'To Charm The Ladies'

On 10 May 1879 there was a boat race between Stockholm’s Nation and Göteborg’s Nation (‘Nations’ here means student organizations at Uppsala University) on the river Fyris in Uppsala, north of Stockholm. Stockholm’s Nation’s Boat Club was founded in the autumn 1877 and the Göteborg’s Nation’s Boat Club was founded the following spring. Both clubs ordered their boats from England, two coxed out-rigged fours, 38 feet long, clinker-built with fixed seats. At the boat race in May 1879, both crews were rowing with white gloves “probably to charm the ladies on the shores,” one newspaper wrote. It is not known which boat won.