The annual university Boat Race on the Thames, over four and a quarter miles from Putney and Mortlake has been regularly contested since 1839 between boats from Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The race in 1859 took place on a blustery day and rough water troubled both crews. Cambridge was shipping more water than Oxford, however, and when a spectator steam boat pushed too close its wash swamped the favored Cambridge crew and Oxford rowed on to victory. (By John Osborne)