CHANNEL SWIM

Evening Star, Issue 21722, 17 May 1934, Page 6

CHANNEL SWIM

SOKE FALSE CLAIMANTS It was reported recently that the Victorian Amateur Swimming Association had inquired into certain charges in connection with the three-mile swim in the Yarra on March 3, and had disqualified for life the competitor who had finished first in the race, but who was alleged to have left the water near Church street bridge and re-entered it some distance nearer the finishing post (says the Melbourne ‘ Ago ’). This incident recalls irregularities in connection with swimming the English Channel a few years ago. The first man to accomplish the feat of swimming the Channel was Captain Matthew Webb, who achieved success in August, 1875, his time for the swim being 21h 45min. A period of thirty-six years elapsed before the Channel swim was again accomplished, tho swimmer being T. W. Burgess, who achieved success in his sixteenth ' attempt. In the meantime Jabez Wolfe, tho noted English swimmer, had made no fewer than twentyone unsuccessful attempts to swim the Channel. In 1923 swimmers from various European countries and the United States attempted to swim tho Channel, and three were successful. Three years later five swimmers, including two American women, were credited with having swum tho Channel.

The explanation of these successes compared with repeated failures in earlier years by good swimmers was said to be duo to the modern realisation of the value of speed in swimming as a factor in conquering the Channel with its cross-currents. In tho old days it had been contended that endurance counted for more than speed, thht the breast stroke, being less tiring than the faster trudgeou stroke and its later development, the “ crawl,” was the only stroke suitable for loug-distance swims. But modern swimmers had discovered that it was possible to use the crawl for hours, and that tho extra distance gained by this stroke meant all the difference between success and failure in swimming tho Channel. Some of the earlier swimmers who had failed had been robbed of success by the turn of the tide when within half a mile of the shore. A little more speed in the earlier part of the swim would have turned failure into success. The five successful efforts to swim the Channel in 1926 brought forward numerous aspirants in the following year. One of these was Vanceles Spacek, a native of Czechoslovakia. In June of that year he claimed to-have swum the Channel from the French coast to Dover in the record time of 10b 46min. His claim was endorsed by the Czechoslovakian Legation at Paris without inquiry, and a glowing account of bis achievement was sent out by the legation to the Parisian newspapers, which published it with flaring headlines. This announcement from the legation stated that Spacek had been accompanied by a tug on which Dr Riba, counsellor of the Ministry of Health-at Prague, supervised the swim, and that on reaching Dover tho swimmer had been officially welcomed by the mayor of the town. Within twentyfour hours it was learned that Spacek had not oven attempted to swim the Channel, and that the story was false in every particular. There was another sensation of a similar kintf three months later, when an Englishwoman, Dr Dorothy Logan, claimed to have swum the Channel from Cape Grisnez, near Calais, to Shakespeare Beach, near Dover, in the remarkably good time of 13h 12min. She was awarded a prize of £I,OOO, which had been offered by a Sunday newspaper in London for the first woman to beat Miss G. Ederle’s time of 14h I3mjn when she swam the Channel in 1926. But French newspapers, remembering how they had been duped by Spacek, were sceptical about Dr Logan’s claim, though for a time it was accepted by English papers. As a result of inquiries made at Cape Grisnez French newspapers came to the conclusion that her claim was fraudulent, and they indulged in unsparing criticism of her. Eventually she confessed that her story was a hoax; that instead of swimming the Channel she had spent tlie night on a fishing boat, which had accompanied her when she set out from Cape Grisnez, and in the morning, when the boat was near tho English coast, she got into the water again and swam the last three miles to land. She explained that her object had been to throw doubt on previous claims by showing that there was no one vested with authority to supervise Channel swims and guarantee claims of success; that no person representing a responsible sporting association accompanied the swimmers in the boat which followed them. There was always a boat hired by the swimmer and manned by a few fishermen, who gave advice to the swimmer as to the course from time to time, supplied him or her with refreshments, and took the swimmer on board if exhausted before the journey was completed. Having confessed that her claim to have swum the Channel was a hoax, she returned the £I,OOO prize, but this did not satisfy the newspaper concerned. She was prosecuted for having made a false statutory declaration to the effect that she had fulfilled the conditions laid down by tho prize givers, was found guilty, and was fined £IOO.