Harry Clasper (5 July 1812 – 12 July 1870) was a professional rower and boat builder from Tyneside in England. He was an innovative boat designer who pioneered the development of the racing shell and the use of outriggers. He is said to have invented spoon-shaped oars.
He was the first of three well-known Tyneside oarsmen, the other two being Robert Chambers and James Renforth.
Early history
Harry Clasper was born in Dunston, now part of the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, but then an independent village on the south bank of the River Tyne, a mile upriver from Gateshead. Later his family moved to Jarrow, also on the south bank of the Tyne, downriver from Newcastle. At the age of 15, he began to work at Jarrow Pit, which was notorious for firedamp. After a while, Clasper decided that mining did not suit him and he became apprenticed as a ship's carpenter in Brown's Boatyard, Jarrow. There he learnt about woodworking and the principles of boatbuilding. This would be useful to him in later life.
After a while, his family moved back to Dunston and Clasper became employed as a coke burner and wherryman for the Garesfield Coke Company at nearby Derwenthaugh. His work as a wherryman would also serve him well in later life. Clasper then worked for a while at Hawks, Crawshay, and Sons Ironworks around the mid-1830s.
In 1836 he married his cousin Susannah Hawks, a member of a wealthy family. Their wedding certificate shows Clasper signing with a cross, as he could not read or write, whilst Susannah signed her name.
Racing
Clasper formed a racing crew with his brother William and two other men. Harry rowed as stroke (the oarsman who sits nearest the stern, opposite the cox and who sets the stroke rate) and another brother, Robert, acted as cox. The boat was named "Swalwell". The crew started well, winning several races and became known as the Derwenthaugh crew.
Clasper took over the tenancy of the Skiff Inn, Derwenthaugh, and in addition to being a pub landlord, he began to build boats on the same site. He built two skiffs for himself, the Hawk in 1840 and the Young Hawk in 1841. With the latter he won the Durham Regatta Single Sculls race in 1842.
Race against the Thames
The Derwenthaugh crew was dominating the rowing scene on the Tyne and the logical progression was to challenge a crew from the River Thames. This was done and the race was held on the Tyne on 16 July 1842. The race was rowed over a five-mile (8 km) course from the Tyne Bridge to Lemington for a stake of £150 a side. The Thames crew gained an easy victory. The Derwenthaugh crew's boat, St Agnes, although much narrower than the Thames boat (29 inches as against 40 inches), was 60% heavier than the Thames boat. Clasper realised that he needed to design and build a much lighter boat for future races.
The Five Brothers
Clasper had already started to build a new four-oared boat, called The Five Brothers. The completed boat had a five-strake, mahogany hull that had been French polished. It also had outriggers, as had the previous boat, the St Agnes. Outriggers had been used before, but were not universally in use. Despite being much lighter than the St Agnes, the new boat was still about 20% heavier than the boats being raced on the Thames. The Five Brothers made an appearance at the Thames Regatta in 1844 when the Derwenthaugh crew won a prize of £50 and narrowly missed winning the £100 top prize, the Champion Fours.
Lord Ravensworth
In 1845 Clasper took another four-oared boat, the Lord Ravensworth, to the Thames Regatta. This latest boat was a further improvement on The Five Brothers. The crew was all Claspers, consisting of Harry at stroke, brothers William and Robert with uncle Ned, and brother Richard as cox. The Derwenthaugh crew won the Champion Fours, beating two other crews, including one from London. They were given the title of four-oared "World Champions". The crew were given a hero's welcome on returning to Newcastle. Clasper then sold the Lord Ravensworth for £80.
Later career
In the next fifteen years, Clasper, with a variety of other crewmembers, won the Champion Fours at the Thames Regatta six further times. His crewmembers included his eldest son, John Hawks Clasper and Robert Chambers, later to be World Sculling Champion. His last victory was in 1859, when he was 47 years old.
For many years he was a champion sculler on the Tyne and in Scotland, but was never successful as a sculler at the Thames Regatta. His last competitive race was a sculling race on the Tyne in 1867, when he was 55; his younger opponent beat him easily.