Thomas Hughes, biographer of the immortal "Tom Brown," visited Cornell, then in its infancy, and wondered that the great lake had not already drawn the students to boating ; he talked in his happy way of the boating life and of the racing of England, and before leaving presented a cup to be competed for by class crews. The Tom Hughes Boat Club formed at once, and the next year the Cornell Navy came into being.
The Naval Academy at Annapolis had been rowing among themselves since the close of the Civil War, encouraged by Admiral D. D. Porter, the superintendent ; they had two gigs and a four and a six-oared shell, in which class races were held ; but it was not until 187o that they raced an outside crew. In this year William Blaikie, the Harvard oar, coached the Navy, and a race was arranged with the Quaker City four of Philadel phia, then a celebrated boat, with Coulter, the professional, as coach. Both shells were fitted with the greased slide, but each thought the other ignorant of the arrangement. Coulter was boastful of his crew, and it had indeed a good record, but to his surprise and, in fact, to the sur prise of every one, the Midshipmen won the race rather easily. Thus rowing was made popular at Annapolis for years to come.
The old College Union was dead and now Harvard, taking the leadership, proposed the for mation of another association to bring the various crews into one race ; the result was the Rowing Association of American Colleges. Yale chal lenged Harvard to a straightaway race, for the turning races were losing favor ; but Harvard pre ferred to row only in the new regatta, and Yale did not have an intercollegiate race this year. The course on Lake Quinsigamond had not proved satisfactory, and the first race (July 21, 1871) of the R. A. A. C. was held on the three mile stretch of the Connecticut River at Spring field, between the Ingleside Hotel and the Chicopee bridge. Three crews rowed, — Har vard, Brown, and the Massachusetts Agricultural College ; the race was thought to be easily Har vard's, but the " Aggies " had a powerful six that had been well trained by Josh Ward, and they won easily by thirty-seven seconds in 16.462, with Harvard second and Brown third.
The victory of the inexperienced " Farmers " brought out the rowing that needed but the hope of winning to develop, and in the races of 1872 —for then a Freshman race was added— there were three new names, — Bowdoin, Will iams, and Wesleyan — while Amherst came back with two crews, and Yale also entered the Asso ciation ; Brown had only a Freshman six. The
former course on the Connecticut had not been entirely satisfactory, and the men rowed from Agawam Ferry down to the Long Meadows. Again the new crews won both races ; Amherst and Harvard had the race of the day almost to themselves, with the "Aggies " a little way back ; but the Amherst six proved the better and fin ished in 16.32e, then eight lengths ahead of Harvard, who were leading the " Farmers " by four lengths ; Bowdoin and Williams were far back, but still farther in the rear Yale struggled along more than a quarter of a mile behind the first crew. Four crews were in the Freshman race, Wesleyan, Amherst, Brown, and the Sheffield six of Yale ; Wesleyan won easily. Amherst's time is still a record.
Professional coaching had by this time become general, and all of the crews in the races, with the exception of Harvard, were in charge of pro fessional oarsmen. Every shell by this time had slides in various forms. Some had movable seats that travelled in grooves, others had wheels and runners, though they were not in favor, and many still used the smooth board, well slushed with tallow, on which the oarsman, his trunks reen forced with leather, moved. The green oar loses a deal of skin in these days, but his predecessor had a much more uncomfortable time. The pos sibilities of the slide had not yet been realized ; it was used only because it gave the rower the best position for both the catch and the finish instead of the compromise which was necessary when the seat and the fulcrum of the oar had to have the same relation throughout the stroke. The crews had nearly the same style as on the fixed seats, — a high, short stroke, with all the work in the arms and the back ; those who rowed a slower stroke had the same general idea, but with a longer swing. It was seldom that a crew rowed below forty, and it was only a question of how fast they could " bucket " it. After this race of 1872, Yale, smarting under the terrible beating that they had received, sent their captain, Robert J. Cook, who had rowed in the crew of '72, to England to study English oarsmanship and bring a winning stroke to Yale.