Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-10-17
GREAT SWIMMIN FEATs.
Achievements with Viii THAT 81
Of Old Does Not


Leanoer, who used nightly to SWIM
the HeliespoHt to meet his lady love, il
probably the first 1ong-distance swim
mer of whom there is any definite rec
ord, though the Hellespont would not
be thought a very formidable strait by
a modern athlete, as it is only about a
mile across. The strength of the cur
rent there, however, renders it impos-
sible for even a boat to cross in a direct
line, and Lord Byron, who in 1910 swan
the Hellespont in company with Lieut..
Ekenhead, actually covered a distance
of about four miles. Among the Ro-
mans. Horatins, who swan the Tiber
after his heroic feat in keeping Lars
Porsepa and his army at bay, can
hardly be reckoned among long-dis-
tant swimmers, as the river is only
about 100 yards across, says the Chi
cago Daily News.
Apparently the first attempt ever
in 1872, when Johnson, known as the
hero of London bridge" started from
Dover. The cold of the water, however,
was so intense that he was obliged to
give in after a comparatively short
distance, but he is said to have "
cred seven miles in 65 minutes. The
next effort was that by the famous
Capt. Webb three years later. The first
great swimming feat of Capt. Webb
was his heroic attempt when on board
the Cunard liner the Russia, to save a
seaman who had fallen overheard in
mid-Atlantic. His next exploit was his
On --aS1a r1-S-, fo-, DIoa1-r-aI1 -
Gravesend, a distance he accomplished
in a few minutes under five hours.
Then on August -, 1875, he made his
first attempt to cross the channel,
which ended in failure. On August "a
he again started, leaving Dover at one
o'clock. A wind arose and the sea
roughened, and only his indomitable
pluck enabled him to keep up the strug-
gle. He finally landed at Calais at 10:40
a. m, after being in the water 81 hours
and 5 minutes. His success made him
a popular hero; he was greeted with
the widest enthusiasm wherever he
went, and unfortunately it must to
some extent be reckoned the indirect
cause of his tragic death in 1888, in his
wild attempt to swim the Niagara rap
ids.
The next channel swim was by Davis
Dalton, an American, who started from
Boulogne at -four o'clock on August II,
1890. The night was cold and rainy
and the tide drifted him considerably
out of his course but it was claimed
that he was successful in reaching
Folkestone at $3.50 o'clock the next day,
having covered between so and 60 miles.
Many attempts have been made since
to swim the channel, but none have
been wholly successful. Fisher and
Dalton attempted to swim from Dover
to R~amsgate. a feat which Capt. Webb
had once performed, but were unsuc-
cessful. In 1897 Peter McNally, of Bos-
ton, started from Dover at II o'clock,
accompanied by a lugger. As a suit
able diet he chose beef extract, essence
of ginger and chewing tobacco. BY
eight o'clock exhaustion began to set
in and he suffered greatly from cramp:
but he went doggedly OF until he be-
came delirious and his friends dragged
him forcibly into the 1ugger. The last
attempt. and one which was very near
ly successful, was that of Frank
Holmes, in September, 1898. Starting
from Dover, he swan within six miles
of the French coast, when,a fog COM
ing on and the wind beginning to rise
he andOn his ATTEMPT.