The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-18 00:00:00

Thames Swimming Match.

A swimming match of novel character came off on Satur-
day. It was organised by the London Swimming Club,
one of the valuable associations formed of late years for
the purpose of promoting the acquisition of a most valu-
able art. Thanks to the exertions of such men as Pew-
tress, Beckwith, and others, the acquisition of the art of
swimming has been reduced to a few easy lessons. 11911
who can swim their half-dozen miles in the Thames are
as plentiful as blackberries. Not long since Walker, a
north country swimmer, swam from London-bridge to
Greenwich, a distance of five miles 300 yards, in an hour,
and very recently we have heard of the astonishing feat
of a German swimming across Lake Constance, where it
is 12 miles in width. The competitors were to see who
could swim the longest as well as the furthest without
touching anything, and without taking any stimulant or
refreshment, as the aquatic German who traverses Lake
Constance does liberally. A gold medal, value £5, was
given as a first prize, with the entrance fees divided for
the second and third men. No really well-known Lou-
don crack swimmer entered, with the exception of the
veteran Beckwith, and he did so with the avowed inten-
tion of only refreshing himself by swimming two or three
miles, not with any idea of competing for the prizes.

The following were the names of those who contended :
Frederick Poole, Chas. Whyte, William Adams, W. Aviss
(of Coventry), E. A. Paton, G. J. Jarratt, W. Wood, J.
Slade, A. Chain; C. Williams, E. Rowley, R. Cooper, C.
Powell, F. Beckwith, and W. Payton.
A boat containing an umpire was told off for each three
competitors, to see that the conditions of the match were
not infringed, and also as a precautionary measure, in case
of any of them being seized by cramp. Towards the end
of the race, as the number of competitors was diminished by
men giving up, a boat accompanied each one. The start took
place from Teddington Lock, from boats placed acress the
river in line with the tail of the lock. The men of course
were stripped to their slight bathing drawers. All took
the water together, about five minutes to 3 o'clock, some
diving head first t‘nd coming up several yards in their
course down stream, others jumping in feet first. The
veteran Beckwith and a slight but plucky youngster,named
Aviss, soon showed in front, heading the rest of the com-
petitors, and improving their position for the first half mile
every stroke. Young Aviss, who had come all the way
from Coventry to measure his strength against the metro-
politans, swam in splendid style. After a short time he
swam away from Beckwith, who, not putting out his
strength, was challenged by Whyte, the next competitor,
and fell back into the third place, which he retained, swim-
ming easily until Eel Pie Island was reached, 25 minutes
after the start, when he gave up. His example in this re-
spect soon began to be followed by others, until the num-
ber was considerably diminished. At Richmond the order
was—Young Avis; loading near a quarter of a mile ;
Whyte coming next, followed by Adams, Powell, Poole,
Wood, and Rowley. Between Richmond and Kew Adams
and Powell gave in and retired from the contest. The
others swam on to Mortlake, when young Aviss's strength
gave out, and he was carried ashore to the ship. The race
now lay between Whyte, Wood, and
.Rowley, Poole
having given up about the same
time as Avi ss. Whyte
had a fine lead, and from his being in the habit of bathing
all the year round in the Serpentine,
chance was thought ehan andbeouing tt to considered
be ex-
ceedingly
capableof
good.bari ngcold, his
Wood, of Huddersfield, though far in
the rear, was swimming strongly, and being by far the
fattest of the competitors, had a great deal in his favour.
Whyte, on the contrary, was exceedingly spare, and there-
fore Abo
ul itkhe layl f tao
mile u
of f eorn
tshoeo s
dt
dlf
er
soemx
sitdhee
olf long Strand-on-th-
em
a inmd m_
oenr_stiboen_.
Green, Wood was seized with cramp, and had to call for
assistance, but before it could be rendered be recovered
hunself, and went on again as gamely as ever. Before
reaching the railway bridge at Barnes, Whyte and Wood
had the race to themselves ; the former was far a head,
but when half a mile on the Hammersmith side of the
bridge his powers gave out, and he was got ashore in a
fainting condition, after swimming between seven and
eight miles, and being in the water three hours and 20
minutes. Wood who was still strong, came gallantly up,
and after passing 20 yards beyond where Whyte was being
rubbed on the bank, was hailed by the referee as the win-
ner. Being towed to the shore he had strength enough to
walk up unassisted and dress himself.

Mr. Hanson, of the Chancery bar, succeeds Mr.
Trevor at the Stamp-office. Mr. Charles P. Phillips has
been appointed by the Lord Chief Justice revising barrister
for the City of London, in the place of Mr. Hanson, who
has been appointed to the Stamp-office.
DOES THE SPIDER EAT ITS WEB
emulation, I carefully watched a common ?—Fired
g m,ardietha
spider (Epeira diadema), which I found as entertaining at#
wonderful. I commenced by destroying the web of a fine
fat spider, and the owner appeared excessively astonished
as her web collapsed around her. At length she took
refuge in an inverted flower-pot, where I found her two
hours after. lam inclined to think that during this period
she was preparing materials for a new web. I fOund in every
case where a web is destroyed, that the spider goes away to
some quiet spot, and drawing his logs round him, remains
quiet for some hours. During this period of repose, the
spider is stupid and dull—just gives an impatient shuffle
when touched, but does not run off, as spiders gene-
rally do when disturbed. I watched again, then left, and
when I returned in half an hour I found the spider as ac-
tive as a spider could be in building a new web, the old
one, which at my last visit was still hanging, had now
vanished. Had the spider eaten it ?—" that's the rub."
By a lucky chance another spider came along the piece of
wood, from the end of which my spider had fastened one
of her foundation lines. " They met," and in au instant
the claws of each were shot out with a dexterity that a
pugilist might envy ; the blows were given in exactly tha
same manner as a cat strikes at her antagonist. The
trespassing spider was soon convinced that it would be the
height of folly to stay where he was, so, fastening a line
from where he stood, he let himself down on to a con-
volvulus leaf. My friend rushed to the spot where
spider N 0.2 had fastened his line, and seizing on it, the other
end of which, be it remembered, was in communication with
spider No: body, began to wind him off; that is to say she
drew the line in towards herself, in the same manner that a
sailor hauls in a rope, but with a a rapidity that was truly
wonderful, the front legs were moved so quickly that my
eyes could scarcely follow them. Spider No. 2 having a
decided objection to his vitals being wound away in this
sort of manner, put an end to my friend's little pastime by
cutting the line.- Spider No. 1 had now collected web that
amounted to about the size of a large pea ; when she found
the supply cut off, she began stowing it away in• her own
body, forcing it in with her two front claws, and in a few
moments not a vestige was left.-11. Yaks in. " Hard-
wicles Science Gossip."