Ebb & Flow

… a rite of passage.
Almost lost on the wide stretch of river, three scullers make their way upstream towards Lambeth Bridge.
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The annual Doggett’s Coat and Badge race this year saw three competitors rowing their boats in this tough challenge: Riess Ballard, Matthew Brookes and Emily Hickman.
The four mile, seven furlong route from London Bridge to Cadogan Pier, rowed on the flood tide, is a difficult course, with piers, obstacles, moored boats, bridges, and eddies around them to negotiate. Not forgetting the ever-changing caprices of the weather. It is a demanding test of contenders’ skills and knowledge of the Thames.
The Wager, set up by Thomas Doggett in 1715, is open to watermen and lightermen, aged between 21 and 27, in their first year of ‘freedom’, after completing their apprenticeship.* It is run by the Fishmongers’ Company and the Company of Watermen and Lightermen of the River Thames and is an important annual fixture highlighting the traditional culture and life of the river.

All three competitors belong to the well-known Poplar, Blackwall & District Rowing Club where they underwent their training. Apart from successfully nurturing talent for national and international events, the Club has produced many winners of the Doggett’s Coat and Badge Wager.

Matthew Brookes joined CPBS, Capital Pleasure Boats, in 2015 when he was sixteen. Leading the race as he reached Lambeth Bridge, he had the misfortune to capsize in rough conditions further on and was swiftly rescued.

Riess Ballard, a Captain at the Livett’s Group, was rowing steadily as he approached Lambeth Bridge and went on to win the race.

Emily Hickman is the daughter of Alex Hickman who sadly died in December 2020. He was much loved and appreciated for all that he did for the Thames river community and, as Training Officer for the Company of Watermen and Lightermen, he helped many young apprentices with their studies and practical training. For Emily, taking part in the Doggett’s Coat and Badge Wager must have been especially poignant, as memories of her father, who ‘bound’ her into the Company in 2018, and who back in 1996 had also taken part in the same race, would have been on her mind.

Emily Hickman is only the third woman to compete in the race. She came second. Clare Burran raced in 1992 coming third out of five, and Kate Saunders took part three times, coming third out of four in 2000.

The winner’s prize is the traditional scarlet coat, cap and silver badge, and Riess will be presented with his in November at a celebratory dinner in the Fishmonger’s Hall.

Challenge completed

End note

Quite by chance I spotted a lone sculler on Lambeth Reach a few days before the race, and later discovered that it was Riess, with time off work for a practice run. A while later, his boat safely stowed on Livett’s BRAVO LIMA GB, he was taken back downstream.

Sources and further information
Account of this year’s Wager: The Company of Watermen & Lightermen of the River Thames
Article in Country Life by Martin Fone, August 6, 2022.
Article by Tim Koch in Hear the Boat Sing, July 22, 2023.
*The Doggett’s Coat and Badge Wager, 2021 article with details of the origin of the race and its history, July 11, 2021.
Thanks for information to Ben @liquid_highway1 and @ChrisLivett

On July 19th, the Doggett’s Coat and Badge Wager, the famous annual rowing competition on the Thames, founded in 1715 to celebrate the coronation of King George I, was this year preceded by a Pageant. A Pageant honouring the accession of King Charles III.
As Thames pageants go, this was on the modest size but interesting nonetheless, keeping up the tradition of ceremonial rowing on the river, adding importance and an extra festive feeling to the tough Doggett’s Coat and Badge challenge, which with images from my vantage point on Lambeth Bridge, I will feature in my next article.

Assembling at Waterloo Bridge, the cutters of the Livery Companies taking part rowed the final section of the competition course, each flying a flag with the cypher of one of the twelve monarchs crowned since George I.
Having led the cutters to begin with, the HAVENGORE, flying the cypher of Charles III, moved across to the south side of the river allowing both the Pageant and the Doggett’s Coat and Badge race to pass.

The Livery Company cutters were not required, as they are on some occasions such as the Tudor Pull, to row with their full ceremonial regalia. But their team colours and flags brightened up the river as they headed upstream in an orderly procession.

Timing and co-ordination being all important, there was a short pause near Lambeth Bridge before the flotilla moved on.

Accompanying the cutters were ribs with film crews and safety boats ready to come to the rescue if needed.

My following article will be on this year’s Doggett’s Coat and Badge Wager, which followed the ‘Coronation to Coronation’ Pageant viewed from Lambeth Bridge on July 19. The three competitors Riess Ballard, Matthew Brookes and Emily Hickman took on this 309th challenge rowing the 7.4 kilometre course, established by Irish actor Thomas Doggett in 1715, between London Bridge and the Cadogan Pier in Chelsea.

Notes, Sources and further Information
Excellent article on Rowing on the River Thames.
To find out more about what’s happening on the Thames, see The Port of London Events Calendar
Thanks to Joe Lane for info. Follow him on Twitter @rowjoelane
All images ©Patricia Stoughton If anyone would like a copy. Let me know via Twitter @Tidal_Thames95