ROWING STROKE.
For stroke I like a man of not more than twelve stone. A few good strokes, e.g. the late Mr. J. H. D. Goldie, have topped this weight by a few pounds. But a real heavy-weight is almost in variably slow and lacking in initiative when placed at stroke, although, in the middle of the boat, with another man acting as fugleman for him, he may be able to row perfectly well at any rate of stroke that may be set to him. A long-backed, supple jointed man is of course best, for the short-backed, long-legged man invariably has trouble in clearing his knees, and consequently develops faults of style which it is hard to eradicate or even to reduce when he has no model in front of him. These faults will therefore exercise a very de leterious influence on the rest of the crew. As to temperament, I should select a good fighter, a man, that is, who would rather die than abandon the struggle, and whose fiery determined nature does not exclude perfect coolness and mastery over himself when a crisis calls for resource. Let me cite some examples.
I may begin my list with Mr. H. P. Marriott and Mr. C. D. Shafto, the Oxford and Cambridge strokes of 1877, the dead-heat year. It is rare indeed to find two such splendid performers matched against one another. Mr. L. R. West, the Oxford stroke of 188o, 1881, and 1883, was as good a stroke as ever came to the University from Eton. He only weighed eleven stone, but his style was simply perfect. The finest demonstration of his racing judgment was given when he took his crew off at the start in 1883, and left Cambridge, on whom odds of three to one had been laid, struggling hopelessly in the rear. More familiarly known to me was the rowing of Mr. F. I. Pitman. In the University Boat Race of i886 both crews started at a very fast rate, and rowed little under thirty eight to the minute all the way to Hammersmith Bridge, which was passed by Cambridge with a trifling lead. Immediately afterwards a strong head-wind and a rough sea were encountered ; the rate of stroke in both boats dropped to about thirty-two, and Oxford began to forge steadily ahead, until at Barnes Bridge they led by nearly two lengths. Here the water was again smooth, and Mr. F. I. Pitman, the Cambridge stroke, nerved himself for a supreme effort. With a wonderful spurt he picked it up, and in the first half-minute after Barnes, actually rowed twenty one strokes, and in the full minute forty. The result of the race in favour of Cambridge is a matter of history ; but, even had Cambridge lost, the merits of that wonderful spurt would have remained as striking.
Mr. C. W. Kent, of Oxford and Leander fame, is another remarkable instance of a born stroke. He rarely rowed as much as eleven stone, and his general appearance outside a boat hardly gave promise of his marvellous vigour and endurance in a race. He is a loose-limbed, long-armed man, with no superfluous flesh, and with very little muscle. In any purely gymnastic competition he would stand no chance whatever. Yet it is not too much to say that as stroke of an Eight or a Four no man has ever been of greater value, none has a more brilliant record of victories secured by his own courage and resource after desperate struggles. He was not a very easy man to follow in the early stages of practice, but when once he had got his crew together behind him, he had the most absolute control over them, and could always get the last possible ounce of work out of them, and yet leave himself with sufficient vigour to wind them up to a final extra spurt if the necessity arose. His crew behind him became a single living entity, on which he could play as a musician plays on an instrument over which he has perfect command. He seemed to have a sort of intuitive knowledge, not merely of the capacity of his own crew, but also of the capacity of his opponents, at any given moment in a race. And he had, more over, the gift—inestimably valuable in a stroke— of taking his men along at their best pace while economizing his own strength, thus always leaving himself with a margin to put in extra work and pace when a close finish required them. For there is no crew, however hard the men may have worked, and however greatly they may be exhausted, that cannot screw itself up to follow if only their stroke will give them a lead. Mr. Kent's record of brilliant achievements begins in 1889, when, as stroke of the Brasenose crew, with Mr. W. F. C. Holland at No. 7, he maintained his boat at the head of the river against the repeated attacks of a considerably stronger and faster New College crew.
