The English Channel seems to be forever in the news for one reason or another and it was so in 1875 when a memorable crossing took place, but not in a small boat and not from France to England.
On the morning of 24th August 1875 Captain Matthew Webb downed a substantial breakfast of bacon and eggs washed down with a glass of claret before making his way to the beach at Dover. In front of a large crowd he disrobed to reveal a red silk full body bathing costume, daubed himself with porpoise oil and, to great applause, plunged into the cold waters.
Accompanied by a small boat whose crew fed him beef tea and ale, he arrived exhausted on French soil the next day after a gruelling 21 hours and 45 minutes, having swum 39 miles. The direct crossing from Dover to Cap Gris Nez is 21 miles but eight miles from the French coast the tide turned against him and he was compelled to swim parallel to the coast for five hours before eventually being able to scramble ashore.
Looking back, Webb’s triumph seems extraordinary; it would be another 36 years before anyone replicated the feat, despite eighty attempts. Also extraordinary is that Webb swam breaststroke, whereas long distance swimmers adopt front crawl. But there was nothing extraordinary in his back ground or physique, of small stature, a mere 5’8”, forty inch chest, overweight for his height at 14 stone 8 lbs. He had a career as a merchant seaman, often noted for his swimming ability, and was awarded the Stanhope Medal for bravery for attempting to rescue a man overboard in the icy waters of the north Atlantic. Born in Dawley, Shropshire, his Channel crossing feat is commemorated in the John Betjeman poem A Shropshire Lad and by a stone memorial at Dover.
After his Channel success he became a professional swimmer competing in races and entertaining the public with publicity stunts. Unfortunately, 1883, he contracted tuberculosis and his health and financial situation worsened. In desperation he attempted to swim across the rapids below Niagara Falls for £2000 wager but, paralysed by the shear pressure of the torrent of falling water, drowned.
The first woman to swim the Channel was American Gertrude Ederle, who set off from Cap Gris Nez 6 August 1926 arriving at Kingsdown, Kent, 14 hrs 39 mins later. An officious Immigration Officer refused her and her support team entry to Britain; they had forgotten to carry their passports. Eventually, common sense prevailed and she was allowed ashore.
Today, some three hundred people annually try to make the crossing unaided, eighty per cent fail. To have the swim ratified is complex and expensive. Chartering a pilot boat from one of two associations able to ratify the swim is just the first step. The waiting list is a couple of years for a slot between June and October. The Associations have strict rules about apparel (nothing offering thermal insulation or aid to buoyancy is permitted) and there are rules for leaving English shores and touching down in France (crossings from France have been banned since 1993.). No physical contact with the support and pilot boats is allowed apart from sustenance provided at arms-length.
As extraordinary as Webb’s swim was, an even more incredible swim was achieved by the Argentinian long distance swimmer Antonio Abertondo. In 1961 this 43 years old fifteen stone heavyweight became the only person to complete a double crossing non-stop (he was just four minutes on French soil). At 3.45 am, after 43 hours and 10 minutes swimming, he crawled ashore near St Margaret’s Bay. To put this swim in perspective, during the time he was in the water most people had completed two days work, eaten seven meals and been to bed twice.
The world record time for a crossing is held by Brojen Das from Bangladesh, the first Asian to swim the Channel. In 1961 he recorded the incredible time of 10 hrs 35 mins crossing from France to England.
Finally, in the last decade, around 250,000 illegal immigrants crossed the Channel, but not one attempted the swim option.
