The Portland daily press., 1900-08-27
A LONG SWIM.
Fxom the Cape to the Beath at Cush-
tng's Island.

Saturday morning two of the guests of
the Ottawa house, Cushing's island, sue
ceeded in making a great record. They
accomplished the rare feat of swimming
across the channel between Cushings
and Cape Cottage. This has been tried
repeatedly for many seasons, the attempt
having been made by different parties on
more than one occasion this summer. The
last time 5hat any swimmer turned the
trick was nineteen years ago. The cot
tagers Oh the island and the guests at the
Ottawa this season have been making a
great deal of talk about the possibility of
such thing being done. They hardly
believed that 1t would be possible for any
man, no matter how expert a swimmer
he might be, to brave the big, dashing
waves and very strong current which al
ways runs in this channel. Some people
even thought that the attempt would be
a fool-hardy one.
There were two gentlemen, however,
who wers confident that they could make
the swim and they were determined to
try the experiment. before the present
season should roll by. These gentlemen
were Mr.. Warren Darling of Toronto,
Can, who is a student in the Toronto
University, and Mr.. Gordon Gushing of
Montreal who is the son of Mr.. Thomas
Gushing, president of the Montreal
Brewing company. These two young
men, in talking with other guests of the
Ottawa and people on the island few
days ago, expressed a willingness to
test their abilities in the swimming line
and promised that they would try their
fortunes on the first hot day When they
arose Saturday morning they quickly
recognized that the weather WAS to be
most favorable and that the rays of the
sun were likely to be about as torrid as
any that have shone down on the island
this summer. Accordingly they gave
the word that they would be ready dur
ing the forenoon to show their prowess.
After surveying the situation they dscid
ed that they would first row over to that
part of the Cape shore on which is stu
ated the Cape Cottage casino building
and would then try to swim back to the
beach on that part Of the island where
are placed the bathing houses, In order
to prevent any danger that might happen
and to have parties near at hand to rem
der any assistance, another boat accom-
panied them, following directly behind
the swimmers. AS they startsd out on
their undertaking quite number of their
friends remained on the beach to witness
the event. There were also number of
people on the Cape shore who were in
terested spectators. When Mr.. Darling
and' Mr.. Cushing pushed their boats out
from the island and prepared to row
across they were given a hearty cheer by
their friends
Everything went we'll and Mr.. Darling
and Mr.. Cushing roWed across to the
Cape shore without any difficulty and
then swan back to the island. They were
timed in their feat and when they had
swan up to the beach and had walked up
to their bathing houses the watches were
pulled out by the judges. 1t was found
that the time for the round trip was ex-
actly thirty 1.-TWO minutes. Both OF the
persevering and successful swimmers
came in for some loud praise for their
work. Their feat was the talk at the OF
tawa and abou6 the island throughout the
day. Both swimmers stood the remark
able aquatic journey in good style, went
along without being assisted at all and
were not tired or weakened from their
exertions when they had finished their
work. They stated that the water was of
q tine temperature.
The distance between Gushing s and the
Cape shore is q mile and a half. TO the
observer standing either on the westerly
p iazzas of the Ottawa house or in the
Cape casino building this distance looks
to be hardly as great as a mile and
half. However, the intervening space
has been surveyed by the government
officials and found to be Of this length.
Then, too Mr.. Darling and Mr.. Gushing
swa m distance somewhat exceeding a
mile and half, Their course was in
diagonal direction from the Cape shore
and they were also diverted to quite an
extent by the powerful current.