The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-10-28
REMARKABLE SWIM.
English Champion Covers AZ Miles in
18 Hours in Rough Sea.
From the London Standard.

From the London Standard
The tug Canada, which accompanied I.
w. Burgess on his attempt to swim
, across the channel yesterday, returned to
| Dover this morning shortly after o clock
and on landing the details of one of the
most sensational channel swims ever car
rled out were supplied by our special cor
respondent, who was on board the tug.
An extraordinary feature of the day s
proceedings was that Burgess swan
across the Goodwin Sands, where it was
impossible for the attendant tug to fol-
low him. This part of the journey was
commenced at 9:35 a. m, two and three
quarter hours after the start from st.
Margarets Bay. The small feeding boat
accompanied the swimmer on the hazard
Gus swim over the sands, which occupied
about an hour The sea was In quite a
boil, and the swirling, badly broken wa
ter was so bad that the swimmer had
to use the breast stroke in order to keep
high enough out of the water and les
sen the punishment. 1t is the first time
on record that any Channel swimmer
has been across the sands.
The tug was able to get into company
with him again near the South Goodwin
Buoy shortly after 10 80. The struggle
over the sands had been eXhausting, and
Burgess was compelled to take 1t easy
for time after getting clear.
An interesting incident happened about
noon. The Hull trawler Colonial Empire
bore down onto the tug, thinking the
Canada was in distress, as she had the
mot under control signal flying On
finding what was happening the Hull men
gave Burgess an encouraging cheer, with
shouts of Good old Yorkshireman" At
noon Burgess rested and enjoyed a meal
consisting principally of chicken and bow
ril, followed by grapes. The haze still
kept very thick and all around the dis
NAL noise of syrens and fog-signals OF
shipping could be heard. 1t was esti-
mated at / 20 by the position of the East
Goodwin lightship that the French coast
was 10 miles off and that a strong cur
rent was setting in that direction. Inc
swim continued successfully, and at 3:1o
Burgess was judged to be nine miles from
Calais, and within the next hour the
swimmer was consulting with his pilot
as to the position and requesting that
he should be shown the chart.
Burgess considered success certain, ana
was greatly encouraged. The sea was
quite smooth and with warm tempera-
ture (6S), the haze partially keeping the
scorching heat of the sun off the swim
mer A BOulogne smack was fallen In
with at 5 O'Clock, and in reply to a ques-
ton as to the swimmers position, the
Frenchmen stated that 1t was 10 kllome-
tres off Calais, which the party could
hardly believe. 1t was after O'CLOCK De
fore the first correct bearing could be
obtained, this being when the coast lights
were picked up. This gave the swimmer
position as eight miles off the French
coast BY O'Clock the distance had been
reduced to 5i4 miles off Calais.
The tide was still driving east and an
hour later with the shelving away OF the
French land, Burgess had the heart
breaking experience of finding himself
half mile further from his goal. lie
had rouy been swimming for 16 hours,
and he experienced a very bad time short
ly afterward and was given some cham
payne and this revived him. Weidman
Joined him in the water in case of any
thing happening, as Burgess had COM
planned of cramp. The position of the
lights shortly after midnight showed That
Burgess was now six miles off Calais on
the outer Ruytingen bank, driving away
toward the North Sea.
At 1850 Burgess was again in trouble
with muscular cramp, and Horace New
got into the feeding-boat ready in case
Burgess showed any sign of collapse.
Weidman swimming in very close COM
pany His condition got worse, and short
ly after l o'clock this morning hot water
from the tugs boiler was poured over
him in the sea to attempt to relieve the
cramp but was ineffective, and at LIS
this morning Burgess was compelled to
give up the struggle. and was assisted
onto the tug.
He had been then swimming just over
IS hours, and in that time had COW
cred AZ miles. After medical attention
and was also taken straight to bed on
arriving at his hotel at Dover.
This was Burgesss seventh attempt to
swim the Channel and his third (and
finaD this season.
His best previous performance was on