MISS BECKWITH'S SWIMMING FEAT.

Evening Star, Issue 3968, 12 November 1875, Page 3

MISS BECKWITH'S SWIMMING FEAT.

(From the London Daily Telegraph, Sept. 2.)

Another great feat in the art of natation was accomplished yesterday, when Miss Agnes Alice, the youthful daughter of the well-known Prol'easor Beckwith, of the Lambeth Baths, twain from London Bridge to the Royal Hospital at Greenwich, in little more than an hour. The heroine of yesterday is the youngest of the. p ofessor’s family, having been borr on '■he I4th August, 1861, so that she has 1 ut very recei itly celebrated her fourteenth birthday; nevertheless, she has for years given illustrations <ol ornamental swimming at most of our wate.d.ng-placi« and inland towns whore there are baths suitable for such a purpe.e. Her feat od yesterday, considering her youth and tha difficulties by which she was surrounded, wass perfectly marvellous, and elicited, as it deserved, unbounded applause from thousands who wi - nessed the finish. Following so closely after the gallant act of Captain Webb, the am nouncement that a young lady a mere child, in fact, intended to show that pluck and an ability to endur,.- immersion wore not altogether confined to the male sex,, created immense. excitement, and all alor.g the course there was little short of an ovation, M ; i«s Beckwith was taught t<o swim at the age of three, and when she had attained that of Geven, she took part in a series of entertainments at the Lambeth Baths, where she as? onished the spectators hy the ease and grace with winch lie de.-mnstrated many c.ov.-ities in ho »r r . s -.virnming like a din k or a dog dF-i ring on the water e.vmg, turning s on.eraaults through hoops, amt g- ing t;rough l a variety of other ac abatis pei-formances, she proved iier-eJi to he a. veritable mermaid ; the water, in I- c vernef. to be her home At Brill’s Bates. Ivif.hfcc e, at the Nassau, Westward Mo, bhymouth . at the < rystal .{■’aiacv;, 'tal rii, Worc ester, and at numbers oi other p act s I\l i.sa Beckwith has ex bib ted her natatory pin vers, and has d-‘-mons rr.t-(I tin- pccniiaril ;i«-a of the mode adopted by her family for saving life, whilst she ha; given privi ite lessens in the art of swimDi.ng to m'U y ladies of the upper clashes. sv.dmol five miles in tin '{hatnes was ll'enfoiti o«nssmered from the first an net v hicti t jc uld easily accomplish, and' so it bay, proved. The only

difficulty which waa felt waa the lew temperature of the water, for Miss Beckwith, unlike Captain Webb, ia not blessed with a skin that is impervious to cold, and cramp it was feared might prevent her from accomplishing her task. The course was from Westminster pier to Greenwich, and, despite small boats getting in her way, and often impeding her progress, she accomplished her task with the greatest ease. Opposite Greenwich Hospital she was lifted out of the water by her father, amidst a scene of the wildest enthusiasm and delight. The time occupied in swimming the distance, which is rather over five miles, was one hour and nine minutes. Miss Beckwith asserted that she did not feel in the least degree tired—in fact, she could have swum another five miles with the greatest ease ; and as for the fear that the cold of the water might affect her, she assured her friends that she felt not tke slightest inconvenience from it, but that she was warmer, indeed, when she left the Thames than she was when she entered it. Mis-i Beckwith, like Captain Webb, adopted the breaststroke all the way, and never at any time attempted to relieve herself by swimming on her side, in which she is not an adept. Although brandy and port wine were provided for her use en voyage, she declined to take either, and therefore performed her task without the slightest srimulaut whatever.