885
careful and the slides were controlled
with consummate skill, a thing which
st-cies from the Thames, a week before,
said Harvard could not do. No crew
ever sat in a shell that managed them
better than the Harvard University
Eight of 1899. The Yale boat had not
gone two hundred yards when the
difficulties that has been present in a
greater or less degree all the year, be-
gan to appear,—namely, a rushing of
the slides and a hang on the catch.
Half way down the course, less than
half the men in the boat were finishing
their stroke, and the ones who were
finishing it were being killed by the
effort. There was strength enough in
that shell to win, and fight enough, but
had there been twice as much of both,
it would hardly have won from such
a crew as Harvard’s if the faults spoken
of were present.
THE INCIDENTS.
Although every effort had been made
by those in charge to have the events
run off on schedule time, a high wind
blew directly down the course at 10
o’clock, chopping the water up so
badly, that the postponement of the
Freshman and Four races till the after-
noon was an absolute necessity. Some
fearful ones began to say: ‘The same
old story of postponements,” but as it
turned out it was, perhaps, well that the
change was made, as it gave three con-
secutive hours of sport in the afternoon.
For the spectators and the oarsmen the
day was ideal. A brilliant sun shone,
but was tempered by a cool wind from
the North, and the air itself had the
purity and clarity of champagne.
Contrary to expectations the race was
largely attended. Over a hundred and
fifty pleasure craft, large and small,
were anchored along the sides of the
lower course and hundreds of people
thronged the wide open space at the
foot of the land pier of the big bridge,
which was an ideal vantage ground at
the finish. The two observation trains
carried more passengers than for some
years past, the one on the East side,
the new route, being the favorite. No
expense has been spared to get the rails
on this new route as near the water’s
edge as possible and the result is a
very skilful piece of building, and an
almost ideal view, though some of the
most picturesque coves have been anni-
hilated in the process. At the start the
boats are’at the extreme opposite side
of the river from the train, and it is
hard to tell much about them, as the
river is here half a mile and more wide,
but as they sweep on down the river
on their diagonal course, train and
boats approach each other until only
a couple of hundred yards separate
them. Three-quarters of a mile from
the finish the train, this year, was grad-
ually drawn ahead of the boats and ran
onto the draw of the bridge, where an
unobstructed view was had of the fin-
ish. Much praise was heard of the new
train, its equipment and its manage-
ment.
The best of feeling was everywhere
seen between members of the two uni-
versities, and was one of the pleasing
things about the regatta. Yale joined
heartily in the cheers for Harvard when
the observation train ran past Red Top
on the way up to the start, and Har-
vard joined her voice with Yale in a
cheer to Yale’s crew before the start.
After the racing was over groups of
men from the rival universities talked
the day over calmly and Yale acknowl-
edged that the contests had been won
on their merits by superior crews.
Four-oared Race.
The first test of strength and skill be-
tween the oarsmen was the University-
Four contest, the men being substitutes
of the two University Eights. This
race had been set for the morning at
ten, to be rowed upstream, but the high
wind made it impossible and the post-
ponement was until 3.30 in the after-
noon with the ebbing tide. It was not
till half an hour beyond the time set,
that the two little shells were seen head-
ing for the start. As they came along
in short stretches, Harvard’s powerful
hold on the water was apparent to every
eye. She feathered very high and her
men seemed bigger than those of her
rival, but that was probably due to a
higher rigging, as there was actually
but one pound’s difference in the ag-
gregate weight of the two crews. Yale
sat low in the water.
The start was made at 4.15. The ad-
vantage was with no one at the first
stroke, but it was with Harvard at the
second and still more with her at the
third and so on. With apparently the
greatest of ease her boat slipped ahead
of Yale who was rowing 38, although
Harvard’s stroke was two points slower
to the minute. At the half, three lengths
-and over separated the shells, and at
the mile Yale was trailing five lengths
in the rear with a stroke of 35 to Har-
vard’s 33.
REASONS.
