So anxious were they for the English ways that the legends say furniture and overcoats were sold and pawned to raise the money for the cap tain's trip. " Bob " Cook spent a couple of months at Oxford and Cambridge and among the Thames watermen picking up ideas, and then came back with a modification of the English university stroke. He took their long sweep and the slow recovery in a degree and retained the American riggings ; he reduced the Yale stroke to thirty-two and thirty-four. Cook's ideas made game for the papers, and the oars men of the day and the Yale Freshmen refused to follow him, engaging Hamill, the professional ; but the stroke, with Cook himself setting it, was successful in the regatta of the year. It was a sensible stroke and did not attempt too much, but brought rowing at Yale gently from the vicious short dig to a longer and more logical sweep. That Cook stroke was not the stroke known by his name in a later period, and it was not entirely a good stroke ; but it was a vast improvement over the former methods, and it marks the first step in the process of the devel opment of an American stroke. There is some thing more in rowing than merely " jackin' it up." The successive winning of the new members of the R. A. A. C. caused a rush of the smaller colleges to rowing ; Brown dropped out for a year, but Trinity had at last a crew together and joined the association, together with Dartmouth, who were coached by John Biglin ; Cornell had been struggling along, and now, President White giving them a shell, they engaged Harry Coulter as coach and were admitted to membership. The Psi Phi Boat Club had been organized at Co lumbia in 1872, and they were soon followed by the Columbia College Boat Club with A. B. Simonds as president and C. De R. Moore as captain ; they were also taken into the R. A. A. C., which now had twelve members, including Brown. The progress of the University Barge Club and the popularity of the college regattas increased the interest at the University of Pennsylvania, and in September, 1872, the College Boat Club was formed and a boat bought ; but the members did not feel skilled for the collegiate regatta. Calhoun Megargee was the first president, and with him were associated a number of the members of the class of '75.
The races came off on July 17, and because of the eleven crews that were entered for the University race the course had to be shifted down the river a quarter of a mile, which made the finish line come below a bend in the river, and, since it was parallel to the starting line, it was not at right angles to the shore. The crews came down early to the course — some a month ahead —and trained steadily under the severe methods that then prevailed; they were up early in the morning for a run ; they rowed hard twice every day, and usually went over the course on time at least once, while any man who was not already down to skin and bones had to wear thick woollens, and the coaches allowed scarcely any water to the men who stood so much in need of fluid after their excessive perspiration. None of the crews had more money than they absolutely needed, and the railroads charged exorbitant rates for the transportation of the shells ; it sounds strange to read that nearly every crew lost their first day on the course because the men turned to and built floats at whatever point in the river they had selected to store their shells. The fourteen sixes, practising on the none-too-wide river without coxswains, came into frequent mix-ups, in one of which the "Aggies' " boat was wrecked.
On the day before the University and the Freshman races the single sculls came off, and E. M. Swift, Yale, beat C. S. Dutton of Cornell.
The Freshman race preceded the big race, and Yale foretold the results of the day by winning from Harvard and Amherst.
The University race is historic as the " diag onal line race "; each of the eleven crews had a judge at the finish, while Alden S. Swan of the Atalanta Boat Club was the timer ; he took the times of the entire eleven with accuracy ; but when it came to supplying the names of the crews, it developed that the judges had been so busy cheering their alma mater's that not one had troubled himself about placing a crew. Harvard were under the impression that they had won, got the flags, and were away toward Boston, while the judges in profound session were trying to find the victor ; they decided at last that Yale had finished first, Wesleyan second, and Harvard third; but beyond that they did not commit themselves. The jubilant Harvard squad stopped at Worcester, and the flags went to Yale. The race had been a hard one all the way, but Yale led clearly at the finish, and there would have been no difficulty whatever about the line had not the judges been carried away in their enthusiasm ; the other crews were close together, and the best record that can be obtained of their finish gives this order : Yale, Wesleyan, Harvard, Columbia and Cornell, Amherst, Dartmouth, Massachusetts Agricultural, Bowdoin, Trinity, Williams. Yale's time was 16.59.
Some question had arisen after this regatta with regard to the qualifications of the competi tors, and the period being one of definitions, the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen hav ing just defined an amateur, the Rowing Asso ciation met and declared that " undergraduate students, students of colleges, members of the Association, candidates for the degree of A.B., Ph.B., or such other degrees as represent a parallel or similar course of study, with the exception of those who are candidates for the degree of LL.B., M.D., or B.D., shall be eligible to the regatta crews of this Association." At this meet ing Princeton was admitted, though there was some discussion and the representatives thought that they would have " to draw the line some where." The Springfield course had proved too narrow for the great flotilla of shells, and the busi ness men of Saratoga desiring the regatta, it was voted to hold the 1874 races there.
There had been a slight decrease in the row ing after the victory of Yale this year; Amherst, Bowdoin, and Massachusetts Agricultural did not send crews, but the addition of the Princeton six gave nine University crews. The race was scheduled for July 16, and on the preceding day A. Wilcox of Yale beat A. L. Devins, Harvard, and E. L. Philips, Cornell, in singles. The Fresh man race followed the singles ; Yale, Brown, and Princeton came to the line, and Princeton for the first time showed orange and black as their colors in public. Yale led at the start, and Prince ton, steering wildly, was last, but their bow soon recovered and began to display the skill attained in taking the windings of their canal at home ; at two miles Princeton was gaining and Brown was going to pieces ; they came even with Yale a quarter of a mile from the finish, and raced in bow and bow. On the final effort, Princeton went ahead and won by less than a third of a length. They had finished out of their course and Yale protested, but the race was allowed to Princeton.