Rowing

The roots of our sport go back to the early industries of the 17th/18th centuries and earlier. On the Thames in London, the river was used to transport goods and services. One service in particular flourished with thousands employed. The livery service transported people from one side of the river to the other and from the lower portions to the upper portions of the city. These watermen were closely governed by Parliament and had to spend years as an apprentice.

It was very early on when one waterman decided to challenge another waterman or when one passenger urged his waterman on to a speedy passage that boat speed became an asset. A waterman could enhance his income by receiving a gratuity from his pleased patron or gain publicity and a reputation by winning contests. Racing between watermen soon flourished.

- Click on Images to Enlarge -

Thames Waterman c. 1825

In 1715 an actor named Thomas Doggett used these watermen regularly to cross the Thames to get to his theatre appearances. He decided to place a sum of money in an endowment to provide for a race for a Coat and Badge to take place "forever" for 6 emerging watermen. This competition continues today.

In the United States, much the same was done, especially in New York City, where people were transported across the rivers by livery boats. The steps at the end of Whitehall Street became the Grand Central of the water transport era. Soon races were contracted with rather large purses (see Time Line). The boats, known as Whitehalls, were durably built, in-rigged wherries.

Whitehall, Victorious, 1824 Thames wherry

Another line of ancestry contributing to rowing competition, descends from the naval and merchant shipping trade. Pilot gigs, ship's tenders and the like were used regularly to transport people to and from the larger ships. As soon as you get two or more rowing craft going in the same direction, a race will develop. These challenges were often made in a harbor between two visiting ships or a visiting ship and a local crew. Sums of money were wagered and a purse of money was waiting for the winning crew.

Four-oared gig from the ship, Sirene

.

Boats and Hardware

Outrigger, c. 1830s

As the seriousness of the racing and the size of the prize grew, oarsmen looked to improve their equipment to give them an edge. In 1828 Anthony Brown, England, attached crude wooden out-riggers to a boat. The out-rigger allowed for a narrower, speedier boat to be built without the need to support an oar directly sitting on the gunwale (in-rigged). Frank Emmet, of Dent's Hole on the Tyne, had a try and in 1830 produced the "Eagle" with iron out-riggers. The metal out-rigger was perfected by Harry Clasper, Newcastle, England, c. 1841, and his claim of "Inventor of the Outrigger" has withstood the test of time. The in-rigged and out-rigged boats of this era had a fixed seat, moveable foot-board, thowle rowlock, and an exterior keel.

Thowle type rowlock c. 1860s from The Oarsmen's Manual, 1871

Shell Construction, c. 1840s

The next major development was the smooth skin, keel-less hull. The boat became known as the "shell" because its structure was internal and a smooth delicate egg shell like skin was formed around it. According to U.S. boat-builder, George Pocock, who came from a line of Eton and London boat-builders, his dad's uncle, William Pocock, was a London professional sculler and builder c.1840. He raced Harry Clasper on the Thames and afterward, invited Clasper to his shed to see the keel-less boat he was building. Supposedly, an article was written about this Pocock boat in a London newspaper. [If anyone has a lead about this article, I would appreciate any information.] The Pocock story goes that Clasper went back to Newcastle-On-Tyne and built a keel-less boat claiming it to be the first.

In any case, the first widely raced keel-less boat, The Five Brothers, was completed by Harry Clasper in 1844. It won at the Royal Thames Regatta on June 22, 1844 manned by the five Clasper brothers. Clasper built a new boat for the 1845 Thames Regatta called the Lord Ravensworth. This boat captured the World Championship on June 26 with four of the Claspers vs the London Coombes' Crew and another London Crew containing Pocock.

Matt Taylor, England, took Clasper's keel-less boat to the next level by applying a thin skin to the keel-less frame. In 1854 he constructed the Victoria that won the 1855 Stewards Cup at Henley and in 1856 he built a shell eight that won Henley's Grand Challenge Cup. In 1856 the age of the racing shell began.

Matt Taylor with his 1855 keel-less four, Victoria -

winners of the Stewards' and Wyfold Cups

Following the developments in England, James McKay, a boat builder in New York, began building the sleek shells. After this, most improvements were developed in North America and then traveled to England.

The Coxless-Four, c. 1867

The general configuration for four-oared boats through the late 1860s included a coxswain to steer. At the Paris International Regatta in 1867, the Saint John, New Brunswick, coxless four arrived and defeated the other crews all rowing with coxswains. E.D. Brickwood states in 1876 that the Saint John four's "victory was as much owing to their rowing without a coxswain". Even earlier, in 1855, Harvard raced a coxed-eight and a second boat, a coxless-four vs. Yale's two coxed-sixes. Harvard's eight, with an adjusted time, defeated it's coxless four by three seconds while Yale's two coxed-sixes were third and fourth. It was not uncommon to have mixed boat types in a race, sometimes with handicaps and sometimes not.

Meanwhile, the English oarsmen at the International Regatta brought back the stories about this Paris coxless four. The next season, 1868, W.B. Woodgate had a coxless four built for the Henley Stewards' Cup. He placed a temporary seat for a coxswain on the stern deck and, upon the starting command, the coxswain jumped overboard. Woodgate's coxless four won the heat but was disqualified for the infraction, however, the result was the establishment

...