Careful observers began at this time
to look for the reason why one boat ran
so well while the other did not. There
was plenty of power in the Yale boat
and the watermanship was surely not
bad. But it was the difficulty which
appeared in the University race later on
—poor leg work. The men did. not
know how to control their slides and,
at the end of each stroke, the momen-
tum of the shell was destroyed by a
weight of over 650 pounds of bone and
muscle rushing towards the rear, so that
each catch found the headway so much
taken off that it was like starting a dead
weight anew.
Harvard knew the value of a wells
handled slide and without a great out-
lay of strength stole away with ridicu-
lous ease until at the mile and a half
flag six lengths of open water separated
the shells. From here to the finish
Harvard kept at it steadily at 32, while
Yale at 34 made an heroic fight to close
up the great gap between themselves
and the leaders, and succeeded in mak-
ing up two lengths. Harvard, however,
had a clear lead of five lengths. The
times of both were faster than the fast-
est that either had done in practice, by
over 35 seconds, and was due in a large
measure to the steady wind and a
swiftly ebbing tide. Neither of the
crews seemed to be tired badly, Har-
vard certainly not. After a few
moment; her men turned up-stream and
rested on their oars, watching the start
of the Freshman Eight.
The official time was: Half-mile—
Harvard 2 minutes 42 seconds; Yale 2 .
minutes 52 seconds; mile—Harvard 5
minutes 28 seconds; Yale 5 minutes
43 seconds; mile and a half—Harvard
8 minutes; Yale 8 minutes 21 seconds;
two miles—Harvard 10.51; Yale 11.06.
HARVARD FOUR.
Age. Weght. MHght.
Bow. . Endicott: . .i«. 4% 20 158 5-8
Bi PORANS OURS, 6 4< ve ths BE. 1750. 6-0.
3. Kernan Wik s. 2ae 2I 170 5-I!I
Stroke. Blake, (Capt.).22 160
Coxswain. Howe...... 23 410 5-6
YALE FOUR.
Age. Weght. Hght.
Bow “Miatchelbas.. £22. I9 170 5-II
2. Greenway, (Capt.) ..22 173
$3 Gr59 5520 4 an 21 180 6-
Stroke: «:Broekiccd. d. 19. 6. 182.—s- 5-10
Coxswain. Chittenden..19 111 5-8
The Freshman Race.
_ The prettiest and closest contest of
the day was between the Freshman
crews, and had not an unfortunate acci-
dent occurred on the last half mile by
which Yale was a severe sufferer, the
finish would have been a rare one in
point of closeness.
As soon as the two Fours had moved
away, the Freshmen Eights, with re-
freshing promptness, were seen making
for their respective stake boats, Yale
on the West and Harvard on the East
side.
yards below the Navy Yard wharf, where
the current runs very strongly and.
diagonally across the course, and it was
ten minutes, and more, before the cox-
swains could get their shells pointed
in the right direction. At four forty-five
o'clock, however, they were ready and
the starter’s pistol cracked.
Yale got a magnificent start. All the
oars in the boat caught the water to-
gether and, without a splash or roll,
it sprang away like the wind at a 37
clip. It was a useless expediture of
energy, however, for No. 7 in the Har-
vard boat was in difficulty with his slide |
and Captain Bancroft called for a new
start, it having been previously agreed
that any accident within the first 10
strokes should be remedied by such a
means. Yale came reluctantly back to
the post she had left so superbly a few
seconds before. An additional ten min-
utes were spent getting the boats lined
up again and it was not until five
say, in the remarkable time of I minute
These stake boats lay about 30
headway, Harvard had shot by and -
leading by a length. Yale’s drier as
fort of a 37 stroke was unavailing to
catch her more fortunate competitor
and she followed as best she could to
the finish about two lengths behind.
Time: Harvard—g minutes 33% sec-
onds; Yale—g minutes 40 seconds. The
previous record 9.41 for the two miles
on the Thames was made by the Colum-
bia Freshmen in 1889. The conditions
on Thursday, were unusually fast, prob-
ably less than half a minute behind-the
fast-flowing Poughkeepsie course. Yale
holds the record for that course of 9
minutes 1914 seconds, made by the 1900
Crew in 1897.
