CAPTAIN WEBB’S FATAL SWIM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 1018, 10 August 1883, Page 4

CAPTAIN WEBB’S FATAL SWIM.

Captain Webb, who swam the Eng_„iish Channel in 1875, and who wasdrowned a few days ago while attempting to swim through the: terrible whirlpool rapids below the Niagara,Falls, was born in Shropshire, England, and was the son of a physician. He took to the sea early, and became the captain ot .a, merchantman. Many years ago he jumped from the deck of

the Cunard mail steamer Russia a to save a sailor who fell overboard. .. For this act he received from the hands qf the Duke of Edinburgh the first gold medal ever . given by the Royal Humane Society. So daring was he.as a ship captain that he get ..'a crew to go to sea with “him a second, time. After his Ihyilllng swittt across the Channel, the 24th Regiment, which was afterwards almost annihilated in Zululand, gave ' him a Burmese cup taken in battle: He

had a trunk full of decorations and trophies. In an interview with one of the staff of the iViw York Herald, last month, he discussed the perilous feat which has ended so tragically, and expressed himself v quite confident of succeeding. ' “ Yes,” he said, “ I’m going to swim thiC whirlpool rapids, and I will say that it is the angriest bit of water in the world. I came over from England two weeks ago to make the trial, and I went tp the rapids last week and made . a critical”'examination. They the whirlpool yLa grand one, but I think f am strohft_enough and skilled enough to get tErbugh' J alive. The people at Niagara Falls tell me that I will be simply committing suicide. You ought to hear the blood-curdling stories that 1 we're‘retkiled for my : benefit. A year er two ago a boy who was paddling arduiid in the shore water was drawn ifito the rapids and had his head cut

off. A girlfellinto them last summer trow'tnfe Suspension bridge, and when j' hir d<&d body was picked up, at the other end of the rapids, it was bereft of all clothing but a pair of stockings. In twenty-three : years ' they say that eighty persoras., have lost their lives in the rapids,” “But what is your object in at- , ~tpißpttDg such a terrible feat ?” h ‘f ien; thousand dollars.” 1 “ How do you propose to pass through the rapids ?” v ’ **lll explain my plan. The current, they say, is thirty-nine miles an hour, and the liver is 95ft deep. It is wide just below the falls and narrows at the rapids,. ,1- am>only afraid of two awful ledges' of pdiUted rock, which jut out from the shores into the whirlpool. ‘ The water fairly shrieks and hisses as it boils OTer . . Now, T want to avoid Ihe Sides; 1 and -yet I dare not go iipUo, the-middle for there lies the vortex, and that means death. I will go into the middle of the' river in a small boat, jultlaboWthe Suspension Bridge. 1 The only,clqthjpg 1-shall wear will be the silk trunks 1 had on ( when I swam the English Channel. At the time api pointed I- Will leap into the river ahd float into the rapids. Of course I will make no attempt to go forward, for. the ifearfurspeed-Of this water will carry me f through. • Wheh, lhd' : water gets very 1 ma j Twill* gjo tinder the surface, and remain beneath until I am compelled to.comp up for breath.... That, will be e jpretty l, oftCQ,ii’il wager. When I strike tire whirlpool I will strike out with all ; and try to keep away from c ithe!r suck-hole in the centre. I Will begm with the breast' strokes and y»<s»?UßUis oyer-hand strokes. My life vritllheft' depend Upon. ray muscles and ififjrlSrteSth, with a little touch pi, science u It may. take me two or 'three hours to get out of the whirlpool, Which about a quarter of a mile lonjg. -When lido get Through I will try to land on the Canadian side ; but if the current" is too swift, as I think it is, : I 'Will down to Lewiston, on the American side.” , adds The feat will probably be performed on July 21, The various railway companies which tun to Niagara Falls have subscribed 10,000 dels for Captain Webb, and it that 100,069 persons will under taking, .Preparations ijUp 1 being made to have special. excursions from every town and city within reafeb of. the railways.”