Some Early Accounts of Magdalene Boat Club:

It is a well-known fact that the foundation of the MBC coincides with the 400th anniversary of the Monk's Hostel or Buckingham College - the original foundation of Magdalene in 1428. However, as rowing was still in its infancy, the first craft acquired for the Club was far from satisfactory. It was variously described as 'cumbersome', and was put on for one race on 7th March 1829, chiefly it seems because of the threat from the rest of the College to take it from the Club and appropriate it to their own use as a pleasure craft! It must also be remembered that there was little or no uniformity in the early years of College rowing, for some boats were six-oared, others eight-oared and in 1827 Trinity actually put on the river a ten-oared boat - the cheating cads!
 
Also the early Races were somewhat intermittent, for in 1833 they were actually abandoned in deference to the wishes of the Vice-Chancellor and the Tutors of several colleges who 'begged that the gentlemen of the University would not race on account of Cholera then prevalent in Sunderland!'
 
As with the establishment of any new Club or Society, rules are devised - some of which probably would not be tolerated by many a modern Magdalene rower!
 
Set out below are some of the early 'Laws' revised as of October 26th 1839...

• Rule 14. That any members of the MBC who may take out the Racing Boat without leave of the Captain incur individually a fine of 10s.6d. for each offence.

• Rule 15. That each member of the crew shall be at the boathouse every practising day during term at the hour fixed by the Captain, or provide a proper substitute. (Yes, crews rowed every single day!) However, they did tend to train at a more civilised hour for Rule 15 continues - 'The time for practising being twenty minutes past two'.

Punctuality was also most important for if any many arrived up to 10 minutes late, he was fined 1 shilling (about £50 in modern currency!) , but after that time he was considered as absent from duty and fined 2s.6d. However, to be late on Racing Days was considered sacrilege and carried a C.U.B.C. fine of 10s. 6d.! (This was an exorbitant fine, when one considers that the average unskilled labourer at this time was paid 3 shillings for a 6-day week, therefore this is the equivalent to 3½ weeks wages!).
 
Ones conduct on the water was also dealt with, for Rule 16 stated 'That any man excepting Captain or Steersman (cox) speaking or looking back during the race shall be fined 2s. 6d.; and whilst practising after silence has been called 6d.'
 
Ones dress was also considered most important as Rule 17 eluded: 'That any man not appearing in proper costume on racing days shall be fined 2s. 6d.'
 

The final rule must surely have been devised by a corporate lawyer (or the Bursar) 'That any damage done to the boat or her equipment from carelessness or want of skill be paid for by the member who may have caused it'. And to further strengthen the MBC accounts, if any of the above fines were not settled within a week, they were liable to be doubled!

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