3-052-503 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Oxford and Cambridge Boat-Race: the race on Monday morning, off Chiswick, Oxford leading, 1880. 'The foggy weather on the Thames at eight o'clock on Saturday morning occasioned the postponement of the Boat-Race, which came off on Monday, at a somewhat later hour of the day...Many thousands of people assembled there and at Hammersmith, and at other parts of the course, were put to a disappointment the more severely felt after they had suffered the discomfort of waiting on the banks in such cheerless weather...it was announced, and was fully understood, that the race would not be rowed that day. It cannot be said that the weather was propitious to the enjoyment of the holiday spectacle on Monday, though it was clear enough to see the race, and the flood-tide being high at half-past ten o'clock, it was a more convenient time for people to get there after breakfasting at home...Those who affected a partiality for the "Dark Blues," if they had taken up their station at Chiswick, must have been gratified by the sight of "Oxford leading,"...and, as the lead was increased from one length to three in the remainder of the course, their party won as great a victory as could have been expected'. From "Illustrated London News", 1880.