First boats had no resemblance to today’s shells

The boats used throughout the first two decades of Regatta history had no resemblance to the shells of today. They were the standard types used in the commercial life of the Colony and included whaleboats, jolly boats, punts, gigs and sailboats.

By the 1840s, organizers were making efforts to improve the Regatta and they sought the development of special race boats for use at the Quidi Vidi event. In those days, competition was keen between St. John’s and Halifax to build the best and fastest boats for the Quidi Vidi Regatta.

During the 1840s and 1850s, the following boats were built at Halifax and shipped to St. John’s: The Victoria, Lallah Rookh, Banshee, Gem, Repeal and the Fly. The boats were not identical in size and weight. The Lallah Rookh was a six-oared 35 foot long shell.

Boat builders and Quill Drivers

The top boat builder of ancient Regattas in the years before Bob Sexton monopolized the trade was Sam Loveys.

Loveys built his boats in the garden behind his cottage on Queen’s Road, which would have been located on the western corner of the scenic traffic island, now occupying that site.

He built the shells during the 1840s and 1850s, which competed with the Halifaxbuilt shells. Loveys built winners, including the Ripple, Lucy Long, Undeen, Darling and Eugenie. It was Loveys’ Undeen that stopped the reign of the Nova Scotia-built Banshee during the early 1850s.

Less known local boat builders included the Holden’s (father and son team), Lewis, Johnson, Bethune, Vinnicombe, O’rourke, Phil Mahoney, John Ryan, F. Mallard and Father Pat O’brien.

Predicted race shells would be useless

These early racing shells met with critical opposition when first introduced at the Quidi Vidi Regatta. The following editorial appeared in the St. John’s newspaper, The Patriot, just before the 1854 Quidi Vidi Regatta:

“We like the amusement, particularly when coupled with something practical to be gained. But we cannot see what good can be attained by the exhibition of racing qualities of boats such as those generally run on the lake. For any practical purposes in the business of the colony they are perfectly useless ... they are good for nothing except displaying a good deal of ingenuity in the manufacture. If we are to have aquatic sports in the shape of boat racing, let the boats be those used in the stable trade of the colony. A race between good whaleboats or punts used in the fishery, rowed by the hands who usually row them, or a race between our swift sailing fishing Jacks or Western Boats would be practical and exciting and tend to the promotion of good fishing boat building. Yet a race between construction of pasteboard, however ingeniously put together and rowed by quill-drivers can never tend to any benefit and is at best an idle and useless diversion.”

The suggestion was not heeded and the shell type racers were improved upon and developed and became the only boats used in the Quidi Vidi Regatta.

These detailed descriptions related especially to the first 50 years provide the foundation for keeping an accurate history of the Royal St. John’s Regatta.