OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE ROWING. 165 



tributed the defeat of the Cantabs, who were a stronger set 

 of men than the Oxonians, to the teaching of their ' coach/ 

 who had been (though this he does not mention) as good a 

 1 coach ' as ever existed for rowing in the old fashioned style 

 of boats, but whose ' experience availed nothing to teach the 

 modern style of light-boat rowing.' 



In another article by the same writer, in the * Pall Mall 

 Gazette,' (1868), a noteworthy illustration is given of the 

 value of a good style. ' Among the college boats in the 

 first division at Cambridge this year, the strongest were 

 perhaps First Trinity, Trinity Hall, and notably Emmanuel ; 

 the weakest in the division was the Lady Margaret crew,' 

 the crew representing St. John's College. ' But notwith- 

 standing this, Lady Margaret went up one place, and 

 pressed Trinity very hotly. There must, of course, be some 

 special reason to account for eight weak men proving 

 superior to eight strong ones.' There is a little (uninten- 

 tional) exaggeration here ; the stroke of the Lady Margaret 

 crew was a strong as well as an elegant oarsman, and two 

 others of the crew could certainly not be called weak ; 

 nevertheless the crew as a whole was undoubtedly weak 

 compared with most of the other crews of the first division, 

 * That reason,' proceeds our author, ' is to be found in style. 

 Every day of practice on the Cam you hear the " coaches " 

 of the different racing-boats giving their crews certain direc 

 tions, some absurd, and nearly all, from some accidental 

 reason, useless. The chief of these is to "keep it long," 

 and if you object to the results of this teaching, you are told 

 that "length" is the great requisite of good rowing, and 



server form this opinion, because the Oxford stroke seems to be much 

 shorter in range than it is in reality. There we have the secret of its 

 efficiency. It is actually as long as the Cambridge stroke, but is taken 

 in a perceptibly shorter time. What does this mean but that the oar 

 is taken more sharply, and therefore much more effectively, through the 

 water? Much more effectively,' I proceeded, 'so far as the actual con- 

 ditions of the contest are concerned,' going on to consider the difference 

 between the modern and the old fashioned racing boats. Light Science 

 for Leisure Hours : Essay on Oxford and Cambridge Rowing Styles. 



