The history channel
MARION McMULLEN looks back at the brave souls who have hit the water to swim between Britain and France
STINGING jellyfish, abrasive salt water and chilly conditions are among the hazards which have faced English Channel swimmers over the decades. Captain Matthew Webb was the first to successfully make the crossing 145 years ago on August 25, 1875.
It took the merchant navy captain 21 hours and 45 minutes to swim from Dover to Calais doing the breaststroke and it made him the first person to successfully complete the challenge without the aid of any flotation devices.
He trained at the Lambeth Baths in London beforehand, but had to abandon his first attempt on August 12 when a storm broke out just a few hours into the swim.
However, his second attempt saw him jump off Dover Pier smeared in porpoise oil and make it to Calais accompanied by three support boats. He was stung by jellyfish along the way, but simply had a swig of brandy and carried on. His memorial bears the engraving “Nothing easy is great.”
It was another 36 years before anyone matched his feat. Yorkshireman Thomas William “Bill” Burgess became the second person to swim the Channel in 1911. He had won a bronze medal for water polo in the 1900 Olympic Games and was 37 when he successfully swam the Channel after several failed attempts.
He famously wore motoring goggles when he was swimming and his crossing from South Foreland Lighthouse to Le Chatelet took 22 hours and 35 minutes.
One of his first failed attempts saw him swimming with five other men Australian actress and one-piece swimsuit creator Annette Kellerman.
Bill successfully trained American Olympic gold medal swimmer Gertrude Ederle when she smashed the challenge in 1926 to become the first woman to swim the Channel.
She swam from France to Kent in a time of 14 hours and 34 minutes doing the crawl. Like Burgess, she wore motorcycle goggles to protect her eyes from the salt water. She said: “To me, the sea is like a person, like a child that I’ve known a long time. It sounds crazy, I know, but when I swim in the sea I
talk to it. I never feel alone when I’m out there.”
Changeable tides, hypothermia and even heart attacks are among the risks posed to those taking on the crossing between England and France and today there is also the hazard of busy shipping lanes.
It is said an average of 300 people a year attempt the 21-mile challenge, with many taking part in relay teams and needing up to two years to prepare.
The swimming season typically runs between the second week of June to the start of October when water temperatures can range from 14˚C to 18˚C.
A favoured approach for swimmers is to set out at night from the Samphire Hoe nature reserve in Kent and head towards Cap Gris-Nez in France, but they can pass seaweed mats full of jellyfish and floating waste.
Swimmers typically cover their necks, under arms and swim suit edges with grease to protect against the sun and salt water friction burns. Lactic acid can also build up behind goggles, leaving swimmers with puffy eyes after completing the challenge.
Belgium Channel swimmer Fernand du Moulin swam the Channel in 1949 after leaving a champagne party hosted by his wife. He completed the challenge doing the breast stroke and reportedly drank 20 pints of coffee and soup during the swim.
More than 100,000 crowded into Dewsbury town centre in 1950 to celebrate after 22-year-old Yorkshire teacher Eileen Fenton swam the Channel in a time of 15 hours and 31 minutes.
Jenny James became the first Welsh woman to successfully make the crossing the following year in a time of 13 hours and 55 minutes.
Lynne Cox, a 16-year-old American high school student, also stepped happily ashore in Cap Gris Nez in 1972 after notching up the fastest English Channel swim ever, taking only nine hours and 57 minutes to reach the shore.
She then broke her own record the following year by shaving 21 minutes off her time and later wrote an open water guide for swimmers saying: “It is important to be totally prepared, though it is equally important to make sure that you don’t over-train.”
Modern endurance swimmer Chloe McCardel feared at one point she would have to go into quarantine after finishing her record-breaking Channel crossing this month
The 35-year-old Australian took 10 hours and 40 minutes to complete the 21-mile route - making her 35th Channel crossing – the record number for a man or a woman.
Chloe joked it was a “tough day at the office” but was relieved when the English and French coastguards said she would not need to quarantine after her epic swim.
She said she was looking forward to a well-earned rest and laughingly admitted; “I’ve got a lot more muscular soreness than I anticipated.
“I don’t think I want to swim the Channel again for a while.”