The University race had to be postponed for two days because of the rough water, and was rowed on the morning of July 18. The victory of Yale with the Cook stroke in the previous year had a marked influence on the styles ; Cook was still stroking in the same way, and Harvard had a similar stroke, though they did not row it so well, and they had not increased the length as they decreased the rate ; the other crews, Columbia, Wesleyan, Dartmouth, Williams, Cornell, Trinity, and Princeton, all had professional coaches, Hank Ward being in charge of Columbia for the second year. Columbia, rowing forty, had a clear lead in the first mile, with Harvard second and Yale third, both rowing thirty-three ; the Harvard bow went over into Yale's water, and Yale, spurting hard, had to sheer as they passed Harvard ; then Harvard raised their stroke and steered into the Yale shell, taking away the rudder and losing part of an oar themselves ; Yale dropped out, but Har vard kept on. Columbia had the race with a two length lead on Wesleyan, who were lapped by Harvard ; back of them were Williams and Dart mouth, with Cornell, Trinity, and Princeton still farther behind. The Columbia crew was a very fast one, and their time, 16.44 is a record for a six in dead water.
Yale was very much disgruntled after this re gatta, and the feeling between Harvard and Yale was especially bitter ; Captain Cook wanted Yale to withdraw, claiming that there were too many crews in the races to make the test one of row ing ability ; the matter came to a head at the next meeting of the association, when Hamilton and Union asked for admission ; at first they were voted down, but after a long argument a majority for their admittance was obtained, though Yale voted against them and said that they would withdraw after the next regatta.
The regatta of 1875 was the greatest that has ever been held in this country, and certainly so many colleges have never since been seen on any course. There were no less than thirteen crews for the University race, — Cornell, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, Wesleyan, Amherst, Brown, Williams, Bowdoin, Hamilton, Union, and Prince ton, and the general interest throughout the coun try was enormous. College rowing was the rowing of the day, and the people in general had lost the old interest in the professional races ; a contem porary writes, " To-day the prospect of a race be tween university crews will call together, from all parts of the country, people who would never think of riding a mile to see the most exciting match ever rowed between professionals." The throng in Saratoga was tremendous ; for three days the railway had been unloading the specta tors, who, on the morning of July 14, crowded every nook from which the least view of the stretch could be had. It was a few moments after noon when the referee gave the word that started the thirteen sixes down their buoy-marked lanes ; Yale had been picked to win with the chance of a struggle with either Harvard or Co lumbia, but there was another crew in a novel paper shell who had trained themselves for the contest and who were held lightly — Cornell ; Cornell's rowing depended on this race ; they had but little money — not enough to get a profes sional coach, and they had, as yet, no graduates who knew much of rowing, but they did have a captain with full red blood. John Ostrom was a remarkable man of great physical strength and determination, but not greatly versed in rowing; he had devised a stroke in which a hard catch was the main feature, and he and his crew had worked as few crews ever worked, spurred on with the knowledge that they must win or give up their sport.
Harvard took the best start, with Cornell a lit tle back, but the difference between all the crews was hardly noticeable ; Cornell was seen to pass Williams and to lead the boats on her side of the course, and then Harvard shot out on the other, dropping Hamilton and Union. The race had
resolved itself into two divisions, with Harvard, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Columbia in the front rank, and Yale leading the second squad. Cor nell was rowing in the forties, while Harvard and Yale had a lower stroke, Yale at only thirty. And thus they kept on, Harvard leading and Columbia second, hard pressed by Cornell and Dartmouth. The struggle began as the two mile flags drew near ; Cornell came up even with Harvard, and Dartmouth and Columbia were but a few yards back, and on them came Brown and Yale, with Wesleyan gaining on both. Bowdoin began to tire, and fell back with Amherst, Will iams, Princeton, Hamilton, and Union. Before the two-mile mark was reached George Parmley, No. 4 in the Princeton shell, fainted into the arms of Van Lennep, putting the Tiger crew out of the race.
They were on the last mile, and Cornell had forged to the front ; Harvard was still second, but Columbia was coming up ; Dartmouth had fourth, while Wesleyan and Yale were fighting for fifth. Ostrom sent his men faster than they had ever gone, and the Cornell lead grew with every stroke ; Harvard was going to pieces ; Columbia had passed them, and they rowed for third with Dartmouth ; Wesleyan and Yale were bow and bow. Columbia was less than three lengths behind Cornell, and Captain Goodwin started a glorious spurt to catch them. But Cornell had strength; Columbia could not gain; and Harvard, revived, sought Columbia, having still a lead on Dartmouth. Cornell cut the line first nearly four lengths ahead of Columbia, whose bow was a bare four feet in front of Harvard's. The nose of the Dartmouth shell reached Harvard's rudder, and at their waist was Wesleyan, a half-dozen feet in front of Yale. The next crew, Amherst, finished four lengths behind Yale, and the others were strung out over a quarter of a mile.' On the previous day the Cornell Freshman six, coached only by their stroke, — John Lewis, another man of the Ostrom type, — had beaten Harvard, Brown, and Princeton, shaking off Harvard in the last quarter of a mile, and now, with the University race won, the happiness of Cornell was boundless ; the crew went into Sara toga on the shoulders of the crowd, and then all the colleges excepting two joined in a procession with the victors. When the news reached Ithaca, President White played the first tune on the chimes himself and ordered out the cannon.
In this general rejoicing Yale had no part ; they were deeply chagrined at their failure, com plete and without excuse, for not a foul had happened. Their only win had been in the single sculls, Julian Kennedy beating W. F. Weld of Harvard, the only other entry ; and they were strengthened in their determination to get out of the association before another regatta. Therefore in December Yale voted to withdraw from the Rowing Association of American Colleges, and asked Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton to join with them in forming a new organization. Colum bia and Princeton refused, but an agreement was made with Harvard to row an annual four-mile race in eight-oars with coxswains instead of the sixes. Yale gave as a reason that the great number of competitors in the former regattas made the racing unsatisfactory, but the real cause for their withdrawal was the dislike of being beaten by smaller colleges. The action of Yale was sharply criticised at the time, and, looking back, it seems to have been an unfortunate step that needlessly diverged the collegiate row ing interests and created two separate schools, exchanging few ideas and still less courtesy.