IS IT WORTH WHILE?

Hawera Star, Volume L, 7 February 1931, Page 10

IS IT WORTH WHILE?

RISK IN FREAK SWIMMING CAPTAIN WEBB’S FATAL BID NIAGARA TRAGEDY RECALLED. This is an age of daring. Miss Mercedes Gleitze, an English woman, intends to make an effort to swim across, Cook Strait in New Zealand. There is no record of this having been done. No white man has achieved it, though Maori tradition says it was done in tho long ago by natives of the country. It is about 17 miles across at the narrowest part, and there is a powerful current called The Rip, so it may be a forty miles swim. Is it worth while? (writes J. C. Davies in the “Sydney Referee”). Captain Matthew Webb, the first man to swim the English Channel, in 1875, conceived the idea of swimming through the rapids that start below the Niagara Falls and sweep with terrifying roughness and velocity into the whirlpool about two miles below. lie was intrepid, powerful, and a ..great swimmer But he went to his deatn.

I It was doubted at the last moment I whether Webb would attempt the ■ feat. However, at 1 o’clock on Tuesday. July 24, 1883, he arrived at the falls. A rumour got into the newspapers thathe intended going over the Falls in a rubber ball. He laughingly denied this, adding that the man who had made that statement should be sent over the Falls himself. During the afternoon the Captain walked out and took a look over the course. He said that in going down the rapids he would be carried under the water by the current, and if he could hold his breath until he came up the surface he would he all right. He said he could easily hold his breath for a minute and a half. He would have to light to keep at the top. If he could not do so he said it would be- all up with him. ELEMENT OF LUCK.

When asked if he had well considered the matter, lie said it was a very I serious thing and all luck. He had I made propositions to the railway com'panies but they would not come to his j terms. They thought he was going to i commit suicide, and were not going to i encourage him. j At half past three Webb started for the Niagara River, while Frank Kyle, his agent, drove round in a hackney coach to the wliilrpool, where he expected to receive the Captain after his swim. In the meantime both the American and the Canadian banks of the river were lined with people, and even the Suspension bridges across the Rapids were crowded. Descending the cliff to the river below Niagara Falls, Webb entered a boat in waiting and was rowed by the. ferryman John McCoy, to the centre. He was fully composed and seemed quite confident of success. McLoy asked him how much he had made by the Channel swim, and he said 25,000 dollars. “Have you spent it all?” was the next question. “No,” answered W r ebb, “I have 15,000 dollars left.” “Then,” retorted the boatman, “Let me row yon ashore and spend the rest of your money before you try this swim.”

The Captain laughed, but did not answer. When the boat arrived at a point opposite the Maid of the Mist landing, the Captain stripped, _ retaining only a pair of red swimming drawers of thes mallest size. The greatest excitement now prevailed among the spectators.

LEISURELY START. At two minutes past four o'clock Webb dived from tlie boat, and amidst the shouts and applause of the crowds struck the water. He swam leisurely down the river, but made good progress. The Rapids were first reached at the site of the Hew Canada Southern Bridge, the river there being 500 feet wide. A short distance further it narrows to 300 feet. Webb passed along the Rapids at a great rate, and six minutes after making his first plunge, passed under the Suspension Bridge. At this point his speed was considerably increased, and the rushing waters carried him up and down like the motion of a swing. Immediately below the bridge the river becomes exceedingly violent, and as the under' streams formed by the Horseshoe Falls rise to the surface, a terrible effect is produced. As the water was clear, every move{merit of Webb could be seen. At one moment he was lifted high on the crest of a wave and the next he sank into the awful hollow* created. He was apparently still swimming with ease and confidence. About a quarter of a mile below the Suspension Bridge, the river | becomes quite narrow and impetuous. The rush of waters cause a current !to set from one side to the other alternately. It is impossible to adequately describe the fury of the river at this point, and thence to the whirlpool. Sometimes Webb would be struck by a -wave, and for a few moments would sink out of sight, He, however, rose to the surface without apparent effort, and the spectators drew a breath of relief. Once he was drawn under by the current and -when he rose he was 150 [yards from the spot where he sank. His speed momentarily increased and he was whirled along at a frightful pace. At a quarter of a mile frftm the whirlpool there is a sudden bend in the river. Here the reaves strike the American shore with a terrific force, and a. perfect hell of waters is created. It is at this point that the attractive power of the whirlpool is first felt, and here the greatest danger to Webb existed. Reaching this spot he sank, and a cry of despair went up from the spectators. TERRIFIC WHIRLPOOL.

lllc emerged again in comparatively smooth water and_ at last was seen to approach the sublimely terrific whirlpool. This spreads out in an almost circular direction, by a broad sweep to the west round to the north and back towards the south by the east. The rher enters at the south end at frightful speed. Webb swept into the neck of the whirlpools Rising on the crest of ihe highest wave his face towards the Canadian shore he lifted his hands once and then was precipitated into the yawning gulf. For one moment his head appeared above the angry swirlurn waters and apparently at the mercy furious eddies. He paused as if io decide what coarse to take, but the current decided for him. He was again drawn under the “water and seen no more. From the Suspension Bridge to the entrance to the whirlpool is one mile and a-quartcr and only five minutes was occupied in the journey. His body was found four miles below the rapids. An inquest revealed no symptoms of drowning and it was concluded that the shock from the force of the water in the whirlpool rapids, coming in contact with the submerged body with terrific force, destroyed the respiratory nower and all vital action.