Who Was Gertrude Ederle? First Woman To Swim Across English Channel

On August 6, 1926, the world held its breath as Ederle, an American pioneer, made history as the first woman to swim the treacherous English Channel.  Against the fast-shifting tides, towering six-foot waves, bone-chilling cold, and a jellyfish-infested ocean, Ederle stood unfazed, ready to push the limits of human endurance. With the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics on the horizon, a new film is all set to be released to honour her remarkable achievements. Directed by Joachim Rønning and starring Daisy Ridley, "Young Woman and the Sea" brings Ederle's inspiring story to life on the big screen. It follows her groundbreaking journey as the first woman to conquer the English Channel through sheer determination and strength.

After the horrors of World War I, the world needed heroes to usher in a striking new era, and it found them in Charles Lindbergh, Percy Fawcett, George Mallory, and Amelia Earhart, whose exploits continue to be celebrated more than a century later. However, one such hero has faded from memory: Ederle (pronounced 'Ed-er-ly'), an average 19-year-old New Yorker who was the world's greatest-known woman in the summer of 1926.

Ederle holds the remarkable title of being the first woman to swim across the English Channel. What makes her accomplishment even more extraordinary is that she did it faster than any of the five men who had attempted it before her. Though swimming across the Channel is now seen as a common achievement, Ederle's feat was groundbreaking in her time, and her story continues to inspire generations of young women. 

The Rise of a Champion

Born in October 1905 to German immigrants in the bustling metropolis of New York City, Ederle's journey to greatness began humbly, amid the waters of local public pools and the serene shores of New Jersey beaches. She dropped out of school as a teenager to swim competitively, joined the Women's Swimming Association, and won her first local competition award at the age of sixteen. Two years later, she qualified for the 1924 Olympics.

Ederle, 18, had intended to win three Olympic gold medals at the 1924 Paris Games but instead received one gold in her team event and two bronze medals in her singles competitions. However, while there, she had an idea for what she wanted to accomplish next: swim the channel between France and England.

Triumph and Tribulation

The previous year, in 1923, Henry Sullivan became the first American to swim the 21-mile distance between Dover and Calais, though he had actually swum more than 50 miles due to strong currents, which accounted for the 1,000 failed attempts by 200 swimmers since Matthew Webb's historic first crossing in 1875.

So, when she first attempted to cross the English Channel in 1925 but failed to complete the journey, the English press argued she was disqualified because someone in the support boat that followed her across the water touched her. However, Mortimer claims that the British press fabricated this story out of a sense of national rivalry.

It had been an unsettling lesson for the young American, who was rescued from the ocean by her support team after nine hours, and one from which she promised to learn. The swim became personal, a battle between her and the channel, but Ederle saw that it was more than just an athletic task.

Her trainer, Bill Burgess, the second person to swim the channel, advised her to stop when he felt she was struggling too much to continue.

"She claimed that her trainer made her quit, and that she would have gone on to swim it," says Tim Dahlberg, co-author of America's Girl: The Incredible Story of How Swimmer Gertrude Ederle Changed the Nation. "But it just made her all the more determined to come back in 1926 and actually do it." (In addition, her father promised her a red roadster if she got across.)

In August 1920, the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, granting women the right to vote. It was a watershed moment in American history, ushering in a thriving generation of young women who were more independent and forceful than their forefathers, drawing much of their inspiration from the feisty women shown in the developing film industry. Ederle belonged to the 'Flappers' generation, which was distinguished by the bobbed haircut. Their images became a fixture of the new tabloid newspapers, and when Ederle said she was going to try again at the channel, she was recruited to write an exclusive weekly column for the New York Daily News for a fee of $5,000 (with an additional $2,500 if she succeeded).

As Gertrude Ederle's effort rippled over the English Channel, four other female swimmers, three Americans and one Englishwoman, stepped forward to challenge her record. Despite their determination, none of them were able to complete the difficult journey. Their dismal attempts cemented the stereotype in Britain that swimming across the Channel was an impossible task for women. The notion was supported by the fact that General Bernard Freyberg, a renowned military hero with a Victoria Cross, had failed to complete the swim. If such an esteemed individual couldn't cross the channel, what hope did a woman have?

When Ederle returned  the following year, at the age of 20, she was more prepared to follow the tides. Crucially, she had replaced the traditional swimming suit she had worn previously with one that was practical, which she had designed herself. Women's bathing suits first appeared in the late nineteenth century as wool gowns with stockings and shoes. Reformers said that these costumes were heavy and dangerous, but many women continued to wear them since skimpier suits were considered taboo, and possibly illegal. Ederle's first effort across the channel was in a bulky one-piece that filled with water and chafed her skin. However, on August 6, 1926, she landed at the French end of the channel wearing a lighter two-piece she'd fashioned by cutting up a one-piece.

Charting New Horizons

As she jumped into the channel, she looked more like a smothered chicken than a swimmer, moving at 28 strokes per minute with her  muscular overarm crawl. After two hours in the water, Ederle was four and a half miles northwest of her starting point, about to swing northeast on the flood tide towards the channel's centre. On her support boat, her coach handed her a bottle of chicken broth in a children's fishing net, while her sister, Margaret, played Ederle's favourite records on a gramophone.

After swimming for five hours, Gertrude Ederle had covered 11 miles, with Dover lying 10 miles to the northwest. Throughout the afternoon, she continued steadily, but around 5 pm, the weather took a turn against her. Within an hour, a storm hit, with waves rocking her support boat and battering her tired body. As conditions worsened, Bill Burgess, her coach, had to change their course, steering away from Dover with the current and heading north along the Kentish coast.

Over the next four gruelling hours, Ederle faced the ultimate test of her endurance, battling strong seas and cold temperatures. Finally, at 9:48 pm, after 14 hours and 39 minutes since she had started from France, her toes touched the pebbly beach at Kingsdown, five miles north of Dover.

When Gertrude Ederle swam across the English Channel, she not only became the first woman to achieve this feat, but she also shattered the existing record set by Argentine swimmer Enrique Tirabocchi in 1923, completing the crossing in less time than any man before her. Despite facing miserable weather conditions, approximately 4,000 people eagerly awaited her arrival on the shore. Among them were Britons who had been drawn to the beach by the exhilarating anticipation of witnessing a historic moment in sports. Nationality didn't matter; what united the crowd was their shared celebration of human strength.

When Ederle awoke the next morning in a Dover hotel, she had achieved global superstardom. Newspapers in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and around Europe hailed her achievement as a historic event. It was later estimated that over 60,000 women received American Red Cross swimming certificates in the 1920s, with many citing Ederle's swim as an inspiration.