Original Letters and Biographic Epitomes | Page 6

to the unsuspicious, deferential manner in which they are entertained and regarded by the Ministerial authorities: detailing in precise biographical manner his experience with bourgeoisie and peasant, ecclesiastic and soldier. He recorded also minutely the incidents and popular events associated with travel, as study and the tide of time goaded him onward, the wave of diurnal events lying upon the open page of history, here dishevelled, here streaked with adverse episode, and here becalmed. The hour being late, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded the lecturer, and the hearing of the conclusion of a most interesting tour was adjourned to another meeting.

_AQUATICS._
From the CORNISHMAN, _August 2nd_, 1902.
SWIM AROUND ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT.
On Wednesday, a visitor to Marazion, Mr. J. ATWOOD.SLATER, from Bristol, in a sea for tranquility suited for the saline venture, swam completely round St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall. Accompanied by a local boatman the swimmer rowed out from the mainland, quitting his boat, and entering ten fathoms in depth of water at two o'clock. A mean distance of a hundred yards from the coast was, whilst the circuit was made, preserved. No inconvenience of any sort--excepting, towards the conclusion,--the chilliness of the water, was encountered; the distance of one mile and a half being accomplished in the space and record time of three-quarters of an hour. The swimmer at the finish expressed himself entirely satisfied with the nerve and capacity of his boatman (Ivey) and accorded a tribute to the romantic style in which the Mount and Castle proper are kept. The view from the watery verge being replete with quaint interest and delightsome variety. The previous occasion to this feat being performed was three summers ago, when Lady Agnes Townshend, and six years since, when Colonel Townshend swam the same distance; but no other authentic instance is credited, or preserved on record. The swimmer on this latest occasion is a Royal Academy exhibitor, and the designer of the subject panels in the reredos in the neighbouring Cathedral of Truro; having moreover aided the architect, now deceased, of the Cathedral of Cornwall in other departments of Architectural service.

From the CORNISHMAN, _September 4th,_ 1902.
LONG DISTANCE SWIMS.
IN A CORNER OF MOUNT'S BAY.
(BY THE SWIMMER).
On Thursday, August 14th, Mr. J. Atwood Slater, then staying at Marazion, who, as recorded in a recent issue, swam completely round St. Michael's Mount, made an attempt to swim from St. Michael's Mount to Newlyn. With his boatman (Ivey), he started from Marazion, entering the water at S.W. corner of the Mount.
Whilst engaged in the preliminaries of the start a moment of suspense was passed, the distance appearing sufficient (when out of water) to unnerve all but the most intrepid of swimmers. Striking out in the direction of Newlyn, and using the breast stroke, the shore and beetling Mount were gradually left behind, but when a full distance of a mile and a half was covered, a swell got up from the S.W. and blew a quantity of water into the face of the swimmer. At each impulse progress becoming extremely difficult; nevertheless a yet further interval of half a mile was placed to the swimmer's credit; when, deeming it impracticable to continue further, and having covered relatively more than half the distance, in a mood of chagrin, he re-entered his boat.
Then seizing the oars, and murmuring an ejaculatory note to the ocean which had sent him not a few malign caresses, he pulled, boatman, craft and all to Marazion; the time exactly occupied in the exploit, of two miles and an eighth, being forty-five minutes.
On Saturday, August 23rd, Mr. Slater again, taking with him E. John, swam in deep water, from close to the pier head St. Michael's Mount to a point contiguous to Longrock; a distance of a mile and an eighth. Progress was without hap or hindrance, though in a grey misty light. At length, whilst the disappearing sun sank to rest behind a belt of clouds, parted asunder over Penzance, the boatman was called upon to draw in his boat, the swimmer thereupon going on board.
Experience gained upon these occasions teaches that it emphatically requires greater nerve to swim in the open sea, always going straight in deep water, than is called for when propelling oneself round the Mount.
Again, on Tuesday, at ten minutes to two, the swimmer, to confirm his past exploits and as a climax to his stay in Mount's Bay, swam from Venton cove to St. Michael's Mount, rather in excess of a mile, in thirty-one minutes, Ivey, his boatman merely steering his boat alongside.
It is the swimmer's opinion, that the timing of mid, or half stroke, is the most elegant, most difficult, and to conceal, yet fully make use of this "break," constitutes the criterion as to whether the swimmer, be he amateur or professional, is first-class or not.

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