The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-09-11 00:00:00

ANOTHER SWIMMING FEAT.

Miss Emily Parker, who is under fifteen years of age,
swam on Saturday evening from London Bridge to Blackwall,
a distance of seven miles, in one hour and thirty-seven and
a half minutes, without leaving the water or taking refresh-
ment. The Daily Telegraph gives the following account of
the feat :
About a month ago Harry Parker, the professional
swimming master to the London Swimming Club, and
winner of a hundred prizes, made a bet with a member
of the Goodwin Club, of £5O to £3O, that his sister
Emily, under 15 years of age, would swim from London
Bridge to Greenwich. A day was fixed for the event,
but in the meantime Miss Beckwith performed the feat.
However, Miss Emily Parker, not to be outdone, swam
on Saturday from London Bridge to Blackwell, a dis-
tance of seven miles, in 1 hour 37-• minutes, and finished
without the slightest indication of exhaustion. The
young lady, accompanied by her brother and mother—
all being, by the bye, professional swimmers—left the
Temple Pier in a steamer • but in order that the young
lady might get the tide to the best advantage the steamer
waited at the Old Swan Pier for thirty minutes. At
forty-two minutes past five Miss Parker, who had
dressed on board the steamer, embarked in a water
man's boat, and on making her appearance she met
with a hearty cheer from the passengers on board the
steamer, and from the occupants of a shoal of small
boats. 'The young lady, who possesses a remarkably
solid physique for one so young, and weighs above
10st., wore a costume of red llama trimmed with white
ribbon. Without Much preliminary ceremony she, on
the east side of the brirlge, plunged from the boat into
the water. At this moment London Bridge and every
possible spot where people could stand, including also
the decks of all kinds of craft, were crowded with
people. A general cheer arose when she took her
dive, which was renewed when, in a few seconds,
she rose to the surface, and with an easy
breast stroke began her task. Unfortunately the
occupants of a score or two watermen's boat were all
anxious to get within the scope of their oars, near her,
and the result was that the swimmer became com-
pletely surrounded with the boats, while the oars of
contending boatmen were asore than once in dangerous
contiguity to her head. A police galley with an in-
spector and two officers and Harry Parker, who stood
stripped at the prow of a boat ready for any emergency,
made every possible effort to keep a clear course, but
in vain. Although the steamer was only within a few
yards off her, she was as completely hidden from view
by the surrounding boats as if she Lad been swimming
twenty miles away. The boats gradually increasing,
they became utterly beyond the power of any system
of regulation, and the police very sensibly confined
their efforts to keeping a few yards clear water ahead
of the young lady. This they succeeded in doing with
more or less regularity, but it was probably owing
moreto the entreaties of Harry Parker than to any-
thing else that the steady progress of his sister was not
brought to an abrupt termination by the scandalous
conduct of the occupiers of the boats.
Miss Parker kept her head up bravely enough, and,
as far as could be ascertained from occasionalglimpses,
she did not appear to be much disconcerted by the
hopeless confusion and irregular competition around
her. Occasionally she would remonstrate with the
unruly occupants of a boat; while at other times she
entered into conversation with her brother. She
swam very quietly, and with a remarkably steady
stroke. Near the Canada Wharf she increased her
pace considerably, and she passed the Queen's Wharf
at 42i minutes after starting. Although much
naturally depended on the tide, it was not a very
good one for her, and it was, in fact, so sluggish
opposite the Commercial Graving Docks, that it
might have been dead water. A little further on the
swimmer saluted the passengers on the steamer by
raising her right hand out of the water and waving it
in the air, an act of courtesy and indication of strength
that elicited the warmest cheering. Very shortly after
this, amid cheers from the crews of passing steamers
and from the occupants of the unruly boats and ix
the presence of assembled thousands on the piers,
I Miss Parker reached Greenwich, the time from the
start being 1 hour 8 minutes. The course which she
took, or rather over which she was piloted, was dif-
I ferent from that taken by Miss Beckwith, and there-
fore the discussion which took place on the steamer as
to which young lady had beaten the other was worth-
less, where the difference, of course, was not taken
into consideration.
Without taking any refreshments or leaving the
water, Miss Parker struck out with renewed energy
for Blackwell. The whistles of tug boats screamed, a
gun was fired from Greenwich, the Gauntlet steamer
burnt rockets, the sailors up the rigging of vessels
cheered, and the faithful boats from London Bridge
struggled as frantically as ever all in the young lady's
honour. A few minutes after leaving Greenwich her
brother, removing the medals with which his breast
was resplendent, plunged into the water and accom-
panied her to the end. Blackwell was reached in 1
hour 37 minutes from the time of starting from
London Bridge. In two or three minutes more she
was on board the steamer, and under care of her
mother. But there was apparently not the least
diminution of energy, and she declared her ability to
swim as far again, her only complaint, in fact, being
, that she was not to be allowed " to swim home."