The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-12

the boat, and by 1857 iron-keeled outiggers
were only lumber In boatyards. Prior to
this the round leather-loomed car had
begun to displace the old timber-loomed
oar with its knob for a button.
This improvement also came from the
Tyne, and was first used for SOULS only.
They we're known at the time. the fifties. as
Newcastle SOULS. The evolution OF the
racing boat seems practically to have been
completed with Mat Taylor's production.
since that day as TO the most correct length.
whether IS feet or 63 feet or intermediate.
Oxford used a short boat In 1901 and 1900.
and Cambridge have tried q fairly PROM
Using boat OF a similar class this year.
though they have not stuck to her. As to
lines, there have been periodical changes
OF view as to the locus Of the greatest beam
on the one hand, or as 10 the extent TO
which the keel should be rockered, II at all.
But these variations are only specific; they
do not alter the genus OF the Mat Taylor
invention. The, sliding seat, while I'M
doubtedly 1t adds greatly TO pace, is prac-
tically independent Of build.
1T is a fitting which might have been
adapted TO the earliest inrigged boat u the
idea had struck any one in those days.
II IL reputed TO be an American invention,
but Tyne introduction to British rowing,
Argonaut, however, records that local
sculler, a Mr., r. o. Birch, used a slide at
Kings Lynn regatta in 1870, Prior to this,
his seat, and he CREASED the seat for the
purpose; and Mr.. Faucus, the Tyne sculler,
who won Diamonds and Wingfield SOULS
In 1871, owed his victory to his knack OF
sliding on his seat for squirt. Lancaster
four also slid on the seat in 1870; But until
Taylor's four won a match on sliding seats
on the Tyne In the fall Of 1871, and the
London Rowing Club took up the novelty
for their matches against Ataanta, New
York. in June, 1872. the amateur world -.
opened their eyes, and by 1873 every one
was sliding. tyros and all
In oars there has been no serious evolu.
ton since the sos. when the leathered
loom came in. There have been varieties
in lengths; twelve feet six inches was rcE,u-
lation for an eight In fxed-seat days. The
inboard had to be- heightened to engineer
with the slide. and the outboard length
has been somewhat reduced and the blade
broadened since that time: The old in
four inches wide. In the later sos
some Henley blades were as broad as seven
inches. But these minor changes in oars
are more the outcome OF varying the ores
Of oarsmen or Of coaches than OF any actual
development Of science. and the like may
be said Of the abolition OF coxswains for
pairs in the sos and for fours toward
the '7Os. Either OF these improve
ments might have occurred independently
Of outriggers or no-keels, In rowlocks
utre nave Ut,n eoiifc Hiufoi ci'o"Bo.
extra stays to the irons to bear the extra
power which the slide confers: also expert
ments with swivel rowlocks. and, latest OF
all, with Mr.. W. Fletcher's invention OF
semi-swivel. with stationary sill and swing
"Somehow swives do not find much favor
at the universities. probably because, with
a large proportion OF newly-taught oars
In each crew, possessed OF not too much
Workmanship. II IL so much harder TO teach
q clean feather with swivels than with hxed
rowlocks, and feather under water detracts
from any gain otherwise attained in the re.
oovery with the swivel. The fittings OF
fins and Of rudders deepened with metal
addenda are comparatively modern in
appliance. -
of a craze for rockered keels, which cause
boat TO fetch up more to beam wind and
also give NO little draught TO fiush rudder
that a coxswain In powerless unless some
extra grip OF the water il given TO his rud-
der blade. We can hardly reckon these
appliances as developments, but rather as
accommodation TO the exigencies OF vari-
able fashions and build. The instructive
features Of this brief resume OF builds seems
10 be that we practically have not gone
ahead In build for forty-seven years. reck-
oning slides and swivels az fittings and not
a. build. Mat Taylor's imitators have been
unable TO improve upon him; nay. In the
now ahoat which can hold way between the
strokes In the manner In which the old Chess
ter boat travelled. or like the Eton boat that
did victorious duty for about decade for
the school In the 'oOs. Mat Taylor's lines
seem TO be lost. like the arts Of making
Roman cement or Egyptian flexible glass.
and we are left lsms9ting the vanished hand