The race

An illustration of the Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge university teams, taken from the book 'London: a Pilgrimage' by Blanchard Jerrold and Gustave Doré, 1872. People are cheering on teams from any viewpoint available, including bridges, barges, and steamers. Jerrold describes the noise from the crowd: 'The hum rose to a shout and then subsided; but it was taken up along the line of barges, carried across the railway bridge by the men who were packed like flies upon it - and passed along the opposite shore. The shout of laughter, or extra thrill of excitement, went travelling up and down the river'