Paris Crew

Robert Fulton, George Price, Samuel Hutton, and Elijah Ross, along with reserve oarsman James Price, became Canada's first-ever international sporting champions when they defeated the London Rowing Club to win the World Rowing Championship at the 1867 Paris International Exposition in Paris, France.

Rowing without a coxswain and with their very unorthodox style and antiquated equipment, the Canadian team had been given no chance at all against their slick European competitors.

Their World championship win on the Seine River against four of the top oarsmen from Oxford University, who had been selected from the team that earlier in the year had beaten Cambridge University in The Boat Race, was a shocking upset that made sporting headlines everywhere and the team national heroes.

In a rematch the following August on the Kennebecasis River, the Paris Crew claimed victory after James Renforth collapsed in the British boat during the race and died from apparent heart failure.

Samuel Hutton (July 10, 1845 – August 21, 1894) was an Irish-born Canadian fisherman and boat builder from Saint John.