The want of time and catch in the Harvard stroke was very noticeable at Barnes's Bridge, and here the same immense crowds were gathered as at the bridge at Hammersmith, and now the Oxford boat being positively a length and a half ahead, and no mistake, the cries and shouts were most appalling. Past the green fields in the Duke of Devonshire's meadows a large crowd was gathered, who hailed the appearance of the Oxford crew with great and significant pleasure.
The race was now lost, virtually. Harvard was out of time—knocked up—and the men in her boat were laboring like oxen in chains. The morale of the Harvard crew was gone a mile below Barnes's Bridge, when Loring's oar hung loose for the first time, and nothing human could now give old Massachusetts a victory. It was a gallant struggle, too, and nobly waged. Passing the "White Cottage" and the "White Hart" in the race for the Ship Tavern at Mortlake, the Harvard crew, in the last quarter of a mile, put on a desperate spurt and rowing for a minute and a half at 44 strokes, they gained ground on Oxford, whose crew seemed as fresh as when they began.
BEATEN BY EIGHT SECONDS.
Now is the last desperate struggle. Pull, Harvard; you cannot hope to win. Pull, Harvard, and pluck the sting from defeat! Both crews go at it for a minute, and Loring's last spark of fire is given to drive his boat through the water. There is a shout from the Ship Tavern, where the American flag is displayed. Oxford comes by with that terrible vengeance stroke, the terror of many a gallant Cantab oarsman. There is a shout which splits the clouds almost, a report of a gun, and Oxford has struck the tow line, a boat and a half's length ahead, (not three lengths ahead as was reported,) the race is lost and won, by about 65 feet, and the most gallant display ever seen on the Thames is over, and the dark blue swarms go home triumphant at heart. Bridges, river bank, and church steeple are deserted, as the Oxford crew paddle their boat along side of the Harvard crew, and, raising their hands in air, give the defeated oarsmen a hearty English cheer and shake hands with them, and the Harvard boys cheer back, and Charles Reade, who stands on the deck of the steamer Lotus, lifts his straw hat in respect to Loring, who smiles back sadly at him, and all is over. The children's children of those two crews will yet tell of that day's struggle, which for one hour served to call back the Homeric days of Greece.
The distance pulled by the Harvard and Oxford crews was four miles and three furlongs, without any turning at a stake boat. The day was a very warm one, the thermometer being at 87° Fahrenheit—in the shade.
The names and weight of the crews were as follows:
| OXFORD UNIVERSITY. | HARVARD UNIVERSITY. | ||||||||
| 1. | Darbishire, (stroke) | 160 lbs. | 1. | Loring, (stroke) | 154 lbs. | ||||
| 2. | Yarborough, | 170 " | 2. | Simmonds, | 170 " | ||||
| 3. | Tinne, | 192 " | 3. | Lyman, | 155 " | ||||
| 4. | Willan, (bow) | 166 " | 4. | Fay, (bow) | 155 " | ||||
| Hall, coxswain, | 100 " | Burnham, coxswain, | 112 " | ||||||
| ——— | ——— | ||||||||
| 788 | 746 | ||||||||
The time occupied by both crews in pulling the race was as follows:
| Oxford, | 22 minutes | 20 seconds. |
| Harvard, | 22 " | 26 " |