The eight are permitted during training below bridge at Datchet. Of the races at the school in old times, upper sixes was the great event. It was rowed from Brocas up to Surly and back before the lock was made, and in after times round Rushes. All races were rowed round a turning point, and there was more or less bumping. There were no rules of racing then, and bumping or jostling, knocking off a rudder, and foul play of any kind was part of the fun; the only object was to get in first anyhow. There was a match in 1817 between a four of Mr. Carter’s house and four watermen which caused great excitement, and was unexpectedly won by the boys. Two sides of college, and dames and tutors, were annual events, but were done away with in 1870. Tutors had won thirteen, and dames the same number of races. There used to be an annual punting race, but punting was forbidden after 1851. One of the masters used to give a prize for tub-sculling, in which about 100 or more started and afforded great amusement. This was before outrigged sculling and pair-oared boats were much used, and since they became fashionable there have been junior pairs and junior sculling. House fours as a regular institution was begun in 1857, when the Challenge cup was procured by means of a school subscription. In 1876 trial eights were first rowed, and the race took place in the Easter half. There are challenge prizes for the house fours and for the sculling and pulling, as the pair-oar outrigger race is called. The number of races had to be curtailed owing to the time taken to train the eight for Henley. The four and eight-oared races start from Rushes, and are rowed down stream; total distance 1 mile 6 furlongs. The pulling and sculling races start from Brocas and go round a ryepack at Rushes and back, a distance of 3 miles 4 furlongs. The winning point is always Windsor Bridge. The Brocas is the name given to the field between the railway and the boathouses, and is so called from the family of Brocas, who used to own the property. The times vary so much with the state of the river that little comparison can be made between the merits of individual oarsmen or scullers. It takes about 71⁄2 minutes for an eight to row down from Rushes with a fair stream, and about 8 minutes 20 seconds for a four. A good sculler can get round Rushes and back in about 20 to 21 minutes. Pair-oared rowing without coxswains was introduced in 1863, and a good pair now wins in 19 to 20 minutes. Fours still continue to carry coxswains.
The boats themselves that are used are very different now from what they were forty years ago. Up to 1839 they were still built of oak (a very heavy wood), and measured fifty-two feet in length and were painted all over. The first outriggers used in the University boat race in 1846 were built in streaks, and it was not until 1857 that both University crews rowed in the present sort of boats with smooth skins made of mahogany without keels and with round loomed oars. The first time an outrigger was used at Eton was in 1852, and until 1860 the ‘Victory’ was the only one in regular use: all the other eights and fours were built with streaks and had rowlocks in the gunwale, with a half-outrigger for stroke and bow. The ten-oar had half-outriggers in that year, but soon afterwards all the eights became fully outrigged. Sliding seats were first used about 1874. The builders were Mr. Searle, Tolliday, and Goodman. Perkins, better known for many years by the sobriquet of ‘Sambo,’ has now become owner of Mr. Searle’s premises.
In the old-fashioned boats rowing was to a certain extent done in an old-fashioned style. The boats went steadily along without any spring to the first touch of the oars in the water. The stroke was rapid forward, but became a slow drag from the first dash of the oar into the water till recovered. Now the boat leaps to the catch, whereas when the first note was sounded by a University oarsman to ‘catch the beginning,’ the Eton boy in the old heavy boat found it impossible to respond. But Eton boys knew what was meant by Mr. Warre when they got the celebrated Mat Taylor boat in 1860, and soon learned the new style. The stroke became quicker, the recovery sharp, and every nerve was strained to cover the blade of the oar at the first touch in the water when the whole pull had to be made. From the time when the watermen used to coach and row, no regular coaching had been done by anyone but the captains. A neat and traditional style was handed down with all the essential points of good oarsmanship. But the art of propelling the Mat Taylor, and boats afterwards used of the same sort of type, was taught by Mr. Warre.
We have alluded to the doubts at first in the minds of old Etonians about the eight going to Henley, and the great changes effected at that time. No one now will say that it was anything but unmixed good for the school. The convivial entertainments of Check nights and Oppidan dinners had already become institutions of a past age. Drinking and smoking had died out, and all that was wanted to stir the boys from lounging about in their skiffs under willow bushes and back streams was the excitement of a great annual race and the effort to qualify for a place in the eight. There have almost always been Eton men in the University crews, and since 1861 there have sometimes been as many as five in one crew, and certainly as many, if not more, in every ‘Varsity’ race. Eton has always had its full share of the Presidentships. Third Trinity, Cambridge, has never ceased to hold its own in a high position on the Cam, and we have never heard a word of any deterioration, and much the other way, of the moral effect on the boys of being coached during their training. The special advantage of having the river as a recreation place in addition to the playing fields puts Eton to the front in athletics among our public schools; and the use of varieties of boats from early life, under all sorts of difficulties, on a rapid stream, and having to keep his proper side to avoid other craft, makes the ‘Wet bob’ a first class waterman. Floreat Etona.
