The Universities Boat-Race: "Well Done

The Universities Boat-Race: "Well Done, Light Blue!", 1870. Students' rowing race on the River Thames in London: crowds cheering the Cambridge team. 'The annual race between the champion crews of the Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Clubs was described [in our issue of] last week. The Illustration now engraved for this Paper affords a good notion of the scene at the last moment on the river at Mortlake, when the Cambridge boat passed the winning point, one length and one third of a length in advance of the Oxford boat, while the close of the race was announced by the firing of a gun from one of the boats moored close to the Middlesex shore. The Engraving on our front page shows the excitement and eager sympathy of the spectators assembled on the bank, many of whom, especially the ladies, gave frank expression to the pleasure they felt in witnessing the well-earned success of the Cambridge crew. The exclamation, "Well done, Light Blue!" was accompanied with the waving of hats and handkerchiefs, and with smiles of approval and congratulation that would have cheered the hearts of the stalwart eight if each of them had not found his attention completely engaged by the arduous struggle to keep the place they had gained'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870. Creator: Unknown. (Photo by The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty Images)