The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-06-18
Peter McNaIIy Will Attempt a
400 Nile Swim.
Hopes to Cover Distance From
Boston to New York.
WILL REQUIRE 80 DAYS
Once Attempted to Swim From
England to France.
Was in the Water Fifteen Hours
and Ten Minutes.

Boston, June 1s.-On Sunday, June 30.
Peter S. AfcNally. of this city, clad only
in a pair of small swim ming trunks.
win dive of the end of Charleston
bridge into Boston harbOr and start TO
SWIM to the Battery in New York
Weather permitting. he viii make Nan
tasket Beach, about II miles. the first
day.
The shortest sailing distance between
Boston and New York is 2s2k nautical
or about $50 land miles. AIcNally esti-
mates that he viii actually cover some
100 miles, and he hopes to make the
entire distance in 30 days
This swim, If successful VIII pc Dy
all odds the most remarkable feat of
its kind ever performed There have
been many swimming contests requir-
ing fine endurance, but nothing Ike q
50 days trip was ever attempted by
anyone
McNally is the most rem arkable
swimmer in New England, If not in the
country. He has made many long dis
lance trips in the water and many
seasons has spent from three to eight
hours in the water every day for weeks
at a time.
Hise most notable performance was
his attempt to swim from England to
France in 1897. Leaving Dover at 11:2O
a. m. on July "a. he swan TO within
three miles Of Cape Grisnez, being
1OrClD1E taken from LnC wafer at lAAeAL
point at 2:30 a. m, when his trainers
concluded that the attempt was hope
less, owing to an adverse tide He
had been in the water Is hours and 10
minutes. and had actually swan from
S5 to 80 miles, considerably more than
the distance across the channel
He was told afterward by a French
fisherman that at one time he was SO
close to the French coast he could have
put his feet down and waded ashore.
Some of his other notable swims
were these July. 1884, Bath to Pop
ham Beach, Me, IS nautical miles. 3
hours u minutes; August 1885, Ores
cent Beach to Nahant, Mass, miles
across the tide in cold and rough water,
3 hours 81 minutes; June, 1885, CaSWelfS
wharf, Charlestown, to Cottage Farms
and back. u miles, hours 81 minutes;
July, 1856, Meridian street bridge, Chel-
sea, to the end of Ocean Pier. South
Boston. across Boston harbor. miles.
hours IA minutes: August. 1886, Cas-
wells wharf to Medford and return,
IA N lies. hours II minutes; July, 1895,
HaVerhiI to the mouth of the Merri-
mac river, Is miles, 6 hours: August,
1886, Newport. r.. l.. to NerraganSett
Pier. u miles. hours 81 minutes
The last named swim had never been
made by any other man before Nc
Nally tried It. He was warned not to
attempt the journey as being almost
certain death. but he did, and made a
record that stands to this day. He has
several times swan the piece of water
between Deer Island in Boston hafbOr
and the mainland. known as Shirley
Gut This water is so fierce that IL is
commonly said 10 be impossible for
man to cross from shore to shore and
emerge alive
But more important than McNally's
swimming records is his record as
Iifesaver. In 1886. for an investigated
record of At rescues from drowning, he
was awarded a silver medal by tho
Massachusetts Humane society. In
1891 the Massachusetts Humane society
awarded him another token of appre-
citation, an enormous gold medal