The Coat

About the Book

This is a story of the River Thames, its working people, and the Port of London in the early 18th Century. It is the story of the origin of a famous rowing race held on the river. 'Doggett's Coat and Badge', now the oldest continually held annual event in the sporting calendar, and simply called The Coat by the watermen of today. It is told through the eyes of Edwin, the unknown young wherryman on whom Doggett supposedly based his race. It is the tale of the life-style of the rivermen and the citizenry of London in those harsh and brutal times. Although fiction, the book is based on facts gleaned from a study of the records of the City and the trading Guilds of London.

About the Author

Bob Crouch was apprenticed to his father in 1953. On attaining his Waterman's license in 1958, he competed for and won Doggett's Coat and Badge.

In that same year, he was called up for two years National Service in the Royal Navy.

After a tour of duty aboard HMS Battleaxe in the Mediterranean, and also during her involvement in the Icelandic fishery war of 1959/60, he returned home, and worked for two years in his father's business as an Attendance watermen for Greenwich buoys. Deciding then to work on his own merits, he concentrated on Bridge Piloting and Civil Engineering boatwork, which he did for some seven years. Eventually he bought into a Pleasureboat Co. where he stayed for 27 years building the company into the largest pleasure boat fleet on the river.

He continued his rowing career, culminating this by competing at Henley Royal Regatta in 1961, 1962 and 1963. He is now involved with coaching for fixed seat rowing in Traditional, Thames vessels. In 1977 he was elected to the Court of the Company of Watermen and Lightermen of the River Thames, becoming Master in 1987.

Also during those years, he was appointed a Royal Watermen to H M The Queen, and in 1990 was honoured with the appointment of Her Majesty's Bargemaster. As a member of the Library Committee at Watermen's Hall, Bob Crouch found himself interested in the history of the river and its people, and now gives lectures on the subject. He also became aware of the lack of written material concerning Mr. Doggett and his famous wager, He decided to write a dramatisation of the story, combining the origin of the race, with his knowledge of the watermen's history and lifestyle. The Coat is the outcome.