The official time: Half—Yale, 1
minute 49 seconds; Harvard, I minute
52 seconds. Mile—Yale, 4 minutes 35
seconds; Harvard, 4 minutes 38 sec-
onds. Mile and half, Yale, 7 minutes 2
seconds; Harvard, 7 minutes 4 seconds.
Finish—Yale, 9 minutes 4o seconds;
Harvard, 9 minutes 33% seconds.
minutes of five o’clock that the starting
signal was given for the second time.
This time there was nervousness in the
Yale boat and Harvard had the advan-
tage. It was not for long, however, for
Yale, pulling like veterans a stroke of
37, took the lead foot by foot. Down
to the first half mile the boats flashed,
passing that point the official watches
and 49 seconds. The half was a very
short one, however. . Yale had a lead
here of about three-quarters of a length,
and the boat was jumping to the lively
store of 35 with Harvard half a point
ower. :
HARVARD BEHIND.
. Harvard was behind, but there was a
steadiness in the way the shell ran that
caused satisfaction among her friends.
They were not losing a foot and al-
though they were not so well tovether
as Yale men were, they were beginning
to find themselves as the minutes went HARVARD FRESHMEN.
by. The boats were at the mile in the B. Mori | ae Weht. Hght.
record-breaking time of 4 minutes 35 Oe OE ar ee are 159... 5210
seconds, with no change in the relative ~" ee (Capt.) ...18 tee 5-10
positions or in the speed of the strokes. * Bullard Att eee es re 5-10
Harvard hung desperately onto the tail ss Ta ee Tea es ams 72 105... O-
of the leader and waited her chance. It a Sh b : ale Ee ee : 175. Ot
soon came. As the mile and a half rie atte EET SES St be oe g—Il
flag came rushing toward the boats oe k : Wego i ee : 105 32)
Harvard suddenly seemed to possess Pa ce heat. SURG ag S-7
herse.: of the unity and precision which ee ge as Se ee ee
Yale had thus far had while Yale : :
seemed as stiddenly to lose it, Before “dices ets ie
the flag was passed Harvard had ad- pow Holt 12 ne ee
vanced 20 feet on her opponent and be- 4 Ackley ee be 19 162, eo
gan to raise the stroke. pete | em nee ee PO Fe et
STEAMER SPOILED THE FINISH. Sharpe. ss sat Gk
Now came the sprint to the finish and ©. at aa Te ee eae 2) oy
thousands leaned forward in anticipa- Z, PiASGeN - esse sees: 20 172 0-2
: : ae Stroke. Warmoth.....20 160 6-1
tion of a royal and exciting struggle. Coxswain, Armstrong..19 106 5-7
But at that very minute the draw of the
big bridge was swinging, and swinging
to their disappointment, for it let in a
big excursion steamer which came
sweeping directly up the course. Being
warned she was able to swing out of
the path of the shells just in time, but
she had set in motion a rolling, tum-
bling wash that looked as if it would
swamp the boats which were soon in
the waves, but Harvard, whose course
lay comparatively near the steamer, es-
caped in a large measure their severity.
Yale met them square on her port bow
and for an instant it seemed as if she
had been swamped. The port side
missed a couple of strokes, starboard
did the same, and the boat was thrown
so badly off her bottom that before
she could be steadied up and put under
The UWniversity Race,
Things were beginning to wear a de-
cided Harvard look after the Freshman
race went the way of the Four, and pre-
dictions were heard that she would
make it three straight. Yale began to
figure hard on weights and styles, but
could make nothing of it, as she found
that the heavier Four had won, as had
the lighter Freshmen. The only pointer
was, perhaps, the Four, who might be
expected to row in the manner of the
Fight whose substitutes they were.
Still, hopeful ones put faith in Yale’s
veteran Eight; their experience, they
said, counted for much and even their
opponents feared the strength which all
admitted was in the boat.
Mr. C. M. Powers and “ The Old Reliable” established a Good Record for
Amateurs, as facts show, at the tournament held in Peoria, Ills., on May 12th.
| He made an average for five days,
at Live Birds and Targets, of 97.2 at
targets, shooting at 540, and 98 out
of 100 live birds, having a run of 97
straight during the three days.
_ What we claim is that we make
the ‘best gun in the World, and records prove it. |
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