Edgar Cove Boat Builder: Rise and Fall of Family Business

ROWING 1942-2010, 68 YEARS ON

Rowing in wartime

When visiting Imperial College Boat Club at Putney in 2002 I found that nobody had much information about the clubs activity "in the previous century", let alone as long ago as WW2, so I wrote an article for them which appears in full on the ICBC website:
http://www.imperialboatclub.co.uk/latest-news/97-rowing-at-imperial-college-1942-1945.html .

The following account is an edited version.

We were under no illusions about the fact that the reason we were allowed to study for a degree in wartime was to ensure continuity of supply of qualified people for industry and the armed forces. Any failure in our work would lead to immediate expulsion and direction into whatever job was deemed to be in the national interest.

Consequently membership of one College club such as the IC Boat Club for recreational purposes was really all that could be fitted into the work schedule as there were other commitments also. I was a member of the Home Guard, as were others, so we had to train for that, and when I went home to Salcombe for vacations I also helped local Civil Defence authorities by firewatching and similar duties.

During the war years membership of ICBC was about 180. However all were keen rowers as there were no ICBC social events except the annual dinner. I still have the menu for the 25th annual dinner and it illustrates very well the limited availability of foodstuffs in restaurants in wartime.

The first and second eights would have a couple of evening outings during the week and in the winter would row in the "tank" on the roof instead. However, Saturday was the big day and we sometimes managed to get 14 crews out onto the water, of which about the first six were fairly stable crews and the rest scratch crews. People were moved up and down within the first six crews depending on their progress. Charles Bristow would coach the first and second eights and then we would coach the other crews after our own outings. All coaching was done from bikes on the towpath.

The club had 3 clinker eights and 6 fine eights of varying ages. We also had one four and two elderly pairs. There were 4 clinker "rumtum" sculling boats and six fine sculling boats suitable for various crew weights.

In my first year in 1942/1943 I mostly sculled, but rowed at somewhat irregular intervals although I became more interested in the rowing when I found that each time I rowed they put me into a higher crew!

Charles Bristow arranged for our keenest scullers to be coached by Dan Cordery, who was introduced to us simply as a veteran Thames waterman. He was a fine coach and I learned a lot from him but it was only later that I heard that he had coached the German sculling squad for the 1936 Olympic Games.

During those war years anyone who had had German connections kept quiet about it! Dan coached us afloat from one of the rumtums.

Edgar Cove sculling in 1944

I sculled as often as possible during the week, somewhat to the detriment of my coursework and normally had the river to myself, sculling usually as far as Barnes or Chiswick. The club was always open as our boatman Charlie Newens worked there full time. Charlie walked with a bad limp and consequently was not able to join the armed forces.

In my second year I was moved into the first eight, and rowed at 7 in the crew for the next two years. We had a couple of crew changes due to failed exams but the same basic crew remained constant for the two years, during which time we took on all comers and never lost a race. We had two outings on weekdays after college and one each on Saturdays and Sundays. After the outings and our coaching sessions were finished we would repair to the bar in Thames RC via the connecting stair which was no longer in use when I last went to Putney in 2002.

The 1st VIII was a close-knit crew and despite being from different colleges we spent much time together when not actually rowing. Opportunities for travel were limited but we did go to Reading and beat RUBC again after beating them at Putney. We also competed successfully in local regattas at Putney and Barnes. In 1944 we won the Head of the River race from Mortlake to Putney. About 100 eights started. We won it again in 1945.

Heading for victory in head of the river race 1944

We also had an annual row up to Hampton Court, lunch at the Mitre hotel and then rowed back.

ICBC 1st Vlll 1943-1944

Within the ICBC we had club championships for scullers and pairs.

I won all the sculling races I entered but in the pairs championship our strokeman and I were beaten in a race we might have won had we not been overconfident. After some trials we had decided that we did not need a rudder and went very well without it in practice. However when we got into a race needing maximum effort our steering went a bit wild and we were beaten by other members of our crew.

We raced the CUBC "Goldie" crew just before the Boat Race. In 1943 they had beaten ICBC but we beat them in 1944 and 1945.

There was an annual race between the three colleges for the Morphy Cup. Apart from being Secretary of ICBC I was Captain of the C&GBC which really had no separate existence apart from the Morphy race which City and Guilds College won both times I rowed in it. However we were awarded full C&G colours for the event. There was always a large turnout of supporters from all three colleges on the towpath for this race and a fair scuffle normally developed to secure possession of the other colleges trophies and protect the Guild's trophy spanner! I was surprised, when visiting ICBC in 2002, to find that nobody knew anything about the Morphy Cup racing and so I do not know when and how it died out.

There were no women rowers in ICBC, nor was there any provision for them in the design of the boathouse. London University BC upriver had a women's crew and Reading UBC also had one, but women's rowing was only just beginning and I regret to say that nobody took them very seriously. I have made amends since by teaching many women and young girls to scull, coaching them from my own boat just as Dan did for me. I have always been delighted when some of my pupils got good enough to beat me!

I have also rowed in some very fast mixed eights at FISA Masters regattas in many countries in recent years.

