Amateurs began to take up rowing early in the present century as a sport; and these contests seem to have fostered the idea of match-making among watermen. The title of a Champion of the Thames seems first to have been held by one R. Campbell, who beat C. Williams, another waterman, in a match on September 9, 1831, and also beat R. Coombes in a match the date of which is doubtful, but it was in heavy boats. Campbell was a powerful and heavy man, while Coombes weighed less that ten stone. Coombes turned the tables on Campbell a few years later (in 1846), and for some years Coombes was held to be invincible. In those times London watermen could, at scratch, man an eight to hold or even beat the best trained crew of amateurs. The original waterman's wherry was a vehicle of conveyance; it was of much greater size than would be required to carry one man alone in a sheer contest for speed, but so soon as 'racing' came into vogue among watermen, lighter craft were built for matches, and were called 'wager' boats. The hull of the wherry was constructed as narrow as possible, and the sides flared out just at the greatest beam, so as to allow of sufficient width to carry the rowlocks with the requisite leverage for the sculls. This detail has already been treated in Chapter XI. under the head of 'boat building.' Coombes had been beaten by Campbell in old-fashioned wherries, such as could be used for the business of conveying passengers. When he in turn defeated Campbell both men used 'wager boats.' The time came when years told on Coombes, and he had to yield to his own pupil Cole. Coombes was not convinced by his defeat, and made another match, but Cole this time won with greater ease. They rowed in 'outriggers' on these occasions. Cole in turn succumbed to Messenger of Teddington in 1855, and two years later Harry Kelley, the best waterman the Thames ever produced, either as an oarsman or as a judge of rowing, beat Messenger. Up to this time London watermen had been considered invincible at sculling. Harry Clasper had produced four-oar crews from the Tyne to oppose Coombes and his four, but no Tyne sculler had dared to lay claim to the Championship. However, in 1859 Robert Chambers was matched with Kelley, and to the horror of the Thames men their favourite was beaten, and with considerable ease. The Tyne man was the bigger, and had a very long sweep with his sculls; on that day he showed to great advantage, the more so because Kelley was not sculling up to his best form. Defeated men can always suggest excuses for failure, and Kelley, for years after that race, averred that he had not been beaten on his merits; he had been kept waiting a long time at the post, and was cold and stiff at the start. In those days, whether in University matches or in public sculling races, the lead was a matter of special importance. In the first place the old code of rules were in force, which enabled a leading