Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-12-30
PAUL BOYNTON'S SWIM.

Col. Forney Tells the story. of a Brave
Mans Deed-Afoat and Alone in the
Ocean. rN .eua
Correspondence of the Philadelphia Press.
A few days afterward I met Penn
sylvanian, not quite SO renowned as the
Austrian lieutenant, but in another
sphere even more of a curiosity in Lon
don. [ refer to resident of Philadel .
phia, Captain Paul Boynton, of the New
Jersey life guard at Atlantic City, now
here after his extraordinary feat of
throwing himself into the ocean, from
the National steamship Queen, on the
stormy night Of October 81, seven miles
off Fastnet rock, on the Irish rock
bound coast. He began his experiment
east of Baltimore, where the cliffs are
1870 feet high and more, and, after being
seven hours in the water, swimming
over 40 miles, he finally guided him
self, in the midst of the tempest, into
one of the assures on that terrible
shore. He was clad in the life-saving
American, Mr.. Merriman, and aided by
his great skill as a swimmer and
diver, his cool courage
and strong constitution, performed
feat which, when the pews reached
London, was regarded as hoax, and
generally commented upon as another
evidence of American exaggeration.
You have heard the story how he at
tempted to get passage on several of
the outgoing American steamers from
New York in vain, because the cap
tains knew that he would attempt to
leap from the ship to prove the Ameri-
can apparatus Of Mr. Merriman, and
how, finally he obtained berth on the
National steamer the Queen, and was
prevented only by main force from
jumping overheard when 800 miles from
New York, and how at length, at 9
o'clock on Tuesday evening, October
q, off the Irish coast, he persuaded the
captain to put him down the side, and
all alone, In dark, tempestuous night,
clothed In his India-rubber air-tight
suit, with its inflated air-chambers, with
food for three days, a compass, bulls
eye lantern, some books, several signal
rockets, an American flag, with num-
Der of letters belonging to the passen-
with his bowie-knife and axe at
Ills SIu0, hO }StI1Oio,
and amid the cheers of the crew and
company entered upon his awful jour
ney. Every soul on board believed that
was the last of the brave fellow. Iwish
you could hear him tell the story of his
condition after being tossed on those
mountainous seas for seven long hours;
how he was cast In the rocky fssUre on
the Irish coast; how in the dark night
he scaled the almost perpendicular
cliffs, and, mounting the top, fired off
his signal-rockets for the relief that
never came; how he descended the dan
gerous declivity, stripped off his pre-
server, and walked, bruised and batter
ed, until he came to little Irish town,
the barefooted inhabitants of which re-
garded him pretty much as the Indians
beheld Columbus, or Robinson Crusoe's
man, Friday" stared at the sight Of
the shipwrecked sailor; how, at last, he
got to Skibbareen, where he posted the
letters entrusted him by the passengers
of the Queen, who had all given him
he telegraphed them to Cork that he
had arrived and would soon be among
them. "While the houses were being
shaken and roofs being blown off in
BEondon," says the Daily News OF Octo-
Der %, ''this bold mariner was alone on
the stormy sea, encased in his magic
dress, carried up and down the alter
nate hills and valleys of the ocean," His
passage through Ireland was something
more than a triumph; the ''man- fish, ''as
he is called, became the object of wild
curiosity and admiration. Crowds fol
lowed after him, and when he got to
Cork he was welcomed at the theater by
the band playing ''Star-spangled Ban
ner.'' and on the 9th of October ex-
hibited himself in the harbor near
Queenstown for more than an hour.
He proved at once the efficiency OF
his 1ife-saving suit and his own dar.
ING courage. He fired off rockets,
burnt signal-lights, ate and drank,
knocked the neck off bottle Of lemon
AIDE. hoisted his flag twined round with
Ne irish green, and excited bewllder-
h enthusiasm. Repeating these ex-
periments on several other occasions,
he performed some extraordinary feats
in the city of Dublin, andson the 7th OF
November, at the theatres, geological
Gardens, in the river Liffey, and here,
as everywhere. he attracted an immense
,oncourse. The same scene took place