Swimming The English Channel In The 20th Century

Florence Chadwick, 32, year old San Diego, California, swimmer, lands at Sangattes on the French coast at 2.40 pm on September 11, 1951 thus becoming the first woman to swim the English channel both ways. She swam from St. Margaret’s bay, Dover, leaving there at 10.30 p.m., on September 10. In 1950 Miss Chadwick swam from France to England. Her time for the England France crossing was 16 hours 22 minutes. Only a handful of people and children are present to greet Miss Chadwick as she walks ashore at Sangattes beach, midway between Calais and Cap Gris Nez on the French coast in France on Sept. 11, 1951. (AP Photo/Jim Pringle)
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Florence Chadwick, 32-year-old San Diego, California, swimmer landed at Sangattes beach, midway between Calais and Cap Gris Nez onthe French coast at 2.40 pm., on September 11, 1951 thus becoming the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. She swam from St. Margaret’s bay, Dover, leaving there at 10.30 p.m., on September 10. In 1950 Miss Chadwick swam from France to England. Her time for the England-France crossing was 16 hours 22 minutes. Wrapped in a blanket and smiling happily, Miss Chadwick is congratulated by her father “Pop” Chadwick at Dover, England on Sept. 11, 1951, after their return by launch from Sangattes, France. (AP Photo/Jim Pringle)
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Date: 11/09/1951

President Harry S. Truman stands on gamgway of the yacht Williamsburg contemplating the water, before a dip in the Atlantic off Bermuda, Aug. 27, 1946, during his vacation cruise. (AP Photo)
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Jason Zirganos of Volos, Greece, poses at Folkestone, Kent where he is one of 25 international swimmers who have entered for the English Channel swim from France to England, Aug. 22, 1950. (AP Photo/Leslie Priest)
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Tom Blower, left, a 23 year old factory worker who has swam the English Channel being congratulated by Edward Harry Temme on Aug. 4, 1937 in Dover, England. Temme is the first man ever to have swam The Channel in both directions. (AP Photo/Staff/Putnam)
Ref #: PA.9305375
Date: 04/08/1937

Florence Chadwick scrambles through shallow water to the coast at South Foreland Beach near Dover, England, on Aug. 8, 1950, at the end of her record-breaking swim across the English Channel from France. The 31-year-old swimmer reached the English coast in 13 hours and 28 minutes from Cap Gris Nez, France, breaking the women’s record of 14 hours and 34 minutes set in 1926. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.8682574
Date: 08/08/1950

Florence Chadwick is shown four miles off the Dover shore during her record-breaking swim across the English Channel, England, on Aug. 8, 1950. The 31-year-old swimmer from San Diego, Ca., arrived at Dover, Kent, 13 hours and 28 minutes after leaving Cap Gris Nez, France. Chadwick broke the women’s record of 14 hours and 34 minutes set in 1926 by Gertrude Ederle. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.8637114
Date: 08/08/1950

Eighteen year old Yorkshire schoolboy Philip Mickman with his wreath and flag after swimming the English Channel. He is seen aboard a train at London’s King’s Cross with Dutch swimmer Willy Croes Van Rijsel
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Date: 31/08/1949

Tom Blower, left, a 23 year old factory worker who has swam the English Channel being congratulated by Edward Harry Temme on Aug. 4, 1937 in Dover, England. Temme is the first man ever to have swam The Channel in both directions. (AP Photo/Staff/Putnam)
Ref #: PA.9305375
Date: 04/08/1937

Nineteen-year-old Gertrude Ederle of New York City becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel on Aug. 6, 1926, as she crosses the waterway in 14 hours and 31 minutes. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.8664621
Date: 06/08/1926

Gertrude Ederle, the American swimmer, and Helmi, the Egyptian natatorial expert, playing a game of chess at Cape Gris Nez, where they are waiting for favourable conditions before attempting to swim the English Channel.
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Date: 07/08/1925

Lt. Colonel Freyberg being taken from the water into the rowing boat, only a quarter of a mile from the Kent coast, after attempting to swim the English Channel.
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Date: 05/08/1925

Gertrude Ederle, who was the toast of America and Europe in 1926 when she became the first woman to swim the English Channel, has died. She was 98.
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Date: 01/01/1925

Fred Baldasare, 38, a Florida film producer, gets an enthusiastic hug from his German fiance, Friederike Von Bernhard of Munich July 11,1962 at Sandwich, England. He had emerged from the water after an undewater swim of the English channel , completing the 22-mile swim from Calais, France, in 13 hours and one minute. He swam in a boat-towed cage, 15-foot below the surface, wearing a frogman outfit and breathing from an oxgen bottle. (AP Photo)
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Date: 11/07/1962

34 year old Bill Pickering of Bloxwich, Staffordshire is greased down before entering the water at St. Margaret’s Bay, Dover, for his attempt to swim the channel.
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Date: 27/08/1955

Florence Chadwick, 32, of San Diego, California, became the first woman in history to swim the English Channel both ways when she landed not far from Calais, after swimming from Dover on September 11, 1951. She swam from France to England in 1950. In this image Miss Chadwick swims strongly in mid-channel on her way to France on Sept. 11, 1951. (AP Photo/Jim Pringle)
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Date: 11/09/1951

Florence Chadwick, 32, of San Diego, California, became the first woman in history to swim the English Channel both ways when she landed not far from Calais, at Sangattes after swimming from Dover on September 11, 1951. She swam from France to England in 1950. In this image Miss Chadwick lands on the French coast at Sangattes, France, still fresh and smiling, at the end of her swim on Sept. 11, 1951. (AP Photo/Jim Pringle)
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Miss Eva Coleman, who intends to attempt the Channel swim this summer, is using the Hyde Park Lido as a training ground. Her trainer, Burgess, considers she has a good chance of breaking the record set up by Gertrude Ederle. Picture shows Miss Eva Coleman about to take the plunge at the Lido
Ref #: PA.477627
Date: 19/05/1932

Miss Eva Coleman, who intends to attempt the Channel swim this summer, is using the Hyde Park Lido as a training ground. Her trainer, Burgess, considers she has a good chance of breaking the record set up by Gertrude Ederle. Picture shows Miss Eva Coleman receiving a towelling down from her trainer, Burgess, after her swim
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Date: 19/05/1932

Miss Mercedes Gleitze starts from Folkestone to attempt to swim the channel. This was her seventh try. Mercedes Gleitze became, at her eighth attempt, the first British woman to swim the channel. She swam from France to England in 15 hours and 15 minutes.
Ref #: PA.1917083
Date: 26/08/1926

Associated Press staff photographer Jean-Jacques Levy, left, wears swimming trunks while covering the departure of Fernand du Moulin, Belgian who swam the English channel from Cap Gris Nez to Dover, Sept. 8, 1949. Levy was later joined by photographer-Editor Michael Nash in covering the channel attempt of Shirley May France. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.8733172
Date: 08/09/1949