INTERNATIONAL BOAT RACE.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1100, 12 November 1869, Page 3

INTERNATIONAL BOAT RACE.

This exciting addition to the Putney Regatta has been the great topic of interest in the summer vacation. It came off exactly.at 10 minutes past 5 p.m. on Friday, the 27th August. An immense concourse of spectators assembled to witness the struggle. The very trees were loaded with a living freight, straining anxious eyes.through the thick foliage, from branch to trunk. Half a guinea a head was charged and freely paid for a position on the railway bridge at Barnes. The names of the crews are : —

—It will be seen that Oxford had an immense preponderance of power in her boat, and was able to distribute it well. No. 3, weighing 13st 91b, must haye been a perfect Hercules. Their defeat seems to have been well received by the Harvard men, and the Americans generally acknowledged that it was no disgrace to be beaten by such a crew as Oxford brought to the contest. The following account of the race itself is from the Some News, and will revive the enthusiasm of every old Oxonian who has ever felt the jump of a boat in a telling spurt under the firm home pull of j an Oxford oarsman, and seen the flash of the feathered oar shot from the chests of a 12st crew. The tide at the time the crews went to their places was rather sluggish, with a light breeze from the south-west, and the water as smooth as could be desired anywhere except on a mill pond. Harvard were quickest in catching the water, and in the first two strokes showed ahead. Their going off first was not at all unexpected, but there was some surprise when it was seen that they were rapidly gaining, and that their 45 strokes per minute to the 40 of the dark blue was taking them farther and farther ahead. At Bishop's creek Harvard led by quite half a length, and going up the willows, they gradually ' increased their advantage, steering a _ better course and rowing well, maintaining the rapid recovery which formed a feature of their early practice on the Thames. The same stroke was maintained for three parts of the distance up the willows, when the Americans slackened their pace a little, | and the dark blue crew began to pick up, but the magenta again put it on, and at Craven point had three quarters of a length the best of it, rowing very strong. In fact, both crews were rowing at an extraordinary pace, and Harvard progressed so rapidly as apparently to lead the coxswain into thinking he was clear, as he began to take his boat right across towards Oxj ford's water, and raised on all sides apprehensions of a foul, which might have spoiled one of the grandest races ever seen. Both boats commenced the "shoot" too. soon. Harvard then returned to their right course off the I Crab tree, and gained no ground by the vacillation. In other points their course was a pretty good one. The Har- ! yard 46 had by now come down to about

