The crew then went into serious training. Bow was Sir David
Erskine, for many years Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons;
No. 2, my brother-in-law, Lord Mount Edgcumbe; No. 3, General Sir
George Higginson, with my father as stroke. Lord Elphinstone, who
had been in the Navy early in life, officiated as coxswain. But my
father was then fifty-five years old, and he soon found out that
his heart was no longer equal to the strain to which so long and
so very arduous a course (three miles), in rough water, would
subject it. As soon as he realised that his age might militate
against the chance of his crew winning, he resigned his place in
the boat in favour of Sir George Higginson, who was replaced as
No. 3 by Mr. Meysey-Clive. My father took Lord Elphinstone's place
as coxswain, but here, again, his weight told against him. He was
over six feet high and proportionately broad, and he brought the
boat's stern too low down in the water, so Lord Elphinstone was
re-installed, and my father most reluctantly had to content
himself with the role of a spectator, in view of his age.
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