In 1890 he was stroke of a Brasenose four at Henley. In one of the preliminary heats of the Stewards' Cup, this crew defeated a strong Leander Four by two feet. In the final heat they had to meet the Thames Rowing Club. At Fawley Court, the halfway point, Thames had secured a lead of two lengths, and were apparently rowing well within themselves. From here, however, Mr. Kent began an extraordinary series of spurts. With a relentless persistence, his crew rowing as one man behind him, he drove his boat inch by inch up to the Thames boat, drew level with them about 300 yards from the finish, and then, reinvigorated by the sight of his rivals, sailed past them and won the race by something more than a length. In 1891, as stroke of the Leander Eight he still further distinguished himself. Rowing from the unsheltered station against a strong " Bushes " wind, he just managed by a final effort to avert defeat at the hands of the Thames Rowing Club, and made a dead heat of it. On the follow ing day, there being no wind, Leander beat Thames by two lengths, and in the final heat beat the London Rowing Club by a length. Again, in , the final heat of the Grand Challenge Cup in 1894, he won another terrible race from the worse station by half a length against the Thames Rowing Club. No one who saw that extraordinary race can forget the wonderful succession of efforts put forth both by Mr. Kent and by the Thames stroke, Mr. J. C. Gardner, a very fine and powerful oar, who had stroked Cambridge to victory in '88 and '89. Time after time did Mr. Gardner force his boat almost level with Leander, and time after time Mr. Kent just stalled him off and reasserted his crew's lead, until at the last he went in with horse, foot, and artillery, and won the furious contest. I cannot forbear citing another instance which shows merit as great, though of a different order, in this remarkable stroke. In 1891 he stroked the Oxford Eight, a crew of very heavy metal, but not well arranged, and containing one welter-weight, who, in conse quence of a severe attack of influenza during the earlier stages of training, could not be depended upon to last at top pressure over the whole of a course of four miles and a quarter. In fact, Oxford, considering their material, were un accountably slow, and Cambridge, admirably stroked by Mr. G. E. Elfin, were as unaccountably fast. The race, it will be remembered, was a very close one, and was won by Oxford by only half a length. During its progress there were many temptations to Mr. Kent, a man whose favourite rate of stroke was as a rule not less than forty, to increase the pace. He saw the Cambridge crew hanging doggedly on to him, and there were not wanting voices from his own crew to urge him to pick it up. But Mr. Kent knew the capacity of his crew, and knew that, though a fast spurt might give him a temporary advantage, it would leave him in all probability with a completely exhausted heavy-weight on his hands to struggle hopelessly against Cambridge's next effort. So he resolutely kept the stroke slow until he got to Chiswick, where he made his only effort, a slight one, it is true, but just sufficient to give him a margin on which he could win the race.
I have dwelt at some length on Mr. Kent's performances, because I think that he showed in the highest degree all the qualities that make a man a good stroke in spite of the absence of mere brute strength. Mr. C. M. Pitman, who as a freshman stroked Oxford in 1892, was a worthy successor to Mr. Kent. The three Oxford crews stroked by him won with comparative ease, a result of which the credit in a very large share must go to Mr. Pitman, who proved his judgment and coolness, not only in the races, but during practice against scratch Eights. Mr. H. G. Gold's remarkable victories are too recent to require any comment beyond the statement that they stamp him as one of the company of really great strokes.
Of non-University strokes, the best I have seen have been Mr. J. Hastie, of the Thames R.C. ; Mr. F. L. Playford, of the London R.C. ; Mr. J. A. Drake-Smith, of the Thames R.C. ; and Mr. G. B. James, of the London R.C. The three last of these possessed, in addition to considerable natural strength and endurance, a rhythmical ease and finished elegance which made their rowing a pleasure to the eye, and rendered it easy for a crew to shake together behind them. Mr. Hastie had enormous power and perfect judgment, and no man ever knew better exactly how and when to crack up an opposing crew.