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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