In Memory of Oarsmen who Died in the Great War

Martinsart's British Cemetery, where F. S. Kelly is buried.

This year media are writing celebratory pieces on the First World War that began 100 years ago, on 28 July 1914 to be more exact. The River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames has just started a very promising blog, Home Front Henley, about the War. Read it here.

HTBS has several times written about oarsmen who fell in the Great War. To mention a few of the more famous ones: Frederick Septimus Kelly, Julian Grenfell, Eric Fairbairn, Guiseppe Sinigaglia and Bernhard von Gaza. We have also posted articles on War Monuments at rowing clubs and other places and war recruitment posters.

In his book The Boat Race: The Story of the First Hundred Races between Oxford and Cambridge (1954) author Gordon Ross lists 42 names of British Blues who paid the ultimate price during the 1914-1918 War - twenty-one Dark Blues and twenty-one Light Blues.

On 1 August Martin Cross published a wonderful piece on FISA’s World Rowing website about the First World War and oarsmen who fought on the battlefields around the world. Read his piece here and watch his video (below) on how he, in May, sculled the River Somme in France to commemorate the brave oarsmen who died:



In the June/July issue of British Rowing’s magazine Rowing & Regatta, Cross also had a well-written piece about his Somme row.

Though the following video has been posted on many places around the web during the last couple of weeks, it is worth watching and listen to over and over again. This is oarsman and composer F. S. Kelly’s Elegy for String Orchestra, written at Gallipoli in memory of Rupert Brooke, the poet and fellow soldier, who had died on board a French hospital ship just off the Greek island of Skyros, where Kelly and his comrades buried Brooke.

Teamwork Lessons

Martin Cross, who writes about rowing for The Guardian and is blogging under the name The Blogging Oarsman, has a wonderful article on FISA’s website. In his article, called “Lessons in teamwork from rowing”, Cross writes:

‘From the Australia to Europe to the U.S. the stories of teamwork are undeniable, cropping up in every boathouse and around every corner. At the University of Washington, the memory of the ‘36 crew lives on. Olympic Champion in the men's eight in 2004 and Washington graduate Matt Deakin said, “I was real proud of them; they were a huge influence on us.” Deakin explained that at Washington freshmen are required to memorise the names of their 1936 crew. The revered Pocock shell that Moch’s crew raced in still hangs in the University of Washington boathouse. It’s not only a reminder of the excellence to which they all aspire but a living symbol of the power of teamwork in a unique sport.’

Read the article here.

2013 World Rowing Championships - Day Eight & Final Day

You will find FISA’s race reports for the eighth day of the 2013 World Rowing Championships on the Tangeum Lake regatta course in Chungju, South Korea, here and here. If you missed to watch any of the races, go here.

Also, watch Martin Cross - 'The Blogging Oarsman' - enthusiastic video report below:

Groovy, R&R

I know that this is way overdue for those of you living in Great Britain, but today I received my copy of British Rowing's magazine Rowing & Regatta, the June/July issue. Of course, some of the articles feel 'old', all the preview pieces of the World Cup II at Eton Dorney, for example, but it is my own fault for living far away. My favourite article, however, is Martin Cross's piece "Legends of Nottingham" about the bands that played at Nottingham RC between 1962 and 1981. You name a great blues or rock legend or band, and they were probably playing there - incredible! I am happy to add this knowledge to HTBS's 'oddities', which gives rowing history that little extra dimension.

If you have not seen this copy, contact immediately British Rowing, R&R, to get your own copy, here.

Photograph for this article from Cross's article in R&R.

Cross Pays Tribute to Nethercott

Photo: British Rowing

As has been mentioned earlier on HTBS, Acer Nethercott, successful GB Olympic and Oxford cox, died on Saturday, 26 January, 2013. Olympic gold medallist, fellow member of Molesey BC and rowing writer Martin Cross pay tribute to a truly remarkable man on Molesey BC’s website, here.

The British Stroke

Yesterday, HTBS received an e-mail from Conrad Brunner, executive producer at Atomized Entertaining. The company has produced a series of videos for the web called The Squad which are following the GB Rowing Team mens’ sweep squad through winter training as they aim to secure a seat for London 2012. About the latest one, ‘The British Stroke’ (above), Conrad writes,

“This feature is based on an interview with Martin Cross, whom we caught up with at Hampton School, London, (where the Searle brothers learnt to row). Martin represented the Great Britain Rowing Team from 1980 to 1992, winning a bronze medal at the 1980 games in Moscow (M4-), and a gold medal (M4+) alongside Steve Redgrave at Los Angeles in 1984. He is the author of Olympic Obsession: The Inside Story of Britain’s Most Successful Sport, covers rowing for BBC Radio 5 Live (his commentary on the eventful 2012 Boat Race was particularly memorable), and remains an active rower. You can follow Martin on twitter: @martcrossy – there are additional comments from Tom Ransley (GB M8+), David Tanner, Performance Director of GB Rowing Team, and Robert Treharne Jones of the Leander Club.”

The series are very well made and you can watch previous videos here.