During the ’nineties no fewer than 1,554 cadets entered, which, together with 618 in the next three years, makes a total of 2,172 in the thirteen years under consideration in this chapter. On this head some details will be found in the concluding chapter.
CHAPTER VIII.
“BRITANNIA” GAMES.
Scanty Early Records—Practice v. Precept—Officers v. Cadets—Presumptuous Juniors—A Close Match—Football—Penalty of Punning—A Decisive Victory—A Demon Bowler—Two Curious Innings—Sports and Regatta—The Rushworth Seal—The Editor is Sarcastic—His Feelings are Soured—An Excited Timekeeper—Why Williams Didn’t Win—The Pro’s Average—Teignbridge Victorious and Vanquished—W. G.’s Eleven—Some Fatherly Advice—The Editor is Appeased—A Close Sculling Match—Foreign Football Matches—A Dry Cricket Season—The Editor and the Beagles—Lord Harris’s Maxims—The Bold Sir Bedivel—Big Third Eleven Scores—Seventeen Years’ Athletics—Huddart Shows the Way—The Editor on “Stodge”—A Hot Run for the “Footmen”—Youthful Boxers—Glasgow to the Rescue—An Afternoon’s Cricket—Splendid Playing Fields—And Plenty of Cricket—Teignbridge’s Small Score—Britannia Wins All Round—Third Eleven Makes a Record—A Question of Time—Keep Your Ground Clock Right—Remarkable Results of the Season—Money Well Spent.
IN this chapter will be included not only cricket and football, but some account of regattas, athletic sports, etc.
Unfortunately, records are not available very far back, as a regular account is only to be obtained from the Britannia Magazine, which was started in 1884. There were cricket matches inserted in the local papers, as referred to in the opening article in the magazine, in which also it is hinted that they were not always very accurate.
That the Britannia boys and their officers have for many years been very keen about games is, however, an undoubted fact; and the formation and subsequent improvement of the playing fields at Dartmouth has afforded them every opportunity for indulging their taste in this respect. Portland was, of course, a wretched place all round, for games or any other purpose: you might arrange a football match, and find that the weather did not admit of landing, nor were prohibitory gales by any means unknown even in summer.
Since those days, also, there has been a great deal more attention paid to these matters in all schools, except perhaps in the chief public schools, where they have always been pursued with some system.
In 1874, as has been seen, the cadets’ professional was called before the Admiralty committee to give his views as to the physique and capabilities of the cadets at cricket, and it was there stated that they took a great interest in the game, and were frequently victorious against school elevens of older boys.
In those matches, also, in which they play “full strength,” with the “pro.” and officers, there appear invariably to have been some among the latter who were exceptionally good, sometimes nearly the whole eleven being made up of them. It may be that a certain prowess in athletics is taken into account at the Admiralty among the qualifications of a lieutenant or instructor for appointment to the Britannia; it is certainly worth considering, and should turn the scale between two officers, cæteris paribus. Boys are all subject to seasons of slackness, and do not moreover always realise the value of games in promoting the mens sana in corpore sano, and the importance of the advice and co-operation of their superiors in these matters can scarcely be overrated. A little practice is worth a ton of precept, and when the lads find that the lieutenant who inspects them at divisions, the instructor who teaches them spherical trigonometry, the doctor who physics them in the sick bay, or the paymaster who sends in the account to their parents are well able to take a bat and show them how to play a fast “yorker,” or bowl them with a “break-back” on occasions, there is sure to be a far keener spirit about cricket than if they were left to themselves.