Channel Swim race - Sporting Life 19/9/1891

The first Channel race was organised through the offices of the Sporting Life, where the public could buy tickets for a place on a hired steamer to follow the swimmers. Reports all summer had said unusually low water temperatures and constant bad weather meant little chance of a successful swim that season. This is probably why ticket sales had been so poor that the steamer was cancelled and, with 2 days to go, only 3 swimmers had signed up – Dalton, Fisher and Albert.

The schedule was that the party would make its way by train to Dover on the 20th with the aim of leaving Dover about 2 to 3 a.m. on the 21st for Cap Gris Nez and a dawn start at 5 a.m.