Volume 4, Slice 1 Part 34 (1/2)

Carvel-built. Elm. 36 10' 2” 3' 5”

6. Launch. Between thwarts 3 ft. 1 in.

To carry 140 men. Double skin diagonal. Teak. 42 11' 6” 4' 6”

7. Berthon collapsible boats weighing 7 cwt. for destroyers.

With the exception of the larger cla.s.ses, viz. cutters, pinnaces and launches, the V-shape of bottom is still preserved, which does not tend to stability, and it is difficult to see why the smaller cla.s.ses have not followed the improvement made in their larger sisters.

Pleasure boats and racing.

Though the number and variety of sea-going boats is of much greater importance, no account of boats in general would be complete without reference to the development of pleasure craft upon rivers and inland waters, especially in England, during the past century. There is a legend, dating from Saxon times, which tells of King Edgar the Peaceable being rowed on the Dee from his palace in Chester to the church of St John, by eight kings, himself the ninth, steering this ancient 8-oar; but not much is heard of rowing in England until 1453, when John Norman, lord mayor of London, set the example of going by water to Westminster, which, we are told, made him popular with the watermen of his day, as in consequence the use of pleasure boats by the citizens became common.

Thus it was that the old Thames pleasure wherry, with its high bows and low sharp stern and V-shaped section, and the old skiff came into vogue, both of which have now given way to boats, mostly of clinker-build, but with rounder bottoms and greater depth, safer and more comfortable to row in.

In 1715 Thomas Doggett (q.v.) founded a race which is still rowed in peculiar sculling boats, straked, and with sides flaring up to the sill of the rowlock. Strutt tells us of a regatta in 1775 in which watermen contended in pair-oared boats or skiffs.

At the beginning of the 19th century numerous rowing clubs flourished on the upper tidal waters of the Thames, and we hear of four-oared races from Westminster to Putney, and from Putney to Kew, in what we should now consider large and heavy boats, clinker-built, with bluff entry.

Longer boats, 8-oars, and 10-oars, seem to have been existent at the end of the 18th century. Eton certainly had one 10-oar, and three 8-oars, and two 6-oars, before 1811. The record of 8-oar races at Oxford begins in 1815, at Cambridge in 1827. Pair-oar and sculling races in lighter boats seem to have come in soon after 1820, and the first Oxford and Cambridge eight-oared race was rowed in 1829, in which year also Eton and Westminster contended at Putney.

Henley regatta was founded in 1839, and since that date the building of racing boats, eights, fours, pairs, and sculling boats, has made great progress. The products of the present time are such, in lightness of build and swiftness of propulsion, as would have been thought impossible between 1810 and 1830.

In the middle of the 19th century the long boats in use were mostly clinker-built with a keel. At Oxford the torpids were rowed, as now, in clinker-built craft, but the summer races were rowed in carvel-built boats, which also had a keel.

In 1855 the first keelless 8-oar made its appearance at Henley, built by Mat Taylor for the Royal Chester Rowing Club. The new type was constructed on moulds, bottom upwards, a cedar skin bent and fitted on to the moulds, and the ribs built in after the boat had been turned over.

In 1857 Oxford rowed in a similar boat at Putney, 55 ft. long, 25 in.

beam. From that time the keelless racing boat has held its own, fours and pairs and sculling boats all following suit. But with the introduction of sliding seats racing eights have developed in length to 63 ft. or more, with considerable camber, and a beam of 23-24 in. There are, however, still advocates of the shorter type with broader beam, and it is noticeable that the Belgian boat that won the Grand Challenge at Henley in 1906 did not exceed 60 ft. The boat in which Oxford won the University race in 1901 was 56 ft. long with 27 in. of beam.

In sculling boats the acceptance of the Australian type of build has led to the construction of a much shorter boat with broader beam than that which was in vogue twenty years ago. The same tendency has not shown itself so p.r.o.nouncedly in pair oars, but will no doubt be manifest in time as the build improves. In fact we may expect the controversy between long and short racing boats, and the proper method of propelling them respectively, to be carried a step farther. The tendency, with the long slide, and long type of boat, is to try to avoid ”pinch” by adopting the scullers' method of easy beginning, and strong drive with the legs, and sharp finish to follow, but it remains to be seen whether superior pace is not to be obtained in a shorter boat by sharp beginning at a reasonable angle to the boat's side, and a continuous drive right out to the finish of the stroke.

Appended is a list of pleasure boats in use (1909) on the Thames, with their measurements (in feet and inches).

Cla.s.s of Boat. Length. Beam. Depth.

Racing eight 56' to 63' 23” to 27” 9” to 10”

Clinker eight 56' to 60' 24” to 27” 9” to 10”

Clinker four 38' to 42' 23” to 24” 8” to 9”

Tub fours 30' to 32' 3'8”-3'10” 13” from keel to top of stem Outrigger pair 30' to 34' 14” to 16” 7” to 8”

Outrigger sculls 25' to 30' 10” to 13” 5” to 6”

Coaching gigs 26' to 28' 3' to 3'4” 10” to 14”

Skiffs (Thames) 24' to 26' 3'9” to 4' 12”

Skiffs (Eton) 27' 2'3” 9”

Gigs (pleasure) 24' to 36' 4' 15” to 16”