Never Give Up!

In March 2011, HTBS received an e-mail from an oarsman, Fred, in Florida. For a long time, he had been looking for a short story that he once heard on the radio about an older fellow sculling on the Charles in Boston, who suddenly finds himself sculling against a much younger sculler ‘with an attitude’. On 21 March, 2011, I posted Fred’s question on HTBS to see if there was anyone out there who knew the author of the story, or its title, as I had no idea. I received no replies, and not even the otherwise clever rowing historians that I know were able to help. To be honest I was feeling sad that I was not able to help Fred as the story seemed to have a special meaning to him.

Then, the other day I literally stumbled over the story, “Palais de Justice” by Mark Helprin (up on the right). It is in his collection of short stories called Ellis Island and other Stories, published in 2005. I immediately fired off an e-mail to Fred to tell him of my discovery. A couple of days later I got a nice e-mail from Fred, starting, ‘Göran, oh, for heaven’s sake!! ….’ And a day later Fred wrote, ‘I downloaded the story, and it is better than I remembered.’

You are able to download this short story and listen to it here (cost $2.99).

Here at HTBS we never give up!

Rowing Photographs Of Eton Boys

Knowing my interests for magazines, HTBS’s Hélène Rémond sent me an e-mail about a new French magazine, 6 Mois, which is such a rare thing as a new photo magazine. Hélène writes,

A new photo magazine called 6 Mois (‘6 Months’) has been launched in France by publisher Les Arènes. It focuses on current news’ photography. It is a 350-page, 880-photo magazine printed on quality paper – and with no advertising! It is listed as a book and cost 25€. In the first issue, there is a report by Christopher Furlong, who spent a few weeks at Eton College, home of ‘the English elite’. Whereas the school boys have a reputation of being pretentious and arrogant, it is not the case, he says. Furlong was surprised by their enthusiasm. Some of the photos have been shot during the celebration of the birthday of King George III (1738-1820), Eton’s greatest patron, on June 4th. A previous post on HTBS (11 May, 2010) explains well the history of this celebration!


Thank you, Hélène, and good luck to 6 Mois!

A Charming Book By Lehmann

There has been a lot about R.C Lehmann on HTBS lately, but I find the man fascinating, so I can not stop writing about him. We know him best as an authority on rowing and as a poet of light verse, while his contemporaries probably recognised him as an important contributor to Punch. It was in this magazine he wrote his parodies of Sherlock Holmes which later were collected in Adventures of Picklock Holes (1901).

Another book, which is not that easy to find nowadays, is called Sportsmen and Others. I have a copy without printing year, but one edition published by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co came out in 1912. My edition is in the series called Bell's Indian and Colonial Library and was issued 'for circulation in India and the Colonies only' as it states in the book. Of the 24 short stories, five are about rowing: 'Two Boatmen', 'Mr Ed Plummer', 'A Putney Waterman', 'Coxswains', and 'A Bumping Correspondence'. The illustration on top is from the story 'Coxswains'.

Though, it is very light entertainment, it is a charming book.

Seeking A Younger Sculler With An Attitude

Earlier today, a fellow named Fred down in Florida sent a question to HTBS. I am afraid I do not know the answer to his question, nor did some rowing historians whom I passed the question on to. But someone out there reading this blog might have a clue, so here is Fred's question:

"Perhaps you could give me a lead on finding a charming short story that I heard years ago on NPR, but am not able to identify the author or name of the story. I recall that this story is in the first person of an older fellow from Boston sculling on the Charles River. In this story he finds himself sculling against a much younger rower with an attitude. The tale is colored by tradition and wisdom, and I often think about it as I row (especially as I age)."

I find the question very interesting, and I, too, would really like to get the answer. Although, in real life I have known many "younger rower with an attitude"...

Which Rowing Race?

As I mentioned in an entry yesterday, the issue of June 1932 of Boys' Life not only has a short story published, "The Kings Navy", but it also has a 'rowing cover'. At first, one would believe that the illustration on the cover relates to the short story inside the magazine, but that is not the case. If you look closely, you might find that the cover illustration, which is made by artist Sidney Riesenberg, is not from a fictional race and geographical place. We can see only two crews racing, so the question we might ask ourselves is: which is the most famous rowing race in America? Well, the one between Yale and Harvard, of course. The young men on the left, and one of them is reporting the race 'over the wire', are sitting and leaning out from (I would never dare to to that!) the Gold Star Memorial Bridge, which goes over the Thames River, which is the boarder line between the cities of Groton (on the east side) and New London (on the west side) in Connecticut.

Nowadays, most of the races between Yale and Harvard go upstream, but in Riesenberg's illustration the boats go downstream, having the finish line just under the bridge. In 1932, the race was rowed on 24 June downstream and Harvard won, at 21:29, against Yale's 21:42. The previous time the race when downstream was in 1930.

How can I be so sure of the location? Well, look closely in the upper right-hand corner of the illustration - there is the silhouette of the most famous building along the Thames River: Harvard's boat house Red Top!

This year, the race is going to be early, already on Saturday 28 May.

A 1932 Short Story About Rowing

The images for the short story "The Kings Navy" were made by Seymour Ball.

In the June 1932 issue of the magazine Boys' Life, published by the Boy Scouts of America is a short story by Philip Scruggs, "The Kings Navy". It is one of these rare sports stories where the athletes are oarsmen, rowing for King's College. The story is very 1930-ish, of course, but I am somehow impressed by Scruggs's knowledge about the sport of rowing. And added to my liking is illustrator Seymour Ball's drawings (both being shown on top and on the right). I am afraid I do not have any information about the writer Philip Scruggs or the illustrator Seymour Ball. You will, however, find a list of Scruggs's stories between 1928 and 1935 by clicking here.

You can also read the story by clicking here.

As a matter of fact, the cover of this issue of Boys' Life, June 1932, is also inspired by rowing. More about the cover tomorrow...