THE CHANNEL SWIM.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 143594, 7 September 1911, Page 3

THE CHANNEL SWIM.

SUCCESS AT LAST. 'ATTAINED BY BURGESS. By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. (Received Sept. 7, 8.50 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 6. Burgess successfully accomplished the Channel swim. AN EXCITING JOURNEY. TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN THE WATER. (Received Sept. 7, 11.15 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 6. Burgess made his fourteenth attempt to swim the English Channel yesterday. He left the South Foreland at 10.55 in the morning and reached Cape Grisnez at 10.30 to-day.

He made fine progress at the outset, but a thick fog camo ou in the evening. No news of the swimmer and the accompanying motor boat could be procured, and for a time there was some anxiety.

The sea remained calm and the temperature of the water was 66 degrees compared with 6k degrees when Webb acomplished the feat. Burgess made a plucky struggle against the rapid tides and driftage.

He met with a great reception on. returning to Dover none the worse for his experience. He wins a 250-guinea cup.

[The first channel swimmer noted in history was Leander, who swam the Hellespont, a narrow strait a mile wide, to visit his lady love, and ultlmateJy perished on a rough, night. Lord Byron repeated the exploit. The English Channel swim has been attempted many times, but Captain Matthew Webb has hitherto been the only swimmer who has proved successful. The distance from Dover to Calais is only 22] miles, but the tides are of such a nature as to render the feat impracticable except under the most favourable conditions. Captain Webb’s feat ivas accomplished on August 24-25, 1875, when he was in the water for 21] hours. Since that date Holbein, Burgess, Miss Kellerman and many others have attempted the crossing with varying fortune. Burgess is an Englishman who has long resided in France. On August 31, 1906, Burgess swam 42 miles in 18hr. Imin., in an attempt to cross the Channel. In 1908 he made a further attempt on August 17 and covered 50 miles in 20hr. llmin. Undaunted by this failure he tried again on August 21 and swam over 60 miles in 22J hours.] A RECENT ATTEMPT. The difficulties of the task are shown bv the following description, from The Times, of AVolffe’s attempt to swim the Channel in July;— J. Wolfre made another attempt to swim across the Channel on Friday, July 21, but was driven back by the ebb tide when within 800 yards of the English coast. Ho left the water shortly before midnight after having swum nearly 33 miles. The swim was one of the most remarkable of any of the unsuccessful attempts to swim across the Channel. The cause of Wolffe’s failure was the fact that soon after the start from Sangatte at 8.40 in the morning a fresh southwesterly breeze sprang up, which greatly handicapped the swimmer for six or seven hours. This had the result of extending his swim into four tides and making a successful finish almost impossible. It was just about two hours towards the end of the flood tide when Wolffe entered the water at Sangatte, the sea being at the abnormally high temperature of 66deg. or 67deg. He swam with his usual left over-arm stroke, which he maintained throughout the whole of his long swim, afid out-distanced all the other swimmers who took spells with him from time to time. The pilot set a course to the Varnc Buoy, which lies about seven or eight miles from the English coast. In the ordinary course of events this point should have been reached about seven hours after the start; instead of which Wolffe did not arrive at the position until past 7 o’clock in the evening, having been over ten hours accomplishing this section of the swim. When beyond the shelter of Cape Grisnez AVolffe felt the effects of the adverse wind more strongly. His progress was both slow and difficult, and it became even more so when tlie rough water of a shoal from the Varnc Bank was encountered. From that time the wind dropped and for the rest of the journey the sea became a flat calm, but the difficulties of the early stages of the swim had taken the swimmer quite out of his course. The ebb tide had carried Wolffe further west than ho had anticipated, but there was good reason to hope his powerful stroke—never varying from 22 to 24 to the minute —would enable him to reach the English const before the succeeding ebb tide came through. AVolffe was now swimming on the flood or cast running tide and gradually drew nearer and nearer the land. At the end of the flood tide he was well beyond St. Margaret's Bay between the South Goodwin Lightship and the. shore and showed no signs of diminishing strength. He approached so near to the const that the tug was compelled to drop anchor and only the two small boats accompanied him. The distance from the shore was then computed to be about 1000 metres, but the ebb tide set in. For about 200 yards AVolffe was able to make headway towards the shore and then the off-set-ting tide began to drive him back into the Channel. A consultation was then held, with the result that AA’olffe very reluctantly left the water and climbed up the ship’s ladder unaided. He was quite warm and showed very little signs of fatigue. He stated that he honed to make another attempt at the next neap tide.