'43 a minute, Oxford still slogging away at 39, and now coming slowly up to them. The two styles were never more aisixkqfl than now : each boat had now Settle;& down, and the pace was very fast, Harvard dead in recovering from the chest, then a long hurried sling forward, not the most correct of time, a steady draw of oars through the water, and blades rather deep buried ; Oxford rowing with the old characteristics — sharp off the chest, like a billiard ball from a cushion, a relatively slow, massive swing forward ; oars, even in height of feather, perfect in time, dropped into the water like hammers, and whipped through the water sharp, clean, and light, covering no more than the blades. They looked liked " staying" for a week. Two to one was still offered by their partisans, whose grim silence in the steamers contrasted with continuous fires of the characteristic short staccato " Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah I" with which Harvardians cheered their men. Hammersmith was shot in 8 mm. 20 sec. or less, Harvard half a length in front, Oxford slowly and surely closing up. Off the lead mills Mr. Loring made a splendid spurt at about the old pace of stroke, and for a time increased the now diminished lead, but Harvard were tiring under the pace and the strain of the extra strokes per minute, which had so far held their own against Oxford. Off Chiswick Eyot, Oxford, apparently with a view of making sure of securing the inside turn at Barnes, went suddenly up level, led, and shot clear, crossing, taking Harvard's water, and throwing them in the wash in less than a minute from the commencement of this tremendous rush. While so doing the Oxonian coxswain in his turn bored Harvard twice, but the latter scorned to foul, and gave room freely. They rowed stroke for stroke for about fifty yards, and then Oxford began slowly to gain, though the advantage was only temporary, Harvard once again getting on even terms with the English university four. This effort appeared to exhaust the Harvards very much, for they were able to hold their own for a very short time, and Oxford, with the magnificent sweep which has so often carried them past their rivals at a critical point, for the second time held first place. Half way up the Eyot the dark blue were a quarter of a length, and at the top of it half a length in. front. This advantage had been gained slowly ; but now Oxford, with great rapidity, began to draw ahead, and at Chiwick church were clear. The pace appeared to have told severely on the Americans, who were rather wild at this part of the course and continued to drop astern, whilst Oxford were going, if possible, better than ever. Two hundred yards above the church the dark blue had placed a clear length between the boats, and, going up the Duke of Devonshire's meadows, where a breeze swept across the course and had made a bit of a sea, the Oxford crew seemed to feel themselves much more at home than their rivals, and appeared to slacken their pace a little. Mr. Loring was here visibly distressed, and the coxswain dashed cold water over him and the others. Corney Beach was now entered in full view of a close packed concourse of carriages and pedestrians on Barnes terrace, and eager faces gleaming from every available house top, window, and balcony. But the race was near over, all but the shouting, and in spite of the thorough pluck of Harvard, who stuck to their colors as none but AngloSaxons can, Oxford shot Barnes bridge with about three clear lengths lead, still swinging and slashing as perfectly, and to all appearance as strongly, as when they left Putney. As they neared the ship, a boat, the only one in the whole course, got into the way of the Oxonians, and threw them a little out of their course. Loring came with one last gallant rush off the White Hart. But the dark blue were firm, and passed the ship rowing like machinery. The flag boat had drifted; Oxford, thinking they were never going to reach, eased, looked round, and paddled with one hand the last few strokes in 22 mm. 19 sec, having rowed more than the proper course on a most inferior tide, and came in about four lengths in advance of their opponents. Time, as taken by Benson's chronogaaph : — Start, sh. 14ra. 6|s. ; arrival (Oxtord), sh. 36m. 475. : arrival (Harvard), 5Ji. 36m. 535. Duration of race : — (Oxford), 22m. 41|s. ; Harvard, 22m. 47-gS. Difference of time in favor of Oxford, 6 sec. How the victors were greeted by the many thousands waiting to "see the result need scarcely be recorded, nor is it necessary to chronicle the fact that the defeated were cheered just as loudly as the winners. Enough that the Harvard men paddled over towards the umpire's boat when all was over, and shook hands with their conquerors, and so ended one of the pleasantesfc boat contests ever witnessed on the Thames or any other river. Depraved Taste in the English Drama. — A play entitled Formosa has lately been produced at Drury Lane, which is nothing more or less than the life of a demi-monde dramatized in an " attractive" form. The English papers denounce the piece as immoral and indelicate. The manager defends it on the ground that it pays, and points to the boxes and stalls which are crowded nightly with an audience in which ladies form the large majority. This argument should be conclusive of the morality of the piece, but it unfortunately is not, for the "naughtier" the play, the more people, including the highest and most respectable in London, flock to see it. The respectable classical drama, managers complain, will not go down, and only the sensational drama, kept barely within the limits of the Lord [ Chamberlain's standard of propriety, will draw a house. Mr. Chatterton, the manager, gave the professional critics, who deplore the dogeneration and degradation of the drama, a sly and effective hit. " I have remarked," ho says, " that when I produce Shakespeare these gentlemen, who are entitled by courtesy to admission to the theatre, rarely ask for orders, but since I have produced Formosa I have been overwhelmed with applications from this quarter for private boxes for their wives and families." Proposed Match between English and AtfsTUAHAN Cricketers. — Arrangement have been made for an All England Eleven to visit Australian during the coming winter. It is understood that tho lessee of the Melbourne theatre has authorised Mr. Shoesmith, the avant^ courrier on the occasion of the formation of the first Australian eleven some years ago, to make terms for twelve of the crack players to go out to play a series of matches. He has selected the following : Mr. W. G. Grace, J. Smith, of Cambridge ; Alfred Shaw, of Nottingham ; , Atkinson, Emmett, Lockwood, and J. I ltowbotham, of Yorkshire ; Charlwood, the Sussex player ; Edger Willsher, the Kent veteran; and Southernton, Jupp, and Pooley, from Surrey. Thus there will be a twelth man to stand umpire, and to play in case of emergency. Each player is guaranteed his first-class passage out and back, and a sum of money before leaving England, which will be supplemented by a further payment in case of the speculation proving profitable. The cricketers leave Liverpool on September 20 for Australia.

OXFOED. Sfc lb 1. F. Willan, Exeter 12 0 2. A. C. Yarborougn, Lincoln 12 3 3. J. C. Tinne. University 13 9 4. S. D. Darbishire, Balliol 11 8 W. J. Hall, Corpus (cox) ... „. 7 3 HAKVAED. Sfc lb 1. J. S. Faye, Boston ... 11 o 2. F. O. Lyraan, Sandwich Islands ... 11 0 3. W. H. Simmons, Concord 12 3 4. A. P. Loring, Boston 11 0 A. JBuraham, Chicago (cox) 7 10