Haul up all standing?—?Boat Races?—?Interest in the sport?—?Excitement general?—?Arrangements?—?Jockeyism?—?Regatta?—?Preparations?—?The Start?—?The Race?—?The Result?—?Launch and First Cutter?—?Race described con-amore?—?Suggestion of an Old Salt?—?Satan and Sailors.

But I must cease my digressions, lest my sickness become epidemic, and extend to my readers, in which event I should fear they would not be "at home" to me. To continue:

To fill up the time, and give some relaxation to the men, had boat races between the different crews in the "Typa."

It was surprising to see with what interest the sailors entered into the sport, and the excitement produced by the contests; bets ran high amongst them, and Tattersalls, previous to the great St. Leger Stake, could not produce a greater scene of excitement than did our top-gallant forecastle and forward gangways, during the preparations for a race; the claims of different candidates for an oar would be carefully canvassed, and the coxswains became, for the nonce, men of vast importance, for upon their ipse dixit in selecting the crews, the success of the boats was thought mainly to depend. Then the non-combatants had their favorite boats and men, and their suggestions would be strongly urged.The enthusiasm even extended to the officers, and produced an excitement as deep, if not so loud, upon the quarter deck and poop. Sums were raised amongst them, and set up as prizes for the crew of the winning boat, and suppers on shore, and segars in hand, hung upon the success of the second or third cutters—the first cutter and the launch.

Every plan known to experienced boatmen was resorted to; every unnecessary impediment that could offer the slightest obstruction removed; the bottoms of the boats, after having been well scraped, were secretly greased, and the pintals of the rudder carefully oiled, the weight of the oars well calculated, and the trim of the boats arranged by placing breakers of water fore, aft, or amidships, as it was thought their weight might be required to give a proper balance.

The oars, too, were carefully overhauled, scraped, pointed, and newly leathered; the rowlocks, in which they were to be placed, arranged, and nothing that skill or experience could suggest, was neglected to secure success.

Preparation for the race.—The hour big with fate to the crews of the second and third cutters approached. One bell in the afternoon watch had been struck, and preparations commenced. The respective crews having taken the lightest kind of a dinner, divested themselves of all unnecessary clothing, tied handkerchiefs around their heads, and making their belts taut around their bodies, stood by, ready for a call. The boats, their oars all in, and extra ones secured handily to the gunwales, in case of accident, with a coxswain in each, lay at either of the booms,—second cutter on starboard, third on the port side; and the arrangement was that they should both lay upon their oars and await the signal, which was to be the dropping of a handkerchief by the umpire, who was first to see that neither had the advantage. A few minutes before two bells, the boatswain's mate piped away the crews, and they descended into their respective boats by the booms.

The start.—After being seated, and having peaked their oars by way of a salute, the order was given to "let fall;" splash went their oars into the water, and anxiety was depicted upon every countenance. "Take your stations"—"Back your oars, third cutters"—"Steady there, second cutters," were the orders given and repeated with only an alteration in the titles of the boats, as the crew of each with a natural impulse strove to prevent the other from stealing a length upon them; from this impatience it was found impossible to make their position exactly relative; but at last the handkerchief was dropped, and off they shot with the velocity of arrows from a bow, the second cutter having the advantage of half a length in the start.

The race.—The distance to be rowed was one mile and a half to a stake boat, round that, and back. The prize, a bag containing sixty-four dollars, suspended from an oar in the stake boat. The second cutter having the start, kept the distance open between her and her competitor (now extended a full length), which pulled up steadily in her wake; the coxswain of the leading boat dexterously anticipating all his pursuer's efforts to pass, and keeping him dead in his wake until they had shot over half the distance between the ship and the stake boat, when, by a desperate effort, the third cutter appeared to leap bodily out of the water, her oars quivering like the wings of a bird, from the impulse given by those muscular arms. Side by side, their oars almost overlapping, they dashed like the wind towards the prize. Now came the tug—a single tarpauling would at one moment have covered them both and retained its position, so steadily did they pull; it was apparently a tie, when an unusual movement was observed on board the third cutter.

The result—This was caused by the breaking of the bow oar, which snapping short off, dropped into the water, and fouled the starboard oars; not an instant was spent in shipping another, but the advantage had been lost. The second cutter, with her full power, shot ahead, rounded the stake boat and led the way back; her opponent recovering from the accident, and following so closely, that the two appeared like one boat of unusual length as they approached; but the struggle was unequal. Two third cutters, unable to stand the additional labor, gave out. The flag was hauled down from the fore as the second cutter passed the line, and the third, contending to the last, came in about three boats' lengths astern.

The next race was between the launch and the first cutter; the launch, a heavy boat, called by sailors the "Purser's Gig," pulling sixteen oars; first cutter, a fast craft, with a crack crew, pulling just eight. This was the race of the Regatta, and excited much interest. Various were the opinions as to the result, and to use a phrase of the turf, "bets were even;" not that any serious amounts of money were risked, for that would have been "contra bonos mores;" but several suppers and sundry boxes of segars hung on the balance.

Both the boats were put in capital order, and the crews of both were sanguine of success. The launchers depended upon the power they possessed in a double bank of oars; the first cutters upon the qualities and lightness of their boat. Impelled by these hopes, they started. I happened to be in the launch; we took the lead after a fair start, and led the cutter around the stake boat, a distance of more than a mile; but that which had given the launch a great advantage on the first stretch, proved a serious drawback on her return, the prevalence of a very high wind, which increasing, kicked up a tremendous sea, and causing her to roll and pitch, very much deadened her headway. Gradually the first cutter crawled up; gallantly the launchers contested the space they had gained. "Give way, lads! give way, they're gaining on us!" and the oars bent like willows in the hands of the hardy launchers; but in vain this expenditure of strength; one half of it was lost in a heavy lurch, which sent the starboard oars glancing in the sunbeams, dripping salt tears from their blades into the exulting wave, and nearly unseating the men. Like the Giselle, the agile cutter skips alongside. "Pull steadily now, men!" "Pull with a will!" It is vain; side by side we plunge, but the cutter evidently gains; a glimpse of blue sky is apparent at the back of her steerer; it increases; the slanting beams of the setting sun shines full in our eyes. It is noticed by the crew—sailors are superstitious, and their hopes sink with the sun; "But it will rise again! Give way, boys, give way! we'll beat them yet!" Again they put forth all their power, and the bow oars nearly touch. But the wind increases, the sea rises, a heavy swell knocks us back from the vantage we had gained. The third cutter, buoyant as a cork, perches an instant on the crest of a wave, and then rushes down its opposite side with a cheer from its crew. The race was to the swift, but "the battle was not to the strong;" the "Purser's Gig" was distanced.

But, if the launch had been beaten, its crew were not conquered, and the coxswain, old Andrews, captain of the forecastle, who, with a picked crew, would have undertaken to have pulled the boat across his own maelstrom, offered his whack—the sum to his credit on the purser's books, on his discharge,—against a plug of tobacco,—upon the issue, in moderately smooth water; whilst I, with others, had not lost confidence in the strong arms that impelled the "purser's gig;" although I did not incline to make one of her crew in a contest in which old A. proposed to beat the devil, on his own lake of fiery brimstone, with his favorite launch; but A. was excited by the race, and had got a tot of a mixture which assimilated to that "fire water," and forgot that his boat was not framed of asbestos; besides, I fear he held his satanic majesty slightly in contempt from the nautical notion that he possesses power over sailors no more within his dominions.