By modern standards the state of the river at Putney in those days was absolutely disgusting and it was highly undesirable to have to swim in it. However, we did sink in our eight one autumn evening when we were turning just above Putney bridge when a strong wind against the incoming tide created very rough water. We swam the boat ashore onto the beach outside the London RC.

Our oars were of wood and the buttons were of leather firmly affixed in the position decided by the oar makers. Nothing could be adjusted except the stretchers but you could alter pitch by crudely twisting the riggers. We left that sort of thing to our boatman Charlie Newens. Span was not adjustable.

In pictures of us on the ICBC photo gallery our wartime crew may look a rather scruffy lot to modern rowers but clothing was rationed and we did not have clothing coupons to spare for rowing kit so scrounged secondhand stuff where we could. Most of us did manage to scrape up enough coupons for an IC blazer as, surprisingly, Lewins had enough cloth in stock from before the war to make them for us.

In my final term I decided that I had better temporarily refrain from rowing in the eight to enable me to catch up on my coursework if I wanted to be sure of a degree, and did so, much to Charles Bristow's disgust. Although I had attended all the lectures and knew my stuff OK I was somewhat behind in course work because I had missed a number of course work periods to go sculling at Putney. Course work accounted for a significant number of marks but I managed to catch up with it during that last term and Charles put me back into my position in the first eight for Henley.

The Henley 1945 "Peace" regatta was a one-day event and the banks were crowded with spectators. We raced three abreast as there were no booms in place. ICBC entered our first and second eights in the Open race. The second eight was a fast crew but were narrowly beaten by Trinity Hall, Cambridge in their first heat.

However, we in the first eight, after two heats, got through to the final to win the Danesfield Cup for Open eights. This was the first major post-war success for ICBC and although a week later I was in the Navy several members of our crew went on to win the Thames Cup in the following year.

Henley Royal Regatta 1945. IC win the final of open eights.

Rowing postwar

While in the Navy I had an outing in Australia with the Sydney RC but otherwise did not sit in a fine boat again for some 40 years. However in 1989 on Alumnus Day at IC an opportunity was offered for alumni who had been club members to have an outing at Putney. I jumped at the chance but did not let on how long it had been since I rowed, since most of the other crew members in our eight seemed only to have left IC within the last 10 years or so! The outing went well and got me keen to restart my rowing career.

Soon after this my wife informed me that the son of one of her friends at her tennis club had a sculling boat for sale, and wanted his boat to go to a "good home "! I went and had a look at it and found that it was a Carl Douglas sculling boat, not very old and in excellent condition. A test scull revealed that Dan Cordery's intensive coaching had remained with me despite the intervening 40 years. I found that I could just scull it away without any problem at all. So I bought the boat and joined Dart Totnes RC and embarked upon a whole new sculling and rowing career on the Masters circuit.

Since then I have rowed and sculled for Dart Totnes RC and became their Chairman.

I believe that I was the first member to attend and win a sculling medal at National Veterans championships and later became the first to race abroad and bring home a medal from the 1992 FISA Masters Championship in Cologne. I taught many people to scull and Dart Totnes' sculling squad is now the strongest in the Westcountry.

In 1995, 50 years on from our victory in the 1945 Henley Regatta and through the good offices of one of our crew members, who was himself a Steward, the Stewards of HRR said that if ICBC could muster at least six of the original 1945 winning crew we could have a ceremonial paddle over the Henley course during the lunch hour. Enough of us were willing and able so we borrowed a boat from ICBC and were very well received by the spectators as we paddled down the course. When, after passing the finish, it was "easy all" we were proud that the boat still ran level with all blades clear of the water!

Henley Winners 1945 - 50 years on

Masters Rowing

On the Masters circuit I have sculled for Dart Totnes ARC and also rowed for many other British and foreign clubs all over Europe and in USA.

FISA Masters Regatta, Princeton, USA, 2006

There is a demand from many clubs on the FISA Masters circuit for fit older rowers to join composite crews if they can still pull their weight, as they can raise the age group of the whole crew, sometimes into the next older category. As one ascends the age categories active rowers become, regrettably, fewer in number and many clubs can no longer provide a veteran eight or a four unless they organise a composite crew. For this reason we older rowers have to go wherever the action is!

However it is important to appreciate that FISA Masters Championship rowing is not a soft option to enable older rowers to keep active in their chosen sport. It is highly competitive and there is a strong possibility that one's opponents have won championship and/or Olympic medals and maintained their fitness throughout their lifetimes. Some of the hardest and most memorable races I have ever rowed in have been on the FISA Masters circuit and I have had to travel long distances, even abroad, for pre-race training sessions.
I emigrated to Norway in 2003 and have stroked the Tønsberg Roklub veteran crew in various regattas in Norway and also in the 22km headrace on the Gota canal in Sweden.

I still have my sculling boat for early morning outings before the numerous power boaters make the water around here almost unrowable for scullers.

Rowing has provided me with much enjoyment and many friends and my only regret is that I missed 40 years when I should have been rowing as well as working!

E.J.Cove

September 2010