No. 1 was always highly esteemed by those who rowed in her.
No. 2 carried Eton at Henley Regatta from 1863 to 1870 or 1871.
No 3 was eulogised by Mr. T. Egan in ‘Bell’s Life,’ on the occasion of her début in the above-mentioned school match v. Eton. She retained a high reputation for several seasons, was once specially borrowed by Corpus (Oxon) during the summer eights, and was said by that crew to be a vast improvement on their own ship.
No 4 carried Oxford from 1878 to 1882 inclusive, losing only the match in 1879, in which year the crew and not the boat were to blame.
No. 5, after one or two trials, was in 1883 found to be faster than No. 4 (which was then getting old!), and in her the Oxonians won a rather unexpected victory; odds of 3 to 1 being laid against them.
In addition to these builds, the dimensions recorded by the well-known authority ‘Argonaut,’ in his standard work on ‘Boat Racing,’ are here given. That writer does not commit himself to saying that they are the best, but simply states that they are the ‘average dimensions’ of modern racing boats. Unfortunately, the writer cannot trace the dimensions of the celebrated ‘Chester’ boat, Mat Taylor’s first keelless chef-d’œuvre, but he recollects that her length was only 54 feet; and her stretchers were built into her and were fixed.
The cost of a racing eight, with all fittings, is about 55l. Some builders will build at as low a price as 50l., especially for a crack crew, or for an important race, because the notoriety of the vessel, if successful, naturally acts as an advertisement. A four-oar costs 35l. to 40l.; a pair-oar 20l. to 25l.; and a sculling boat 12l. We have known some builders ask 15l. for a sculling boat. On the whole, racing boats are from eight to ten per cent. cheaper nowadays than they were a quarter of a century ago. Although the introduction of sliding seats necessarily adds to the expense of making them, competition seems to have brought down the prices somewhat.
’Argonaut’s’ Dimensions of Modern Boats.
| Particulars | Racing Eight | Racing Fours | Pair Oars | Sculling Boats | |||||||||||||
| With Cox. | Without Cox. | ||||||||||||||||
| ft. | in. | ft. | in. | ft. | in. | ft. | in. | ft. | in. | ||||||||
| Length of boat | 58 | 6 | 41 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 34 | 4 | 30 | 0 | |||||||
| Breadth (over all) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3⁄8 | 1 | 4 | [10] | |||||
| Depth, | amidships | 1 | 1 | 1⁄2 | 1 | 0 | 1⁄2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1⁄2 | 0 | 8 | 1⁄2 | ||
| „ | stem | 0 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 1⁄4 | 0 | 7 | 1⁄2 | 0 | 4 | 1⁄4 | 0 | 3 | 1⁄2 | ||
| „ | stern | 0 | 7 | 1⁄4 | 0 | 6 | 3⁄4 | 0 | 6 | 1⁄2 | 0 | 3 | 3⁄4 | 0 | 2 | 3⁄4 | |
| Distance from seat to thowl[11] | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1⁄2 | 0 | 4 | ||||||
| Height of work from level of slide | 0 | 7 | 3⁄4 | 0 | 7 | 3⁄4 | 0 | 7 | 3⁄4 | 0 | 7 | 1⁄2 | 0 | 7 | 1⁄2 | ||
| Length of slide | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 1⁄2 | ||||||
| Length of amidship oars | { | 12 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 6 | — | — | ||||||||
| Buttoned at | 3 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 5 | 1⁄2 | — | — | |||||||
| Length of bow and stroke oars | { | 12 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 12 | 3 | — | |||||||
| Buttoned at | 3 | 4 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 4 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 4 | 1⁄2 | 3 | 4 | — | |||||
| Length of sculls | { | — | — | — | — | { | 10 | 0 | |||||||||
| Buttoned at | — | — | — | — | 2 | 8 | |||||||||||
| Space between cox.’s thwart and stroke’s stretcher (cox.’s thwart 18 inches deep) | } | 1 | 8 | 1 | 8 | — | — | — | |||||||||
[10] Breadth on boat, 111⁄4 inches.