On 13 June, HTBS posted an entry about “Saluting the Head of the River” of which we knew very little. However, last Friday Malcolm Cook of Quintin Boat Club left an interesting comment which slightly edited reads:

Saluting the Head of the River was part of a ceremony known as the Procession of Boats, a description of which can be found in Sherwood’s Oxford Rowing. A pdf version of the book can be downloaded here. The section on the Procession of Boats starts on page 98. Sherwood was writing in 1900, only 10 years after the illustration in the English Illustrated Magazine, but the Procession had already been abolished by then. An 1863 illustration of the Procession of Boats can be seen above.

Thank you, Malcolm!