Downstream

needed ‘a clear view all round
him,’ explains The Eton Book
of the River, ‘and this is in
some circumstances essential
for the avoidance of a blow
on the head from the oar or
scull of a passing
coxswainless boat’.
Eton pupils became known
as accomplished swimmers
and the swimming school
passing certificate from 1846
includes a quote from the
eighteenth-century poet