The Washington times., 1907-06-02

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route, and doing the short races
p on the side. Not only that, but
; the navy eight IS so far ahead of
the other crews in rounding into
condition for a grueling contest
that those familiar with its meth |
DDS are backing it heavily to win |
the intercollegiate championship
| on the Hudson on June &c.
entering class. whom we u,o,,I5 coll
freshmen, but whom tfev call .sT5Ie,,,s, .,
This group enters in the early summer
and for the three months the tbree
other classes are off on the annual
summer cruise they are drilled IN t;,reo
SUBJECTS One is French. the language
'he diplomats and governments.
""ich concerns us not at all IN this
sOory' another is swimming. and the
Ohlru Is seamanship-fundame sea
rowing. anu
The soverest test comes in the sbana
OF rowing Government cutters. uyida
deep, and heavy boats Of ten oars eacb
ana IN them. upon a stationary seat
gripping an oar which he must feather
sits the future admiral who must verify
learn TO paddle his own canoe bafors
INDUCING in the sciences which will
make him master of all sea crafts
Best of All Training.
! Ihere he sits for many hours each
uay OF that first summer, and there
AFTER Tor two years for many hours
| each week you will find him. milling
MS oar and building UP the muscles
mat are so serviceabIe in rowing one
can understand from the above that tais
training OF two years in the Govern
ment cutters has much to do with tba
speed Of the Annapolis crews. this row
ing and the physical stamina gained
from the regular systematic exercises
That follow each day Of the four wears
From them the midshipman derives a
constitution which well fits him for the
career he is 10 follow after graduation
and for the strenuous work that A
varsity oaTsman has before him, should
he be so fortunate as 10 ever mako
that crew.
Ills training in those galleys, for such
they have been called, as a preliminary
for eight-Oared shell rowing, Is not To
be surpassed by the schooling an
Englishman receives by rowing in a
shell from youth up for that sort Of
racing, and when be makes his crew no I
harder. healthier stronger and more |
potent young man is to be found. He
takes to his rowing after the manner of /
duck 70 water and a small matter 4
like four-mile varsity college race is |
not TO be trembled at by him, not half /
as much as il is by the less fit col /
legian from one Of the six institutions /
who will row against him on June %.
Annapolis Rowing History.
The tale Of rowing at Annapolis Is an
one from its very beginning.
following Immediately the civil war.
when IL was launched by Admiral D. D.
Porter. down through many years with
William Blake. the former Harvard
oarsman and splendid coach. as its In
structor until IL died out for lack Of
the always necessary incentive in sport
-competitiOn-to the time when Win
ston Churchill, the author. was a mid
shipman there IN the early COS, a period
during which It was reborn and placed
upon its present firm footing.
From the earliest stage Of its history ,
here has been a gradual advancement in
Is class until today II ranks among the ,
eaders, for has not Annapolis just whip ,
bed Columbia and Georgetown? This ,
crew which Annapolis trounced
n a twO-mile race had hardly cooled
~ from the whipping It had admins
cred 10 Harvard. one week previously. G
he Harvard eight which with few ex- p
'eptions was the same one that had a
whipped Yale and rowed Cambridge in !,
England year ago. =
secretly Prepared for Four Miles. o
Many sceptical persons still claim that I
annapolis will be unable to defeat Co q
lmbia in the big race this season, ar r
uing her eight, although fast for two a
niles. Will not last for the four miles. f
ecause the men who fill her boat are q
Dung. averaging but twenty years { d
his seems hardly possible, for it is a a
nown fact though not a public one. n
nat the Navy crew has been training all c
eason for the four-mile distance by a
owing from twelve 10 fourteen miles W
ally, and when she reaches Poughkeep- y,
e Will be in better shape for the longer g
pin than any crew when it arrives-a -
actor which has previously bad much
} do with Cornells success.
At the close Of the civil war the Naval .
cademy took up rowing, encouraged by e
drtral d. d. Porter. who recognized ~
he natural advantages Annapolis oi
fered FOR the sport and believed that II
he should follow this branch of ath- ~
tics, as il was more particularly suited "a
r ner than any other. Interclass races u
ere held in gigs and four and six W
.red shells. but it was not until 1870 lis
at an outside crew was raced That ar
ar, William Blake. the former Har- IN
lrd oar, coached them and a race was TO
ranged with the Quaker City four. ci'
Philadelphia. which Coulter trained. PC
c famous professional Of those days. 10
D one expected Annapolis 70 do any af
ing, but Blakie's coaching won the 5 Sl'
y. ~,
,vived by Winston Churchill. ae
this made rowing popular. ~,
{ II soon died out. In 1880 a revival "
Is on hand. and that season a race l
IS held in fours with the University of to
crew, the first collegiate Pc
1test Annapolis ever had. Pennsyl- CO.
MIA won, but rowing was practically rec