The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-05-06
BOYTON'S GREAT FEAT.
His Attempt to Swim the English Cham
nel-The Life-Dress and the Mode of
PrOpulsiOn-The French Pilot Respon-
sible for the Failure.

His Attempt to Swim the English Cham
nel-The Life-Dress and the Mode of
Pr0pulsiOn-The French Pilot RespOn-
sible for the Failure.
Correspondence New York Herald.
BoULoGNE, April u.-At 2 O'Clock
yesterday morning the parlor of the Lord
| Warden Hotel, in Dover, presented a Gu
rious spectacle. A bright coal fire was
burning in the CRATE, throwing its ruddy
glow over a number OF queer-lOOking OBJ
jects and figures that were distributed
throughout the room-a table on which
were the remains of banquet, consisting
principally of champagne glasses and bot
ties, the latter looming up in the semi-ob-
scurity of the place, with their gold and
silver SUBMITS catching and throwing
back the ruddy glow of the fire, like
mountain peaks under the red light of the
setting sun. Strange, Outlandish looking
! objects were scattered about, such as an
| oar or two, a miniature sailboat. tackle
and other things suggesting thoughts of
the sea, and a number otstill more strange
and outandish figures were stretched out
on the floor. some along the walls, some
under the table, some with their feet to
the fire, with their heads on travelling
| bags or the backs of chairs turned up, and
wrapped in blankets, shawls or Ulster
Oyercoats, all asleep. Standing up against
the wall, like a sentinel on his post, in
| distinctly seen in the flashes of the fire,
was strange figure resembling a cross
between knight in armor and an Esqui-
maux, the only thing that seemed to be
awake, and which glowered over the
| sleeping figures on the floor in a threat
ening way that ought to have given them
most unpleasant dreams. The sleeping
men are the press delegation who have
come to Dover to witness Captain Boy
toms attempt to
SWIM THE ENGLISH CHANNEL,
and the Esquimaux or knight in armor is
the life dress used by the intrepid swim
mer in his hardy undertaking, which has
been set up against the wall for eXhibi-
ton, veritable suit of armor for his
struggles with the winds and the waves.
He was to start at O'Clock, and we all
decided that it was not worth while to go
! to bed, and so we turned the parlor into a
battlefield, whereOn perished many bot
! tie Of pale ale, stout and champagne, and
then went TO sleep until the hour for start
| ing. Suddenly there is the sound of a
horn, announcing the hour of departure,
and we all start to our feet. We gather
| up our effects, get ON our sea-clOthes,
swallow cup of coffee, while the glover
ing knight leaning against the wall sud-
denly takes life and stalks out among us,
Initiating himself by blowing through lit
tie pipes until the knight disappears and
only the EsQuimauX remains. Then we
all troop down to the quay, whence the
swimmer is going TO take his start, and
amid great crowd that have gathered to
see him off, a most horrible DIN, uproar
and confusion, caused by the shouting and
rush of the people, the whiZ of rockets, the
putting of steamboats,, the hOarse voice of
what appears to be uncomfortable speak
ing-trumpets, the glare of Bengal lights
and burning pitch, we manage to scramble
aboard the tug destined to convey us along
with the swimmer. Then we look down
aud see a huge object like a devil-fish
stopping about in the water right under
our wheel, which has slowly commenced
turning, but with a vigorous push it glides
out from under us among the boats and
| ships, and passes out from the circle of
| light into the darkness beyond. Then
there is an ear-splitting report, a sea of fire
| right under our noses, which blaZeS in the
/ faces of the crowd on the quay. When
| the smoke clears away we behold what
appears to be several human heads float
| ing in the water, which turn out to be on
| ly hats, carried away by the force of the
( explosion. 1t was the tugs gun which
had been stupidity fired right into the
crowd on the wharf, not more than ten
/ feet distant. We were greeted with curses
and imprecatiOns as well as cheers rs we
| slowly got under way and | would not
he at all surprised to hear that somebody
had been seriously injured by the flash of
the gun, and good many must have had
their hair, eyela,hes and eyebrows singed,
besides the damage in their clothes and the
| loss of their hats. But
WHERE Is BOYTON?
We can see nothing of him although
we strain our eyes in every direction as the
! tug slowly steamS out into the darkness.
At length we hear his horn far out on the
water and we Immediately make for him
| In order to take the lead and show him the
way. The lights are put out because they
only take away our sight for any thing
| outside the ship, but although we hear
the sound of the swimmers horn now and
| then and the splash of his paddle coming
| to us over the water, the darkness is too
| intense to allow us to catch a glimpse of
! him.
We push slowly forward, keeping him
within hail. as the lights of Dover gradu-
| ally grow dim and indistinct in the dis
| lance and the lighthouse on the Goodwin
| Sands shines clear and bright like the star
! of morning. 1t was a cold, raw morning,
made all the rawer and colder by the
thought of the man padding along in the
cold gray water beside US. 1t made one
shudder to think of the water dashing
over his face, nOtw thstanding the fact
that he was probably warmer than any OF
us. At length day began to break, cloudy,
and gray and cold, and soon we began TO
catch glimpses of the swimmer, tossed
about by a chOpping sea, but padding
cheerfully along. At O'Clock we were
about mile off Goodwin Sands, the tide
having carried us in a direction about
east-sOutheast from Dover.
The pilot employed by BOytOn was one
sent over from BOulOgne by the French
Societe Hunaine, said to be the best on
the French coast. The course agreed up
on between him and Boyton was as fol-
lows: Take the tide running northeast
from Dover at 3 in the morning, which
would carry them seven or eight miles in
that direction somewhere off Goodwin
Sands. Here the tide turns al
about O'Clock and runs southeast
down the Channel. They would follow
this tide TO point considerably south ol
BOulOgne, where the current turns anC
sweeps again to the east and flows into
BoulOgne harbor, which they hoped tC
reach about O'Clock in the afternoon
making distance of sixty miles. 1t wai
, a very roundabout course, and L think II
would have been far better to have strucl
straight across the channel, cutting across
the currents as much as possible, instead
: of following them. In this way, although
, , the swimmer would have been undoubted
: lv driven far out of bis course by the cur
rents, he would have been carried bacl
again by them, and would at the sam
time have made much more progress for
ward. At o'clock, when daylight came
every thing was going well, and the exac
course indicated by the pilot had bee
: followed-only we had started abou
twenty minutes late. BOytOn now swan