The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-04-21

teresting. but no sermon wa, delivered.
The English Universities Boat Race
Tho Fastest Timo ON Record.
When the cable brought in the word few
days ago that the winners in the English Uni
versiies' boat race had rowed the four miles
and three furlongs, from Putney to Mortlake,
in twenty minutes and thirty-fve Sec
onds, there was dissenting report
which, though not accepted at the time, we
still felt strongly inclined to believe and which
made the time 19m. 37s., or about one minute
less, and, moreover, by far the fastest time on
record; and now our newspaper exchanges
from London assure us Of the correctness of
our surmise The Pail Mall Gazette, for in
stance, referring to the subject, says:-'The
time, as taken by Benson's chronograph, was
as follows: Start Oh. 32m. 26s; arrival, Oh.
52m. as. duration of race 19m. $685." While
the strong tide contributed noticeably towards
this great pace, yet the burden Of the credit
is given to the s'sliding seats;" for neither
former years. These seats are simply pieces
Of board-say q foot square-mounted on
small wheels, which travel on rails running
fore and aft on the thwart or stationary seat
itself, the thwart being made wider than usual
When the rover, sitting on one of them,
reaches out to take his stroke instead of
only getting his hands as far as his
feet, this device enables him to get
them six or eight inches farther, and, as the
outer end Of his oar travels through some
three times as long ON arc as the inner end or
handle, the gain in reach thus obtainedis very
decided, and right in the very part of the
stroke where work proves most eAective-the
beginning A little reflection, too will show
that if the moment the oar is dipped into the
water great force is applied to its handle-in
other words, if the rover sscatches the begin
ning'-the blade, instead of slivering through
the water, will apparently solidify it, and so
find o firm fulcrum, instead of almost none at
all. Moreover, this continuance enables one
to press harder with his feet against his foot
board, trying very severely the extensor
muscles of the legs, and he who has disci-
plined these muscles will be heartily glad of it
when he comes to row an important race. A
contemporary credits the late Walter Brown
with the invention Of this apparatus, but,
though he may, perhaps, have made the first
one the principle was in use by the Renforth
crew when Brown was in England in 1869,
only at that time each seat was made about
eighteen inches long, and. it being well
creased, the thickly -trousered oarsman slid
back and forth on it as he rowed, and not it
under him.
In thelight of the very remarkably increased
interest in rowing this year among our prin-
cipal institutions Of learning-twelve Of them,
we understand, having resolved to take part
in the great struggle of the coming 18th of
July, against but six last year and fewer yet at
any time before-anything which will aid the
rover towards making and holding more
rapid pace over the required distance will be
seen to be real assistance, not to him only but
to the fair name Of his alma Mater, and SO
worthy Of the most assiduous attention; and
certainly if sliding seats or any allowable con-
trivance could enable both Cambridge and Ok
ford to cut down their time by q whole minute
and leave the winners the fastest and the osers
the next fastest crew on record, he who ex-
amines the make Of the inside Of the twelve
competing boats of this same 18th Of July will
be very sure-if we know what Yankee enter
prise means-to find q goodly number Of these
same inventions, in short no boat without
them; for by seconds and not by minutes
are these great contests, like many others, won;
and if six hardy men can, by whole Winters
work. for instance, improve so much that they
can row three miles in minute, or even
large part of q minute, less than they took the
year before, it needs no argument to show
that they will be well repaid for their efforts.
Could Harvard, for instance, in the Winter o
year ago have SO worked that her last Sum-
Of a minute, she would not have had her pride
touched to the quick by seeing Mr.. Beecher's
friends from Amherst creep past her and cross
the line two or three seconds ahead, and her
own great name thus Swallowed by college
but little known; or, instead Of so working
could she have but substituted these same
sliding seats, if they have the virtue they seem
to, her work would have been easy; and had
she had them four Summers ago, when she
introduced her name to every hearthstone in
England, she might have gone over all
this same notorious Putney to Morthke
course ahead Of her renowned rival, instead
Of over only half of it. Let us try, then, the
sliding seats and the movable rowlock, gotten
up by o Boston mechanic, and every other
device which will keep the boat-builders on
the alert and bring us more aids yet to getting
over the water swiftly. When the four-mile
tide is left out of the question, and actual and
accurate comparison has shown the exact diff