Tim Koch On The 2011 Eton’s Procession Of Boats

The boys' Matrons ('Dames' in Eton speak) decorate their boaters. Some clearly make more effort than others. Also note 'fixed pin' gates & fixed seats.

On 1st June, HTBS’s Tim Koch witnessed the Eton Procession of Boats. Here is his report:

The recent HTBS posting by Hélène Rémond on the French magazine 6 Mois picturing the boys of Eton School rowing during their ‘Fourth of June’ celebrations pre-empted a plan of mine to see the 2011 Procession of Boats in person. As Hélène points out, I have already written about the history of this unique occasion but I have now taken some nice pictures to illustrate it.

Eton School (more correctly called ‘Eton College’, though the boys are aged 13 to 18) is the most famous fee paying school in the world. Founded in 1440 by Henry VI to provide himself with some reliable civil servants, it has produced nineteen British Prime Ministers and innumerable oarsmen. Today, rowing and sculling at Eton is divided into four groups:

Boys aged 13 and 14 only race in inter school events, in single sculls and quads.

Fifteen year olds are called ‘Junior Colts’ and race in events held under the rules of British Rowing in the J15 class.

Sixteen and seventeen year olds are called ‘Colts’ and race in British Rowing events in J16, Novice and Intermediate 3 classes if eligible.

Seventeen and eighteen year olds can row in ‘Upper Boats’ at J18, Intermediate 3, 2 and 1, Senior and Elite if eligible.

Eton College Boat Club (ECBC) has a website that is open for anyone to view but, as it is intended for internal consumption, an outsider will find the organisation, argot and acronyms of the ancient institution difficult to understand.

The programme for the row past by the (mostly Victorian) boats is almost exactly the same today as in this programme of 1885. The first four crews are from the ‘Upper Boats’.

The 10-oared Monarch

The first boat to stand and salute the School and Her Majesty the Queen is Monarch, the ten-oar. It is usually stroked by the Captain of the Boats (there is an interview with the current Captain here) and crewed by senior boys who help administer internal rowing. Here are two extracts from the rules of ECBC:

'Members of the Monarch assist, under the supervision of aquatics masters or coaches, with discipline and safety on the river, and the administration of internal races.' and 'All instructions given by members of the Monarch must be followed without argument.'

The next boat is Victory, the First Eight, or (more commonly) just ‘The Eight’. They presently hold the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta and the Queen Mother Cup for Championship Eights at the National Schools Regatta. Unfortunately, they do not hold the ‘Triple Crown’ as they came second in the 2011 Schools’ Head. The VIII (they usually use Roman numbers) has their own blog but it has not been updated recently.

1st VIII Victory

Monarch and Victory have swivel rollicks with the normal closed gate so the boys cannot hold their oars erect when they stand to salute. To compensate for having the advantage of their oars on the water, they all stand together. The remaining eight boats have open ‘fixed pin’ gates. Thus 4 and 5 will hold their oars up and then stand, followed by 3 and 6, then 2 and 7, and finally bow and stroke. All ten boats are fixed seat.

Of the remaining Upper Boats, Prince of Wales (2nd VIII) is followed by Britannia (3rd VIII).

2nd VIII Prince of Wales

3rd VIII Britannia

The ‘Colts’ A, B and C crews then pass in Thetis, Hibernia and St George respectively.

The Colts Thetis

The Colts Hibernia: Note the button on the oar.

The Colts St George: Note the fixed pin gate and the oar.

Finally, the ‘Junior Colts’ A, B and C crews pass in Alexandra, Defiance and Dreadnought.

The Junior Colts Alexandra: two more to go...!

The Junior Colts Defiance with Windsor Castle in the background.

The Junior Colts Dreadnought: Tim's comment, "I like the clear authority and confidence of the coxswain!".

Even these delightful pictures do not fully capture the feel of the occasion. The Procession is viewed from a lush meadow on (in 2011 at least) a warm summer’s day. Behind are the ancient and noble buildings of the College. On the other side of the sparkling river is lush woodland with the tower of Windsor Castle peering above the trees in the distance. A school band is playing The Eton Boating Song.

Beware of a coxswain with a sword!

On the water, young Corinthians play out an old, strange and slightly silly tradition in archaic dress. There are people who would not be moved by this - but they can stay at home and play video games in a darkened room. The rest of us (who are lucky enough) will spend a delightful day on the riverbank and hold that it is always ‘jolly boating weather’.

