the surface. Before doing so he should completely fill his lungs, spread his legs wide, and then lie backwards with the arms extended in a line with the body and beyond the head, with the .palms upwards, care being taken to throw as much weight beyond the head as possible. Furthermore he must lie perfectly still and take care not to hollow the back or raise the abdomen above water. One may sink for an instant, but if the breath be held the lips will come above the surface, when easy breathing may be indulged in. Only the face, chest and toes should appear above the surface of the water. If the feet still have a tendency to sink after they have been gently released from the step or rail, more weight should be thrown beyond the head by turning it well back and lifting the hands out of the water, which will raise the feet. A knowledge of floating is of good service to those attempting to save life and is also essential to those desirous of making a study of the many tricks and scientific feats which are performed by swimmers.
The usual method of entering the water is by what is known as diving; some think that it should be termed “springing.” The best method of learning to dive is to stand on the side of the bath or on the bank of the river, and then stoop down until the body is nearly double, stretch out the arms in front of the head, sink the head between them and gradually fall over into the water. The ability to enter the water head first will then soon be acquired. To begin, the legs should be placed together and the body kept erect, then a few short inspirations should be made and the lungs cleared and inflated, the arms should be swung from the front and a spring made from the diving base. As the feet leave the base they should be thrown upwards, the body straightened and the head placed between the arms, which should be kept at full stretch beyond the head, with the hands palm downwards and the thumbs touching so as to act as a cut-water. Immediately the body has entered the water, the hands should be turned upwards and the body will then come to the surface at once. In high diving a leap is made into mid-air, the body straightened almost to horizontal level, the arms and head then declined towards the water and the legs brought up. This action causes the body to shoot towards the water at a proper angle and the dive is thereby made clean and effective. A useful accomplishment is that known as surface diving, because it enables you to find and bring an object to the surface. The correct method of performing it is to first swim a few yards on the surface with the breast stroke, take a breath, then suddenly depress the head, look downwards, elevate the body at the hips, and at the same time make a powerful stroke with the legs and an upward stroke with the hands. The impetus thus obtained will suffice to take the swimmer to the bottom in 10 ft. of water. Once under the surface it is only necessary to keep the head depressed and swim by means of the breast stroke in order to find the object of search. When about to rise to the surface, the head should be turned backwards with the eyes upwards, and a vigorous stroke made with arms and legs. Plunging is not very generally practised, though there is a championship for it. A plunge is a standing dive made head first from a firm take off, free from spring. The body must be kept motionless face downwards, no progressive movement must be imparted other than the action of the dive. The plunge terminates when the plunger raises his face above the surface of the water. With the idea of preventing long tests without breathing, it was deemed in 1893 advisable by the swimming association to impose a time limit of one minute in all competitions. Yet even with this time limit, over 80 ft. has been plunged. In Sweden and Germany skilled forms of acrobatic and gymnastic diving have been more largely practised than in England, and as a consequence diving in those countries is in a much higher state of perfection than in England, though even in England great improvement has been made owing to a large influx of Swedish teachers.
Most of the principal races are decided in baths, but there has been a tendency of late years to revert to open water in the summer and also to encourage long-distance swimming. The first public baths in Great Britain were opened by the corporation of Liverpool in 1828 and the Baths and Washhouses Act was passed in 1846, the first of the London parishes to adopt the act being St Martin’s in the Fields, who opened baths in Green Street, Leicester Square in 1846. Since then public baths have been erected all over Great Britain and Ireland, and bath swimming has become, by reason of the lack of reasonable open water accommodation, the principal means of the teaching of the young. But open water swimming, and more particularly swimming in the sea, is the best training and practice for those who really love the art, because they are able to swim under normal climatic conditions, instead of in tepid water. Many persons in England bathe in the open all the year round, notably in the Serpentine in London, on the sea-coast and in various inland waters.
When bathing in the open, care has to be taken to avoid weeds or undercurrents. In the event of accidentally getting hold of a bed of weeds, the swimmer should cease kicking and work with the arms, and the current will then take him through. If he tries to swim the weeds will entangle his legs and put him in an awkward plight. If he be carried away by a current in a river, he should select a spot on either bank and swim diagonally towards it, never minding where he has left his clothes. When in the sea, the conditions are not always the same, though the general rule of swimming diagonally for shore also applies. For sea bathing, however, it is far better, no matter how good a swimmer one may be, to have a boat in attendance. Before bathing in any strange place, the swimmer should make himself acquainted with the currents and the direction of the tide. When the tide is going out the course should be made along the coast, close in shore. In a rough sea the swimmer should not attempt to breast the waves, but as each wave rises he should swim through, thereby saving himself from buffeting, which if long continued would cause insensibility or else great waste of physical power. When using a boat for bathing the best way is to dive from the stern, to which some steps or a rope ladder should be fixed, in order to aid the swimmer when getting in again. Failing these being at hand, the best way is to lay hold of the stern with both hands and then, making a hard rising kick, raise the body till it rests on the edge of the hips. Then smartly slip the hands a little forward, turn to a sitting position and enter the boat.
Speed swimming records are so frequently altered, that students had best obtain the Amateur Swimming Association’s Annual Handbook, in which are detailed the accepted records up to date. The improvement in speed has been most remarkable. In 1877 the mile amateur record was 29 m. 2512 secs.; and that stood until 1892. The record in 1907 was 24 m. 4235 secs. made by Mr D. Billington. The hundred yards record has been similarly reduced. In 1878 it was 1 m. 1634 secs.; in 1888 it had been lowered by Mr J. Nuttall to 1 m. 614 secs.; and in 1907 Mr C. M. Daniels, of America, created a world’s record of 5525 secs. The records over intermediate distances have also been considerably lowered and many long-distance swimming records have from time to time been created. One of the most remarkable of these long-distance swims is the race which is known as the “Swim through London,” from Richmond lock and weir to Blackfriars, which was instituted in 1907 and won by Mr J. A. Jarvis of Leicester, in 3 hours 24 minutes 645 secs.. In this event 34 started, and 21 finished the distance, which goes to show that much attention is being devoted to long-distance trials; in this event Miss Lilian M. Smith finished fourteenth. Much interest has centred in attempts to swim across the English Channel; Captain Webb, D. Dalton and F. Cavill, all claim to have done it, but only the swim of Captain Webb has been accepted as genuine. The first recorded attempt was made on the 24th of August 1872 by J. B. Johnson, who started from Dover, but remained in the water only 65 minutes. It was on the 12th of August 1875 that Captain Matthew Webb made his first attempt. He started from Dover and remained in the water 6 hours 49 m., when the weather became too rough for him to continue. It is estimated that he was about 1312 m.
