Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-07
BY GERTRUDE EDERLE.


BY Cable to The Star.
DOVER. England. August Here
II is hours since / have accomplished
the ambition of my life as swimmer
and ! am rather at loss for words
| to tell what ! have been able to do
or how / did it.
I, frankly, am more than a little
iaked by my success and by the abuse
I took from the toughest sea / have
ever encountered for any considerable
length of time. At that, | was sure
all the time that / would make the
crossing whatever the conditions. But
now that it Is all over 1t Is difficult to
explain away the fears that, it APP
pears. a lot of those friends of mine
aboard the Alsace had for me when
was swimming along in good shape
and had in no wise lost confidence in
my ability to find the English shore,
wherever Bill Burgess indicated 1t lay.
Felt Cramps at Start.
Probably not more than a quarter
of an hour after took off from Girls
Nez I experienced rather severe
cramps in my stomach, but as my
trainer was then cautioning me to
take IL easy and save up for the
tougher stages of the swim ! saw no
occasion to mention the fact, for
then would have had to put back. no
doubt. and after the seizure passed,
make a fresh start.
We had gotten under way about 20
minutes behind schedule and the day
promised to be so favorable that l was
anxious to continue without any
further delay.
TSkely it was the peach I ate for
entirely approve of it, any way, but /
felt like eating it.
But, any how. the discomfort soon
wore off as l continued to swim slowly
for a time And after that it was all
lust a good, long. hard swim. l never
dreamed that they were worrying
about me along about the eleventh
hour, as they tell me they were, until
some one-I don't know ~ho-called
to me loudly to board the tug
Thought Some One Kidding.
At first I thought somebody was
kidding me, and then l was angry.
hut couldn't make out who had
shouted the order. and as l knew it
wasn't pop or Burgess. dismissed the
incident from my mind. l was feeling
quite strong just then, although had
spells previously as the water con-
tinued to grow more and more rough
and the occasionally visible cliffs
north of Dover seemed still mighty
far away and the tide terribly strong
to ATTEMPT to cross to landward.
1t was more than heartening to me
every time one of my swimmer friends
came alongside me to keep me com
pany for "a time, but | think the sweet
est words I ever heard We're those
from Pop and Burgess and Margaret
and Julie Harpman when, after we
had gone past the nasty Goodwin
shoals, they suddenly burst forth with
the assurances that l could not miss
then-that the worst of 1t was over.
The seas were vicious and icy, but
the proximity of the shore and the
pelting rain seemed to f1atten out the
water bit for short intervals and l
knew / was making good time. at
no time felt weak physically While |
was In the water and the feeling of
elation l had when Burgess instructed
me to squirt across the tide toward the
beach that proved to be toward Wal
mer Castle, Deal, from Kingsdown.
TT won't be long now l told my
self-af1d it wasn't. For, though
knew / still could cover a good many
miles IL need be, somehow the 1h0ught
OF feeling the surf roll and then the
good old terra firma beneath me was
anything but unpleasant, and I'll say
| put all I had into trudgeon crawl
squirt that took me in in what seemed
like no time at all.
Felt Intoxicated at First.
I experienced an intoxicating feeling
of elation as / swan under water
through the heavy surf and found a
footing in the beach sand. / can't
fully describe that sensation. My head
swan a bit--it had been SO long since
I had stood erect. But ! wasn't grog-
gy nor particularly fatigued, though.
when / took stock of myself. | found
my face singing from the long hours
of wave slaps and little swollen, and
my tongue stiff and painful to move.
A lot Of English people swarmed
about me and prevented smy going
back into the water to swim to the
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