Henry Sullivan (swimmer)
Henry Sullivan | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | December 22, 1955 | (aged 63)
Known for | Being the 3rd person and first American to swim across the English Channel |
Henry Francis Sullivan (March 22, 1892 - December 22, 1955) was an American marathon swimmer who is best known for becoming the third person and the first American to swim across the English Channel,[1] beginning his swim on the afternoon of August 5, 1923, from Dover, England, and finishing 26 hours and 50 minutes[2] later on the evening of August 6 at Calais, France.
Biography
The son of Thomas B. Sullivan, a businessman from
Sullivan was successful in his seventh attempt, in a calm sea and a water temperature of 62 °F (17 °C). He entered the water in Dover at 4:20 on Sunday afternoon, August 5, and began his swim. Though the straight-line distance is 22.5 miles (36.2 km), choppy waters and capricious tides forced him to swim an estimated 56 miles (90 km). He reached shore at Calais at 8:05 in the evening, was examined by a doctor and had something to eat. He was escorted out to the cheering crowd by Enrique Tirabocchi, an Argentine swimmer who would make the crossing himself later that year.[6]
Two other swimmers completed the swim that same summer. Tirabocchi, from Argentina, completed the swim on August 13, finishing in a record time of 16 hours and 33 minutes and becoming the first person to swim the route starting from the French side of the Channel.[8] American Charles Toth of Boston completed the swim on September 9, 1923, in 16 hours and 40 minutes, missing by two days the expiration of a 1,000 Pound prize offered by the Daily Sketch for anyone who completed the swim, a prize that both Sullivan and Tirabocchi received from a representative of the Daily Sketch waiting on the shore with a check in hand.[9]
Jackie Cobell had intended to make the 21-mile crossing by a more direct route in July 2010, but inadvertently set the record for the slowest solo swim, when strong currents forced her to swim a total of 65 miles (105 km) in 28 hours and 44 minutes, breaking the record set by Sullivan in 1923 for the longest time to make the crossing successfully.[10]
Sullivan died on December 22, 1955, at his home in Beverly, Massachusetts.[11]
References
- ISBN 9780802715951– via Google Books.
- ^ "Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes". August 10, 1923 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:DZMN-JY2M : 10 November 2020), Henry Francis Sullivan, 22 Mar 1892; citing Birth, Lowell, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 007011247.
- Newspapers.com. "Webb was twenty-eight years old, and Burgess was over fifty, while Sullivan is thirty-one years of age."
- ^ "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKDF-94BZ : 16 March 2018), Henry Francis Sullivan, 1922; citing Passport Application, Massachusetts, United States, source certificate #198373, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 2045, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
- ^ a b Staff. "Henry Sullivan Crossed Channel - United States Swimmer Swam From England to France in 26 Hours 50 Minutes - Seventh Attempt - Third to Accomplish Feat - Capt. Webb and Burgess Other Two", The Montreal Gazette, August 7, 1923. Accessed August 5, 2010.
- ^ Staff. "Has Many Swimming Records.", The New York Times, August 7, 1923. Accessed August 5, 2010.
- ^ Staff. "Cuts Webb's Time In Channel Swim; Tirabocchi of Argentina Is the First to Succeed Over the Calais-to-Dover Route. 16 Hours 33 Mins. In Water Second Winner of £1,000 Prize Is Exhausted at Finish -- Toth Quits Near Goal.", The New York Times, August 13, 1923. Accessed August 5, 2010.
- ^ Staff. "Toth Swims Channel; Misses £1,000 Prize; Boston's Man's Feat Just Two Days Too Late For Reward.", The New York Times, September 10, 1923, February 16, 2021.
- ^ Staff. "Channel swimmer sets slowest record", BBC News, July 27, 2010. Accessed August 5, 2010.
- ^ "Sullivan, Henry". Channel Swimming Dover. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
External links
Media related to Henry F. Sullivan at Wikimedia Commons