August 25th: Crossing the Channel

On this date in 1875 British swimmer Matthew Webb was the first documented person to swim across the English Channel. The day before, smeared in porpoise oil for insulation, he departed Dover (England) and twenty-one hours and 45 minutes later waded ashore at Cape Gris Nez, near Calais (France).

Here are more historic Channel crossings.

1. In August 1926, Gertrude Ederle, 19, of New York became the first woman to swim the English Channel. Despite pleas from her coach to stop because of treacherous seas, she broke the existing men's record by one hour, 59 minutes. Another famous female Channel swimmer was Florence Chadwick, who set a world record of 6 hours, 7 minutes in August 1857.
2. Most people do it from England to France - the first person to swim the Channel the other way, ie from France to England was Enrico Tiraboschi in August 1923. In September 1951 Florence Chadwick became one of the first to swim the English Channel both ways in one go, taking her 16 hours and 19 minutes. In 1981, Jon Erikson was the first to triple cross the English Channel. It took 38 hours and 27 minutes. The current record holder for triple crossings is New Zealander Philip Rush. His time was 28 hours and 21 minutes.
3. Thomas Gregory, 11, became the youngest person to swim the English Channel in September 1988. The youngest woman was Samantha Druce, at 12 years and 119 days. The oldest Channel swimmer is Joe Smith, 65, Deal, who did it in September 1999.
4. In August 1981 American Charles Chapman became the first black person to swim the English Channel. Henry Sullivan was the first American in 1923; Mercedes Gleitze was the first British woman to do it in 1927; the first Mexican was Damian Pizá Beltran in 1953; Brojen Das from Bangladesh was the first Asian in 1958 and Arati Saha, from Indai, in 1959, was the first Asian woman. Australian John Maclean was the first paraplegic to swim the Channel in 1998 and in September 2010 Frenchman Philippe Croizon became the first limbless man to swim the English Channel.
5. In July 1962 Fred Baldasare of the US became the first person to swim the Channel underwater using scuba gear.
6. In January 1785 French balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard made the first air-crossing of the English Channel from the English coast to France. Mr. Blanchard and his American passenger, Dr. John Jeffries, had to shed all their clothes as the wind died and the balloon’s airbag cooled too quickly over the sea. Not a great thing to happen in January! The first engine powered flight across was by Louis Bleriot in July 1909, The first woman to achieve this was writer and photographer Harriet Quimby in April 1912. She flew her monoplane through dense fog without the use of a Compass. The first Helicopter flight across was in September 1928 by Juan de la Cierva. In June 1979 Bryan Allen, 26, became the first person to fly across the English Channel in a human-powered plane. Allen flew the Channel aboard the Gossamer Albatross, designed and built by Paul B. MacCready. In July 1981 the first solar-powered aircraft, Solar Challenger, made it across.
7. Significant crossings by boat: In March 1816 the French paddle steamer Élise was the first steamer to cross the Channel. In June 1821 the paddle steamer Rob Roy became the first passenger ferry to cross the channel. 1959 saw the he first-ever crossing of the English Channel by Hovercraft, with Sir Christopher Cockerell on board, in two hours and three minutes; (86½ minutes slower than Bleriot.).
8. The fastest verified swim of the Channel was by the Australian Trent Grimsey on 8 September 2012, in 6 hours 55 minutes. The fastest crossing by a team of relay swimmers was 15 hours and 30 minutes in 1985. The man who has swum the Channel the most times is Kevin Murphy (34 times). The woman who has completed the most Channel swims is Alison Streeter who has done it 43 times.
9. The first crossing by water ski was in the 1960s. The youngest known waterskier to cross the Channel was John Clements, 10, from the Varne Boat Club in August 1974. He made the crossing from Littlestone to Boulogne and back without falling.
10. Now for the wacky ones. In 2001 Vittorio Orio Enzo Liszka rowed a gondola from Dover to Calais in 7 hours. In 1974, Bernard Thomas rowed a coracle across to demonstrate how the Bull Boats of the Mandan Indians of North Dakota could have been copied from Welsh coracles introduced by Prince Madog in the 12th century. The wackiest of all has to be Bill Neal, who in August 1982, became the first person to paddle a Bathtub across the English Channel in 13½ hours. He used a single oar to paddle his steel bathtub. The French authorities tend to arrest people arriving on their shores in unconventional craft, so Neal registered his tub with Lloyds of London as an ocean-going craft.