on a fair view of the matter the exercise of rowing can be held blameworthy.

I may begin by saying that it is the invariable rule at Oxford to send all men who may be required for the University Eight to undergo a preliminary medical examination. This examination is no perfunctory one.

It is conducted by Mr. H. P. Symonds, a gentleman of very wide experience, especially amongst undergraduates, and I have known several instances in which, owing to his report, an oarsman has had to withdraw temporarily from the river, and has lost his chance of wearing the coveted blue. There has never been any question about yielding to Mr.

Symonds's judgment. His verdict, if adverse, has always been accepted as final both by the oarsman concerned and by the president of the Boat Club. In all the three cases with which I am dealing, Mr. Symonds pa.s.sed his men as perfectly sound in heart and lungs and in every other organ.

I take the case of Mr. Stretch first, in order to eliminate it conclusively. The cause of his death was appendicitis, followed by severe blood-poisoning. It is quite impossible to connect this painful and malignant illness with rowing or with any other exercise. The _appendix vermiformis_, which is the seat of the disease, is an unaccountable relic in the internal organization of human beings; it is liable to be affected mysteriously and suddenly in the young and the old, and the only effective remedy, I believe, is by means of an operation which removes it altogether. Mr. Stretch had, as I said, not trained and raced for ten months, and up to the moment of his illness had been in the enjoyment of robust and almost exceptional health.

Mr. Cotton, whose case I now proceed to consider, was an Eton boy, and had rowed a great deal during his school days, though he had not been included in the Eton crew at Henley. He was a man of small stature, beautifully built and proportioned, well-framed, muscular, strong, and active. On coming to Oxford he continued his rowing, and being a good waterman and a man of remarkable endurance and courage, he was in his second year placed at bow of the University crew. Altogether he rowed in four victorious Oxford crews, he won the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley twice as bow of a Leander crew, he won the Stewards' Cup in a Magdalen College Four, rowed Head of the River three times, besides taking part in many other races more or less important. During his whole rowing career I knew him to be unwell only once, and that was in 1893, when he suffered from a sore throat at Putney. In 1895 he rowed bow of the Oxford Eight for the fourth time. The training of this crew was a very anxious one. Influenza was very prevalent, and one after another the Oxford men were affected by this illness. There were only two exceptions, and one of these was Mr. Cotton, who was never sick or sorry for a single day during the whole period of practice. Shortly after the race he came to stay with me. He was then perfectly strong, perfectly healthy, and in wonderfully good spirits, and showed not the least sign of being stale or exhausted. He told me himself, on my congratulating him on having escaped the influenza, that he had never felt better or stronger in his life than he did at that time. On the Easter Monday he bicycled from Bourne End to Oxford and back (a distance of nearly seventy miles as he rode it), and, as he had had to battle against a strong cold wind on the return journey, he was very tired on his arrival. On the following morning, however, he appeared perfectly well.

Towards the end of that week he complained of feeling "very lackadaisical and having a bad headache," but he attached no importance to these symptoms, and soon after went back to Oxford with a view to rowing in the Magdalen Eight. The tired feeling and the headache, however, continued, and eventually got so bad that he had to take to his bed with a high temperature and all the other symptoms of violent influenza. This illness, neglected at the outset, almost immediately settled on his lungs, both of which were congested with pneumonia.

Owing, as Mr. Symonds himself told me, to his good general condition and his great strength, he fought through this, but in the mean time signs of consumption had declared themselves, and of this he died at Davos Platz in the following October.