THE BIRTH OF CLASSICAL TECHNIQUE The following year, “he announced that the Brasenose crew in the Stewards’ would row without a cox, with himself at No. 3 steering with a wire and lever attached to his stretcher.”612 Though the rules were mum on the subject, the regatta stewards ruled against him. Accordingly, he announced “that Brasenose would comply with the condition of starting with a coxswain but that he would jump overboard directly the race began . . . and thousands flocked to the bank to watch the fun.”613 The Brasenose man given the task of abandoning ship was one Frederick Edward Weatherly (1848-1929). He plunged in, and observers reported that he narrowly escaped entanglement in a patch of water lilies. Brasenose won the race but was promptly disqualified. But the wisdom of eliminating the coxswain was so obvious to all that in short order coxless-fours became the rule in the Stewards’ Cup. Incidentally, Weatherly eventually made it to shore and forty-five years later wrote the timeless Irish ballad, Danny Boy.614 “Guts” Woodgate, 162 lb. 73 kg, was one of the great rowers of his generation, winner of the Diamond Sculls, twice winner of the Boat Race, thrice winner of the Wingfield Sculls, five times winner of the Henley Silver Goblets for coxless-pairs, and the author of Boating, the first of two volumes dedicated to the sport of rowing in the series of books called The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes, a publishing project of Henry Somerset 612 Dodd, Henley, p. 60 613 Ibid. 614 Richard Burnell, Hooray Henley, TSL Productions, BBC, 1990 Badminton Library Badminton House (1824-1899), 8th Duke of Beaufort. The series was named after the duke’s principal country home, Badminton House in Gloucestershire. Woodgate’s volume was published in 1888. The Woodgate volume’s coverage of the sport was later supplemented by R.P.P. Rowe and C.M. Pitman in another Badminton volume, Rowing and Punting, published in 1898.615 Interestingly, there was no volume in the series on the sport of badminton, whose modern form was originated at Badminton House in 1873. Hanlan Rowed Concurrently Woodgate was a great admirer of Ned Woodgate, 1888: “It did not require any Hanlan. very deep knowledge of oarsmanship to enable a spectator to observe the vast difference which existed between [Hanlan’s] style and that of [other professional scullers], kicking backwards and forwards with piston action and helpless bodies doubled up at the finish [i.e., excessive ferryman’s finish]. 615 See Chapter 15. 165
