The Calcutta Rowing Club, located in Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, was founded in 1858 and is one of the oldest rowing clubs of its kind outside the United Kingdom.

History

Its formation took place has been lost to history, in great cyclone which hit Calcutta in 1864,during which the boat house and the boats, together with the minute books, and records disappeared. The only things preserved, were the Accounts of 1858-59 signed by Mr.John Cowle, as the Honorary Secretary and Treasurer, and he goes down in history as the first officer on record. In these records it is noted that a six oared boat was purchased for Rs 300 and the following year a ‘Four’ was imported from Hong-Kong for a sum of Rs. 448. After the cyclone a temporary thatched roof boat house was built in1861, on the banks of the Hooghly near Chand pal Ghat, the Regatta course was 1 mile from Fort Point to Shalimar or from Shalimar to Botanical Gardens.In 1864 the Club colours of Blue and White wear adopted.

Present location

With the construction of the Dhakuria Lake in 1928, the club moved to its present location- 15 Rabindra Sarobar, Calcutta-700029, India . CRC has maintained its outstanding position in the rowing scene and from 1979 won the ARAE, the WBRA and the Head of Lake trophies - a stream of unique successes which no rowing club in the East has yet been able to achieve.