The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1883-08-17

As Captain Matthew Webb, the great
English swimmer, lost his life while try
ing to outstrip all the known swimming
achievements, few instances of the
memorable long-distance sWims may
prove interesting.
IL is not so very long ago that the
mythical swimming feat of Leander,
and the more recent accomplishments of
Lord Byron in traversing the Helles-
pont, were considered the greatest Of all
natatorial achievements, but with the
advent of such swimmers as old Fred
Beckwith, Harry Gurr, Captain Webb,
E. Z. Jones, and still later on Willie
BeckWith, the historical and poetical
long-distance swim sinks into compare
tive insignificance. The first record of
long distance swimming was in England
some twenty years back, when all the
cracks competed in a ten-mile race.
This affair took place in the early days
of the side-stroke, and long before it
was thought that man could stay in the
water more than six hours without be-
ing exhausted; both Harry Gurr and
Fred Beckwith were aG1ang these con-
testants, but they made no show at all,
and soon exhausted themselves with
their laborious, though fast method of
propulsion. The ultimate winner was
found in the person of a Mr.. Wood, of
Huddersfeld, whose exceeding obesity
kept him warm longer than his more
youthful antagonists, and so he won.
He was poor swimmer as regards
speed and style, but could stay. in the
water as long as he wished, and had
it not been for the change of
tide he would have put more miles
to his credit. He occupied eight hours
in making the ten miles, which had as
their starting point Teddington locks
or their vicinity, on the River Thames.
Soon after this feat of Mr.. Woods young
Harry Gurr talked of crossing the
English, channel, and twas said that the
Emperor Napoleon took great interest in
the attempt, and meant to assist the
youthful natator with money and the aid
of government boats as well as pilots.
Gurr had two theories on the subject,
one was to swim the twenty-mile
stretch of water, driving a plank before
him in the style that schoolboys have
to paddle around in the water. The
other was to 90 across the channel I'M
aided by any artificial means, and using
his own peculiar overland stroke
This method of propulsion was very
curious, and while the athlete would
avoid the force of broken or rough
water, the long dimensions at the end of
each stroke were all calculated to ex-
haust him long before the white sands
of Calais could be seen, let alone reached.
Whether it was the knowledge of his
defective style-defective it was for a
long distance-that made him give up
his attempt is not known, or whether
Louis Napoleon withdrew his pecuniary
aid, so necessary to such a task, will
remain a mystery, but the project was
abandoned, and Gurr went back to his
fast swimming and his unbroken list Of
victories, for, like Hanlan, the champion
oarsman, he was never beaten in a
matched race, and very rarely in race
of any description.
Another of England's famous swim
mers was Harry Coulter, who was both
speedy and stanch. He was breast
swimmer, and as such was better calcu-
lated to get through seaway than any
of the side or overland experts He
was really the first one who ever tried a
long stretch in the open sea, and his
feat of eighteen years ago, when he beat
weatherbeaten tar, who imagined he
could keep afoat forever, is still fresh
in the memory of those who follow such
matters. In this race Coulter beat his
adversary out of sight
The next item of long-distance swim
ming in the chronicles is that of Cap
tain Mat. Webb, whose fate all deplore.
He went across the English channel I'M
aided, and stamped himself as the very
best long-distance swimmer ever seen or
heard of. Had his speed been equal to
his staying power, none of the cham
pions whose forte is sWiftness would
have had any business with the Captain.
That he was not a fast swimmer in any
sense of the word is patent from his
showing with Willie Beckwith, and the
races with the American champion
Ernest Won Schoening, who beat him
by long distance in ten-mile swim at
Locust Grove three years ago.
OF course Captain Webb had many
imitators, and one of them, Fred.
Cavil, almost disputes the channel
record with the Captain. This gentle
man was well-known short distance
swimmer in England fifteen years ago,
and is said to be one of the very best
saltwater swimmers ever seen. His
stroke was well calculated to take him
a long distance and at a very rapid rate,
and his friends claim that he went
from Dover to Calais much fast
er than Webb did, but through some
hitch in the arrangements he never got
clear record for his trouble. To many
people these long-distance swims have
no real significance, but that they do
good for all communities is fact, and
the accomplishment channel swims is
well calculated to inspire the timid with
confidence. Swimming is not a hard
ACCOMPLISHMENT to acquire, and when an
ordinary swimmer ought to be able to
traverse a mile in fresh water and near
ly double that distance in the sea, while
a good swimmer would be able to propel
himself ten miles in salt water; but the
great trouble is that even those who con-
slider themselves expert swimmers lose
all their confidence as soon as they get
too far from the shore or begin to feel
the least weary Next to swimming,
floating is the most desirable thing in
the water, and good foater can lie on
the top of the water for hours; even
when cramp-t the bugbear of all swim
mers catches him he can lie motionless.
In state Of rigidity the body can not
sink. it is the laundering about that
does the damage. Imaginary cramp
and the undertow have drowned more
good swimmers than anything else.
Fright often takes the place of the first
named ailment, while a receding tide is
often miscalled an undertow. There is
no such thing as undertow twenty yards
from the shore, but if the tide is ebbing
the work is Just as hard on the swimmer.