The Harvard-Columbia race had been set for June 24, or six days before the race with Yale ; but on the day before the race the Columbia cox swain, Edmund Benjamin, was drowned, and the race was postponed until July 3. In the meantime the Freshman race occurred on the Harlem, and a diminutive eight from Columbia, that weighed on an average one hundred and forty pounds, won by three lengths. The agree ment for the University race at New London read that the contest was to take place on a fair ebb-tide. It was high tide at noon and Harvard wanted to row, but Columbia would not row until the water had started out, otherwise Har vard would have an advantage in course. Har vard refused to row and went home, and Referee R. C. Watson gave the flags to Columbia on their row over.
Up at Lake George gathered Cornell, Prince ton, and Pennsylvania for the four-oared race together with Bowdoin and Wesleyan, who were back in rowing again. An eight's race had also been included in the regatta and had been entered by Columbia and Pennsylvania, the latter in their first eight-oared shell. But the loss of the Columbia coxswain and the postponement of their race with Harvard to July 3 caused them to cancel their race with Pennsylvania, although the latter offered to row on another date.
Bowdoin had adopted the Davis ideas, and their four was very long, with the double cockpit and the two pairs widely separated : they had the peculiar oars and, in fact, all the gimcracks that the genius of Davis could put about a boat ; their stroke was very high, and Davis himself was on hand to give the instruction. The Princeton and Pennsylvania fours were the same that had rowed in Philadelphia ; but Wesleyan was well thought of because of a victory over the fast Atalanta four a short time previous in New York, and they had also beaten Princeton. In practice none of the crews, with the exception of Bowdoin, showed any remarkable strokes ; but when the race had once started, Pennsylvania and Princeton were the only crews to preserve the styles that they used in practice. Bowdoin started at forty-five, and Cornell and Wesleyan, trying to keep up, ran up their strokes to forty-six and forty-seven — a pace that they had never tried before. For a time Pennsylvania and Princeton, rowing only thirty-six, were last, but they swung steadily along with the others ; Cornell led for a mile, when No. 3 gave out, and they dropped back to exhausted Bowdoin ; Princeton took the lead, while Wesleyan kept on in spite of their fast stroke and were in second place, with Pennsyl vania third. Coming into the last quarter Howell,
the Princeton stroke, was seen to be on the point of collapsing and Wesleyan took the fore, but only for a moment ; Pennsylvania had started a spurt with the stroke at forty and passed the line two lengths ahead of Wesleyan, who were lead ing Princeton. Penn's time was about 9.35, but could not be taken exactly because a boat came between the timer and the finish judge. Howell of Princeton had to be lifted from the shell and was completely exhausted ; he could row the hardest time trial without trouble, yet in his three races this year he fainted during every final spurt when the race was about won.
The Lake George Regatta showed more clearly than the race at New London the dangers of run ning the stroke too high, and the two crews that kept to a moderate pace — Pennsylvania and Princeton — were the real factors at the finish, though of course the accident put out Princeton. But it took another season more fully to demon strate the fallacy of the shuttle action in a boat.
College rowing was now in a healthy condition once more and felt the need of an association to take the place of the defunct Rowing Association of American Colleges — a body that could control the rowing and give an annual chance to find out who had the best crew ; it was not dignified nor entirely agreeable to have the only open college regatta managed by business men as a business enterprise. And early in 1883 a meeting was called, at the instance of Cornell and Pennsylva nia, to effect organization. To it came delegates from Cornell, Princeton, Columbia, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Rutgers, and Pennsylvania, and the InterCollegiate Rowing Association was the re sult. The question of eligibility arose at once, for there had been no rules and any man might compete for any institution if his name were only on the rolls ; residence or attendance had not been considered. The meeting, after fully discuss ing the question, decided that, in order to qualify for the regatta, an oarsman must have attended at least six lectures a week for half a year before the regatta at the institution which he desired to represent. Lake George was settled upon for the first meeting place of the association, and Messrs. Charles R. Francis, Cornell, Reginald L. Hart, Pennsylvania, and John E. Eustis, Wesleyan, composed the regatta committee.