Original Letters and Biographic Epitomes by J. Atwood.Slater
page 20 of 31 (64%)
page 20 of 31 (64%)
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Then seizing the oars, and murmuring an ejaculatory note to the ocean which had sent him not a few malign caresses, he pulled, boatman, craft and all to Marazion; the time exactly occupied in the exploit, of two miles and an eighth, being forty-five minutes. On Saturday, August 23rd, Mr. Slater again, taking with him E. John, swam in deep water, from close to the pier head St. Michael's Mount to a point contiguous to Longrock; a distance of a mile and an eighth. Progress was without hap or hindrance, though in a grey misty light. At length, whilst the disappearing sun sank to rest behind a belt of clouds, parted asunder over Penzance, the boatman was called upon to draw in his boat, the swimmer thereupon going on board. Experience gained upon these occasions teaches that it emphatically requires greater nerve to swim in the open sea, always going straight in deep water, than is called for when propelling oneself round the Mount. Again, on Tuesday, at ten minutes to two, the swimmer, to confirm his past exploits and as a climax to his stay in Mount's Bay, swam from Venton cove to St. Michael's Mount, rather in excess of a mile, in thirty-one minutes, Ivey, his boatman merely steering his boat alongside. It is the swimmer's opinion, that the timing of mid, or half stroke, is the most elegant, most difficult, and to conceal, yet fully make use of this "break," constitutes the criterion as to whether the swimmer, be he amateur or professional, is first-class or not. |
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