AMERICAN ROWING COMES OF AGE “An American enters upon a competition with the one purpose of winning, and he considers that so long as he keeps to the strict letter of the law he is justified. English sportsmen, on the other hand, consider the contest a means rather than an end. Of course, if they can win, they will win, but they desire to win generously.’”1274 However, British rowing historian Christopher Dodd lays the blame on the race umpire, Colonel Frank Willan, four- time winner of the Boat Race and bow-seat of the Oxford Four which had defeated Harvard in 1869,1275 who “had his eyes wholly on his visitors to see that they got fair play, and he did not hear the Leander coxswain say ‘No’ in response to his ‘Are you ready?’ “The wind was blowing off the Bucks shore and the Leander men’s pleas with it. One or two of them took a stroke as Cornell streaked off along the island, while the rest sat expecting Colonel Willan to call the Americans back. Eventually they were too far ahead to be recalled.”1276 Miller: “The London press was very critical of Cornell’s actions, but there was a very good letter written by R.C. Lehmann to the Cornell Captain (quoted July 12, 1895 – The New York Times) after the incident acknowledging their appropriate and proper conduct under the circumstances to continue as they did. Courtney was also gracious in his comments (The New York Times, July 10, 1895) about how the Cornell crew was respectfully and cordially treated by the British.”1277 The Second Round “Their second heat, rowed on the day following, was against the Trinity Hall, Cambridge Eight.”1278 Leander coach Lehmann: “There had been little to choose between the times accomplished between these two crews over the course in practice. The advantage, if anything was slightly in the favor of Cornell. “But the Englishmen relied on their great uniformity and their stronger and more consistent body work, as against the piston action of the Americans.”1279 “Cornell started with 46 strokes to the minute, Trinity Hall pulling 42. At the half mile her lead had been increased to half a length. From this point, although pulling 44 to Trinity’s 38, Cornell could not get away from the Cambridge men. “For an eighth of a mile neither gained – the struggle was magnificent. Suddenly the Cornell shell began to come back to Trinity. The straining in her boat was intense, the rapid, short stroke killing, but the men kept at their work until at the mile when Trinity began to leave them. “Then came absolute collapse.”1280 Young: “At the mile post, when in the lead, a Cornell man caught a crab which knocked the oar out of his hand, and the crew went to pieces, thus dashing their hopes with a humiliating failure.”1281 The following day, Trinity Hall won the Grand Challenge Cup by one-third of a length over New College, Oxford. Based on his own experience at Henley in 1901,1282 Crowther would conclude that 1274 Ibid, p. 44 1275 See Chapter 26. 1276 Dodd, Henley, p. 90 1277 Miller, op.cit. 1278 Young, Courtney , p. 42 1279 Lehmann, p. 214 1280 The Yale-Harvard-Cornell Regatta Program, p. 64 1281 Young, Courtney , p. 42 1282 See Chapter 37. 341
