Saratoga Boat Race 11 September 1871

Regarding Bill Lanouette’s entry on 29 January, 2011, about the professional sculler John Biglin (seen above in a waterclour by Thomas Eakins), HTBS’s Tim Koch in London looked for Biglin in the London Times archives and found two articles, “a brief report on 2nd September 1871 of a race in Halifax, Nova Scotia is mostly of interest because it says that 50,000 spectators watched the event. The report of 29th September 1871 further illustrates the great interest that there was in rowing at the time by its in depth coverage,” Tim writes, which is, as he also states, “very different to today.”

Regarding the latter article, it was taken from The New York Times about a regatta in Saratoga on 11 September, 1871. Competing at this regatta in fours were the Biglin brothers, the Ward brothers, the Dutchess County crew, and two boats from England, the Taylor-Winship crew and the Tyne crew, “who pulled along leisurely in white jerseys with black ties round their throats, in memory of their deceased comrade Renforth.” Poor James Renforth had died just after a race in St. Johns, Canada, on 23 August the same year.

Following are two articles from The New York Times about the Saratoga Boat Race, about the preparations of the regatta and an introduction of the crews, published on 8 September and another article with results, published on 13 September. Enjoy!