"ENGLAND OR DROWN!" declared the headline of the New York Daily News on August 6, 1926, the day when Gertrude Ederle, an American, was on the brink of becoming the first woman to swim across the English Channel.
Before Ederle's attempt, only five men had successfully swum the waterway. The obstacles included rapidly shifting tides, six-foot waves, icy temperatures, and numerous jellyfish. However, on that remarkable day, Ederle not only completed the crossing but also surpassed the previous men's records, covering 35 miles in just 14 and a half hours.
Born in October 1905 to German immigrants in New York City, Ederle acquired her swimming skills at the nearby public pool and New Jersey beach. As a teenager, she abandoned her formal education to pursue competitive swimming, becoming a member of the Women’s Swimming Association. At the age of 16, she clinched her inaugural local competition victory. Just two years later, in 1924, she earned a spot in the Olympics.
"America was leading the way in the world of swimming, particularly women's swimming," explains Gavin Mortimer, author of The Great Swim. "Ederle was perfectly positioned to take advantage of this momentum. Additionally, she possessed a strong competitive drive."
At 18 years old, Ederle aimed to secure three Olympic gold medals at the 1924 Paris Games. However, she was disappointed to only attain one gold in a team event and two bronze medals in her individual events. Nonetheless, during her time abroad, she conceived an idea for her next endeavor: swimming the channel between France and England.
In 1925, Ederle made her initial attempt to cross the English Channel but fell short of completing the journey. The English press alleged that she was disqualified due to an infringement wherein someone aboard the support boat accompanying her touched her. (Support boat riders were permitted to provide her with sustenance but were not allowed to physically assist her.) However, Mortimer contends that the British press fabricated this narrative fueled by a sense of national rivalry.
"It primarily boiled down to misjudging the tide, and she hadn't adequately prepared for it," he explains. "The English Channel has this ebb and flow tide that shifts every five to six hours. Consequently, swimmers can't progress in a straight line; they must zigzag to align with the tide."
When Ederle seemed to be struggling excessively, her trainer Bill Burgess, who was the second person to ever swim the channel, advised her to cease her attempt.
"According to her, she insisted that her trainer compelled her to quit, asserting that she could have continued," explains Tim Dahlberg, co-author of America’s Girl: The Incredible Story of How Swimmer Gertrude Ederle Changed the Nation. "However, this setback only fueled her determination to return in 1926 and achieve her goal." Additionally, her father pledged to gift her a red roadster if she succeeded in crossing the channel.
When Ederle returned the following year at the age of 20 for another attempt, she was more thoroughly equipped to navigate the tides. Most importantly, she had forsaken the conventional bathing suit she wore during her previous attempt in favor of a practical one she had personally designed.
During the late 19th century, women's bathing suits resembled wool dresses, often paired with stockings and shoes. Reformers criticized these heavy and potentially hazardous garments. However, due to societal taboos and possible legal ramifications, many women continued wearing them. In 1907, police at Boston's Revere Beach arrested Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman for donning a one-piece suit that revealed her bare legs.
During Ederle's initial attempt to swim across the channel, she wore a cumbersome one-piece suit that became waterlogged and caused chafing. However, on August 6, 1926, when she arrived at the French end of the channel, she sported a lighter two-piece ensemble she had crafted by altering a one-piece suit. "She was covered in so much grease that she was barely recognizable," Dahlberg observes.
Her support boat was stocked with chicken legs, oranges, and vegetable chicken soup to provide sustenance for her journey from Cape Gris-Nez in France to Dover, England. Additionally, reporters trailed her by boat, transforming her swim into a day-long media spectacle.
"They utilized wireless communication for what was essentially the first time, akin to a play-by-play sports event," explains Dahlberg, who is also a sports writer for the Associated Press. "A wireless machine was installed aboard the accompanying tug, and regular reports were transmitted to London newspapers detailing her progress and condition."
The wireless messages enabled newspapers to provide updates on Ederle's progress in various editions published throughout the day. Consequently, when she reached the shore of Kingsdown, near Deal, England, that evening, a crowd had gathered to welcome her, having read about her proximity in the newspapers.
One journalist, keen on getting his story out promptly, was so eager that he leaped into the water and made his way to the nearest pub to transmit it over the phone. Meanwhile, Ederle was so drained from her exertions that she could hardly muster the strength to lift herself up on the beach.
"At the conclusion of the swim, she was likened to a boxer," Mortimer recounts, "due to the battering her face took from the water. She was covered in bruises, and her tongue had swollen significantly from the saltwater, making it difficult for her to speak." Additionally, she had endured some jellyfish stings.
Upon her return to the U.S., Ederle was welcomed by two million people in New York City's first ticker-tape parade held in honor of a woman. President Calvin Coolidge bestowed upon her the title of "America's best girl," and her father fulfilled his promise by purchasing her the red roadster. "For a few months, she basked in the glory of being the most famous person in the world," remarks Mortimer.
That fame was overshadowed in May 1927, when Charles Lindbergh accomplished the historic feat of flying an airplane across the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. In comparison to this remarkable technological achievement, Ederle's accomplishment appeared somewhat antiquated.
"He emerged as the new hero," Mortimer explains. "Almost overnight, she was relegated to the status of a relic."
Nevertheless, Ederle's accomplishment left a lasting impact on women's sports during a decade marked by shifting gender roles. In the early 1920s, American golf champion Edith Cummings graced the cover of Time as the first female athlete, while French tennis star Suzanne Lenglen asserted her dominance at Wimbledon. Ederle's triumph further demonstrated that a woman could outperform a man in one of the most physically demanding swims in the world.
Her achievements paved the way for other female swimmers. The subsequent four individuals to successfully swim the channel after her were all women. Ederle maintained her title as the fastest English Channel swimmer until 1951 when Winnie Roach-Leuszler, the first Canadian to accomplish the feat, surpassed her time by approximately an hour. In 2019, Colorado swimmer Sarah Thomas surpassed previous records by becoming the first person to complete the distance between England and France four times without interruption, swimming for over 50 hours.