2-798-574 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Great Skiff Race, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1844. Rowing race on the River Tyne: '...a grand skiff match for £180, was rowed between Coombes, the celebrated Thames waterman, and Henry Clasper, of Derwent Haugh, who enjoys equal celebrity among the watermen of the Tyne...Both boats were built expressly for the occasion - the London one being constructed...by Messrs. Cowndes and Wintzell, of Lambeth and weighed 43lbs; and that of Newcastle, of mahogany, by Clasper himself, but was 6lb. heavier...After the race, a protest was made against Coombes receiving the stakes, in consequence of one of Coombes's friends crying out to him that he was pulling his skiff on shore, and waving at the same time with his hand to him the proper course to take...witnesses were examined;...the referee gave his decision..."that Coombes was entitled to the stakes"'. From "Illustrated London News", 1844, Vol V.