Captains of the Boats and Notable Events.
| Year | Captain of the Boats | Notable Events |
| 1812 | G. Simson | — |
| 1814 | R. Wyatt | — |
| 1815 | T. Hill | — |
| 1816 | Bridgeman Simpson | — |
| 1816 | M. Bligh | — |
| 1817 | J. O. Secher | — |
| 1818 | J. H. Tuckfield | — |
| 1819 | R. Tuckfield | — |
| 1820 | Lord Dunlo | — |
| 1821 | M. Ashley | — |
| 1822 | J. A. Kinglake | — |
| 1823 | P. J. Nugent | — |
| 1824 | W. Carew | — |
| 1825 | A. Leith | — |
| 1825 | M. Clifford | — |
| 1826 | T. Staniforth | — |
| 1827 | T. H. Taunton | — |
| 1828 | T. Edwardes-Moss | — |
| 1829 | Lord Alford | Beat Westminster |
| 1830 | G. H. Ackers | — |
| 1831 | C. M. Roupell | Beat Westminster; beaten by Leander |
| 1832 | E. Moore | — |
| 1833 | G. Arkwright | — |
| 1834 | J. Quicke | — |
| 1835 | E. Stanley | — |
| 1836 | E. Fellowes | Beat Westminster |
| 1837 | W. J. Garnett | Beaten by Westminster |
| 1838 | P. J. Croft | — |
| 1839 | W. C. Rayer | — |
| 1840 | W. R. Harris-Arundell | Beat Old Etonians, and an Oxford Etonian Club |
| 1841 | W. R. Harris-Arundell | Beat Cambridge Subscription Room |
| 1842 | F. J. Richards | Beaten by Westminster |
| 1843 | F. E. Tuke | Beat Westminster |
| 1844 | W. W. Codrington | — |
| 1845 | H. A. F. Luttrell | Beaten by Westminster |
| 1846 | G. F. Luttrell | Beaten by Westminster |
| 1847 | C. H. Miller | Beat Westminster; beaten by Thames in Putney Regatta |
| 1848 | H. H. Tremayne | — |
| 1849 | R. B. H. Blundell | — |
| 1850 | G. M. Robertson | Beat scratch Cambridge crew; beaten by Oxford |
| 1851 | J. B. H. Blundell | — |
| 1852 | C. H. R. Trefusis | Beaten by an Oxford crew |
| 1853 | J. J. Harding | — |
| 1854 | J. C. Moore | Beat a scratch Oxford crew |
| 1855 | R. L. Lloyd | Beaten by a Cambridge crew and by Balliol |
| 1856 | G. S. F. Lane-Fox | Beat an Oxford and Cambridge mixed crew by a foul, and beaten by an Oxford eight |
| 1857 | T. Baring | Beaten by an Oxford eight |
| 1858 | Mr. Lawless[15] | Beat Radley at Henley |
| 1859 | C. A. Wynne | — |
| 1860 | R. H. Blake Humfrey[16] | Beat Westminster |
| 1861 | R. H. Blake Humfrey | Beat Westminster and Radley; beaten by Trinity College, Cambridge |
| 1862 | C. B. Lawes | Beat Westminster and Radley; beaten by University College at Henley |
| 1863 | W. R. Griffiths | Beat Trinity Hall, Brasenose, and Radley; beaten by University College at Henley |
| 1864 | S. C. Cockran | Beat Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and Radley, and won Ladies’ Plate at Henley |
| 1865 | J. Mossop | — |
| 1866 | E. Hall | Won Ladies’ Plate against Black Prince, Cambridge |
| 1867 | W. D. Benson | Won Ladies’ Plate against Radley |
| 1868 | J. M’Clintock-Bunbury | Won Ladies’ Plate against University College and Pembroke, Oxford |
| 1869 | T. Edwardes-Moss | Won Ladies’ Plate against Lady Margaret, Cambridge |
| 1870 | F. A. Currey | Won Ladies’ Plate against Dublin Trinity College |
| 1871 | F. C. Ricardo | Won heats of Grand Challenge and of Ladies’ Plate |
| 1872 | E. R. S. Bloxsome | — |
| 1873 | T. Edwardes-Moss | Won first heat of Grand Challenge against Balliol |
| 1874 | T. Edwardes-Moss | Won second heat of Grand Challenge against First Trinity, Cambridge, and B.N.C., Oxford |
| 1875 | A. J. Mulholland | Beaten by Dublin in Ladies’ Plate |
| 1876 | G. Cunard | Beaten by Caius College, Cambridge, in Ladies’ Plate |
| 1876 | S. Sandbach | — |
| 1877 | M. F. G. Wilson | Beat Cheltenham, but beaten by Jesus College for Ladies’ Plate |
| 1878 | G. Grenville-Grey | Won second heat against Cheltenham; beaten by Jesus College in final for Ladies’ Plate |
| 1879 | L. R. West | Won second heat against Hertford College; beaten by Lady Margaret in final for Ladies’ Plate |
| 1880 | G. C. Bourne | Won first heat, beaten by Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in final for Ladies’ Plate |
| 1881 | G. C. Bourne | — |
| 1882 | F. E. Churchill | Won Ladies’ Plate, after interval of twelve years |
| 1883 | H. S. Close | Won first heat Ladies’ Plate; lost with broken stretcher in final |
| 1884 | H. McLean | Won Ladies’ Plate |
| 1885 | C. Barclay | Won Ladies’ Plate |
| 1886 | C. T. Barclay | Beaten by Pembroke College in final for Ladies’ Plate |
| 1887 | Lord Ampthill | Beaten by Second Trinity Hall in final for Ladies’ Plate |
| 1888 | Lord Ampthill | — |
[15] Now Lord Gloncurry.
[16] Changed his name to Mason.