Stèle Matthew Webb
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Stèle Matthew Webb
digue gaston berthe - 62100 CALAIS
About thirty years before Louis Blériot's crossing by plane, another legendary crossing took place in 1875. Matthew Webb wrote his name in the history of swimming and sporting challenges. On both sides of the Channel, his memory is commemorated... later on the French side.
Matthew Webb is a legendary name in the history of sporting achievements. He was the first person to successfully swim the English Channel. He landed in Calais on 25 August 1875 at 10:41 a.m., where he was given a triumphant welcome. He had left Dover the day before at 12:56 p.m. and swam for 21 hours and 45 minutes. The unfavourable currents reinforced the significance of his feat!
Englishman Matthew Webb was 27 years old at the time of this crossing. He was in the merchant navy, and he was inspired to attempt this challenge after reading the story of JB Johnson's failure in 1872. He trained hard and arrived in Dover in the summer of 1875. He failed on August 12 before trying again successfully a few days later. After this feat in the Channel, he achieved other performances. His last challenge ended in tragedy. On July 24, 1883, he drowned while trying to cross the rapids of Niagara Falls.
Witness to his status as a Hero of the Channel, a stele with a bronze bust of Matthew Webb has been in Dover, facing the sea, since 1910. It was not until 1979 that a stele commemorated the exploit of the young English sailor on the French side. It was inaugurated on the Calais seafront, at the initiative of several associations: the Friends of Old Calais, France-Great Britain and the Calais Tourist Office.
Did you know? It would take 36 years (until September 1911) to repeat the Channel swim. A feat achieved by TW Burgess on his 16th attempt. Every summer, dozens of attempts take place within a regulatory framework defined by 3 associations. The crossings are only made in the England-France direction, and the distance is 34 kilometers (without taking into account the hazards of the sea).
