CHANNEL SWIM

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 April 1934, Page 10

CHANNEL SWIM

SOME 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-en-tered it some distance nearer the. finishing post, says the Melbourne “Age.” 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, 1575, his time tor the swim being 21 hours 45 minutes. A period of 36 years elapsed before the Channel swim was again accomplished, the swimmer being T. W. Burgess, who achieved success in his sixteenth attempt. In ihe meantime Jabcz Wolfe, the noted English swimmer, had made no fewer than twenty-one unsuccessful attempts to swim Ihe Channel. In 1923 swimmers from various European countries and the United States tit-j tempted to swim the Channel, and ( three were successful. Three years , later five swimmers, including two • American women, were credited with : having swum the Channel. ! The explanation of these successes compared, with repeated failures in. earlier years by good swimmers was said to be due to the modern realisation of the value , of speed in swimming as a factor in conquering the Channel with its cross currents. In the old days it had been contended that endurance counted for more than speed, that the breast stroke, being less tiring than the faster trndgeon stroke and its later development the “crawl” was the only stroke suitable for long-distance swims. But modern swimmers had discovered that it was possible to use the crawl for hours, and that, the extra distance gained by this stroke meant all the difference between success and failure in swimming the 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 th<: 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 10- hours 46 minutes. His claim was endorsed by the Czechoslovakian Legation at Baris without inquiry, and a glowing account of his 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. Riha, Counsellor of the Ministry of Health at Prague, supervised the swim, and that on reaching Dover the swimmer had been officially welcomed by the Mayor of that town. Within twenty four hours it was learned that Spacek had not! even attempted to swim the Channel, and that the story was false in every particular. There was another sensation of a similar kind three months later, when

an Englishwoman, Dr. Dorothy Logan, claimed to have swum the Channel from Cape Grisnez, near Calais, to Shakespear Beach, near Dover, in the remarkably good time of 13 hours 12 minutes. She was awarded a prize of £lOOO, which had been offered by a. Sunday newspaper in London for the first woman to beat Miss G. Ederle’s time of 14 hours 30 minutes 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 the night on a fishing boat, which had accompanied her when she set out. from Cape Grisnez, and in the morning when ihe boat was near the 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 exhaust-, ed before the journey was completed. Having confessed that her claim to 1 have swum the Channel was a. hoax, she returned the £lOOO prize, but this | did not satisfy the newspaper con- 1 cerned. She was prosecuted for having made a false statutory declaration to the effect that she had fulfilled the conditions laid down by the prize giversj was found guilty, and was fined £lOO.