Sorting out the true history of St. John’s Regattas
The fact that there was a wellestablished annual Regatta in St. John’s Harbour is true, but it did not start in 1818.
Archival records prove that the Quidi Vidi rowing regatta and the harbour races were one and the same, a two-day annual Regatta that began in the 1820s. By 1900, the fact that what was being referred to as the separate Harbour Regatta was actually the second day of the annual Quidi Vidi Regatta.
The first era of Regatta history from its start in the 1820s to 1860 was an intermittently-held two-day Regatta with a rowing match at Quidi Vidi Lake on the first day, and a sailing match on St. John’s Harbour on the second day
The founders called themselves, “The Amateurs of Rowing.”
The earliest records of the annual St. John’s Regatta confirm that it began as a two-day event and it did not take place until the end of the annual hay harvest. Jack V. Rabbits, sports columnist and Regatta historian, claimed in his writings to have found records showing the Regatta started in 1824.
Other information exists to support that claim.
A close review of records between 1807 and 1860 leave little doubt that the Regatta at Quidi Vidi Lake was inspired by, but not part of, the several sailing and rowing matches held on the harbour before the St. John’s Regatta started.
In September 1810, the Royal Gazette recorded that a sailing race had taken place on the harbour. A merchant named “Trimingham” won that race. He was likely the same “John F. Trimingham” who helped set up the annual two-day Quidi Vidi Regatta in the 1820s.
Trimingham was a merchant who imported Jamaican coffee.
The next mention of a Harbour race was in the Royal Gazette on August 6, 1816, which reported, “We understand a rowing match will take place on Monday next between two boats upon which considerable bets are depending.” The same paper did not follow up with a report that the race ever took place.
In 1818, a rowing contest was held on the Harbour, and a sailing race was scheduled. The September 24, 1818 issue of the Mercantile Journal reported, “On Tuesday, September 22, boats entered a rowing match with a silver cup as a prize. The cup was won by the Customs House boat. That rowing competition was held to commemorate the anniversary of the coronation of King George III.”
However, there is no mention in the journal that the sailing race took place. Neither is there any indication that royal anniversaries were occasions to hold an annual regatta, as the Regatta Committee now claims.
When King George IV was crowned on June 24, 1821, there was no regatta.
In the 50 years prior to the 1871 revival, there were only 24 documented regattas.
British tradition
The British Navy had a tradition of holding rowing contests for their crews as a source of entertainment, and often to keep them out of mischief while in port.
Fishing captains followed a similar practice. These were spontaneous contests and not annual events, and did not involve the citizens of the city other than as spectators. They were actually challenge races, which would be scheduled when at least two ships agreed to participate.
The man who initiated the start of the two-day Quidi Vidi Regatta’s, which ended in 1860, was Thomas Brookings, a city merchant and Lloyd’s of London representative.
He was leader of a group calling themselves “Amateurs of Rowing” which held a public meeting in 1826 and elected people to organize and run the two-day regatta. This earliest record of the Quidi Vidi Regatta, mentioned in a separate feature, is found in the Mercantile Journal of 1826.
One Regatta, two events
The events held on St. John’s Harbour between 1810 and 1818, and maybe even earlier, may have inspired the annual St. John’s Regatta, but were never part of it. When the Regatta was revised and became a permanent event in 1871, a twoday event was held, but the Harbour Regatta had lost its appeal, was dropped from the program and was discontinued.
In 1871, six boats entered the Harbour event. The race started at Grieve and Company’s wharf at 3:25 p.m. and they sailed a course that took them out to and around a boat moored at Chain Rock and back to Grieve’s, where the judges witnessed the race from the Little Nell. First place went to the Brackenholm, sailed by Captain Spink, in the time of 30:20. Second place went to the Jane, sailed by Captain Mcdougall in 33 minutes.
Sailing races were back on the Regatta program again in 1887. That was the year of the Jubilee Regatta in honour of Queen Victoria, and was marked by a twoday Regatta.
However, the sail boat races took place on Quidi Vidi Lake. In 1888, the races returned to a one-day event with one sailing competition held in the afternoon. That race was won by the Cannie Chief, in the time of 34:45.
In 1893, the City Boat Club asked Bob Sexton to build six sail boats on a smaller scale than those traditionally used. When completed, they were first referred to as Bonnie Boats and then because of the way they bounced over the water, were dubbed the “Bouncer Boats.”
Sailboats used previously were over 20 feet in length and required two men to sail. The Bouncers were sailed with one crewman and were faster in competition. These boats had colourful names that included the Bob Tail, Wig Wag, Jim Jam, the Bouncer, Geyser, the IOU and the Pirate. Six were built in 1893, and two more in the following year. Sailing competitions were dropped from the annual regatta program on July 26, 1897.
The two-day Regattas were not popular with the working class, who were not paid for the holidays. The following comments appeared in a letter to the newspapers in 1888: “It is a peculiar question, ‘Who empowers the self-elected committee to act in so autocratic a manner?’”
The writer suggested the committee was made up of, “youthful sparks born with silver spoons in their mouths.” He continued, “No committee or body of men have a right to make us lose two days pay, when its nothing to them whether they are off one day or one hundred days. Let them think of the many children and mothers who for the next few days will be required to go about hungry and starving.” Signed “Poor Workman” While it is incorrect to bill 1818 as the anniversary of the first St. John’s Regatta, it is appropriate to describe it as the “200th anniversary of the rowing contest that inspired the Royal St. John’s Regatta.”
Why? Because Trimmingham and Brookings organized the 1818 contest, and several years later were part of the group set up to established a structured annual Regatta.