From time immemorial there was a ten-oar and several eight and six-oared
boats, with regular crews, captains and steerers. In the early state of
things a waterman always rowed stroke and drilled or coached the crew,
and this practice was continued with some of the eights till 1828, and
after that the captain of each crew rowed the stroke oar. The crews had
to subscribe for the waterman's pay, his beer, and clothes. The best
remembered watermen were Jack Hall, 'Paddle' Brads, Piper, Jack
Haverley, Tom Cannon and Fish. There were upper boats manned by sixth
and fifth form boys, and lower boats originally with six oars for lower
boys. A lower boy could not get into the upper boats however well he
might row. From more recent times no lower boy can get into the 'boats'
at all, but must content himself with his own lock-up skiff, gig, or
outrigger. We should explain here that a lock-up means a boat which a
boy, for himself or jointly with a friend, hires for the summer half and
keeps exclusively. The boat-builders also allow other boats (not
lock-ups) to be used indiscriminately on payment of a less sum, which
are called 'chance boats.' Boys in the 'boats' generally also have a
lock-up or outrigger of their own, or jointly with others.
The ten-oar was always called the 'Monarch,' and is the head boat in all
processions. The captain of the boats rows stroke of the 'Monarch,' and
until 1830 the second captain rowed nine. After that date the second
captain became captain of the second boat. The boats themselves bore
certain names. In the early lists (none exist earlier than 1824) the
'Britannia' was the second boat, and in that year there were five upper
boats, 'Hibernia,' 'Etonian,' and 'Nelson' being the other three. And
the lower boats with six oars were the 'Defiance,' 'Rivals,' and
'Victory.' The following year there were only three upper boats, which
has remained the custom till this day, except in 1832, when there was a
fourth upper boat called the 'Adelaide.' The 'Victory' has always been
the second boat since 1834. And the favourite names of other boats whose
places have changed in different years are the 'Rivals,' 'Prince of
Wales,' 'Trafalgar,' 'Prince George,' 'Thetis,' and 'Dreadnought.' There
has never been any difficulty in getting crews for the one ten-oar and
seven eight-oared boats, and in fact the names put down usually have
exceeded the number of vacancies. In 1869 an additional boat was put on
in consequence of the collegers being allowed to join, and in 1877 the
'Alexandra' was added to the list owing to the increased number of
entries. Before 1869 the collegers had fours and sometimes an eight to
themselves, but did not join the procession of the boats; and as they
did not belong to the oppidan 'boats' they could not row in the eight of
the school.[14] But they rowed some successful matches against
University men on several occasions. There was never any racing between
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