Farewell, Hart!

Sometimes when an extraordinary occasion occurs, it feels like time stood still. This is rare, but it actually happened today at a service of celebration and thanksgiving for the life of William Hartwell Perry, Jr. in the Calvary Church in Stonington, Connecticut. Hart Perry, who was born on 23 August 1933, passed away on 3 February this year after an exceptionally rich life that spanned more than 50 years in the service of the sport of rowing.

There were many friends and close associates of Hart and his wife, Gill, who wanted to honour him, in fact so many that not all would fit inside the small church. However, a large tv screen was showing the service in an annex to the church, which was a good arrangement.

Very appropriately, the Prelude was Händel’s “Water Music”, which was followed by a prayer for Hart, and then the hymn “My country, ‘tis of thee”. Hart’s two sons, Bill and Tod, read psalm 139, and his daughter, Lissa, read the famous lines from Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows when Mole and Ratty first met and they go out on the river to mess about in a boat. This was appreciated, as was Hart’s old friend, Stewart MacDonald’s remembrances. MacDonald talked amusingly about Hart, the gentleman, but also the ‘plunderer’ and collector of stuff (and not all related to rowing). Hymn 717 “My country, ‘tis of thee” was appropriate to sing as it is the same tune as “God Save the Queen”, something the anglophile Hart would have loved, said MacDonald.

The service ended with “Eton Boating Song.” After the service, a reception was held at The River Room in the Latitude 41 Restaurant, next to the Rowing Hall of Fame at Mystic Seaport. For those who wanted, they could walk over to visit ‘The Hall’, one of Hart’s many accomplishments within the rowing community.

Ever since I drove from the service I have had the ‘boating song’ ringing in my head:

Jolly boating weather,
And a hay harvest breeze,
Blade on the feather,
Shade off the trees,
Swing, swing together,
With your bodies between your knees,
Swing, swing together,
With your bodies between your knees.

Movies With Tenuous Rowing Connections

HTBS special correspondent in London, Tim Koch writes:

The Social Network may be the most recent example of films that have a small rowing connection. The now defunct ‘Tideway Slug’ has listed many here.

I recently saw a film (not on the slug’s list as it shows no images of rowing) that contains two things of aquatic note. Firstly, the only rowing song of any fame or merit, the Eton Boating Song, and, secondly, my favourite definition of Henley Regatta.

North West Frontier is a 1959 British production set in India under British rule. Typically for a film of this period, the British are either heroic (Kenneth Moore, an army captain) or lovable (Wilfrid Hyde-White playing himself, as usual) while the ‘foreigners’ are either sinister (Herbert Lom, made up to appear half Indian) or comical (I.S. Johar, who played Gupta, the faithful Indian train driver). Lauren Bacall, playing an American nanny, was excused the sinister / comical rule on account of her glamour. The plot centres around the attempt to get a young Indian Prince to safety on an old steam train while perused by rebellious tribesmen. Gupta is hurt and Moore gives him a lady’s parasol to shelter under. “Here you are old Gupta, you are ready for Henley Regatta” he jokes. Gupta is puzzled. “Please sahib (a respectful form of address for a European man), who is Henry Regatta?” Moore laughs. “It’s not a ‘who’ Gupta, it’s a ‘what’. The most sahib sahibs in England put on a lot of silly little hats and row them selves up and down a river.” Gupta is amused. “That is very funny sahib, why do they do that?” Moore is a little weary. “I’m not sure, it’s one of the things I left England to get away from… but there is a rather nice little song that goes with it…..” He proceeds to sing part of the ‘Eton Boating Song’ while getting sympathetic looks from Gupta.

Jolly boating weather,
And a hay harvest breeze,
Blade on the feather,
Shade off the trees,
Swing, swing together,
With your bodies between your knees,
Swing, swing together,
With your bodies between your knees.

The song was composed for Eton’s ‘Fourth of June’ Celebrations (see HTBS 11th May 2010) in 1863. The full lyrics are here.

You can hear an Eton College choir sing it here.

Hugh Laurie (Old Etonian and Cambridge Blue) calls it “a bizarre homoerotic anthem” but sings the first verse here.

The song is ripe for parody. Most recently a satirical TV programme produced the Eton Voting Song which also contains some nice archive of the inscrutable Eton Wall Game.

If you are so inclined, a simple internet search will find many obscene versions, notably ‘The Sexual Life of a Camel’.