CAPTAIN WEBB'S FATAL SWIM.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3779, 25 August 1883, Page 4

CAPTAIN WEBB'S FATAL SWIM.

In an interview with one of tho staff of tho Now York Herald last month, Captain Webb discussed tho perilous feat which has ended so tragically, and expressed himself quite confident of success. "Yes," he said, " I'm going to swim the 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 mako the trial, and I went to the rapids last week and made a critical examination. They are rough, I tell yon, and tho whirlpool is a grand ono, but I think I am strong enough aud skilled enough to get through alive. The people at Niagara Falls tell mo that I will bo simply committing suicide. You ought to hear the blood-curdling stories that were retailed for my benefit. A year or two ago a boy who was paddling around in the shore water was drawn into the rapids and had his head cut off. A girl fell into them last summer from tho Suspension Bridge, and when her dead body was picked up, at the other end of the rapids, it was bereft of all clothing but a pair of stockings. In 23 years they say that 80 persons have lost their lives' in the rapids."

"But Avhat is your object in attempting such ii terrible feat?"

"Ten thousand dollars." " How do you propose to pass through the rapids?" "I'll explain my plan. The current, they _ay, is 39 miles an hour, and the river is 95ft deep. It is wide just below the falls, and narrows at the rapids. I am only afraid of two awful ledges of pointed rock, •which jut out from tho shores into the whirlpool. The water fairly shrieks ancl hisses as it boils over them. Now, I want to avoid the sides, and yet I dare not go into tho middle, for there lies the vortex, and that means death. I will go into the river in a small boat, just about Suspension Bridge. The only clothing I shall wear will be the silk trunks I had on when I swam the English Channel. At the time appointed I will leap into the river and float into tho rapids. Of course I will mako no attempt to go forward, for the foarful speed of the water will carry me through. When the water gets very badl will go under the surface, and' remain beneath until I am compelled to come up for breath. That will bo pretty often, I'll wager. When I strike the whirlpool I will strike out with all my strength, and try to keep away from the suck-hole in the centre. I' will begin with tho breast strokes, and then use over-hand strokes. My life -will then depend upon my muscles and my breath, with a little touch of science behind them. It may take mo two or three hours to get out of the whirlpool, which is about si quarter of a mile long. When I clo got through I will try to land on tho Canadian Hide ; but if tho current is too swift, as I think it is, I will keep on down to Lcwiston, on the American side."