On August 25, 1875, Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel. It was a history-making event of epic proportions and helped birth a new sport - marathon swimming.
Some 51 years later, Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the Channel, also to much fanfare. Her swim launched a new renaissance of marathon swimming around the world, as interest in her success and shattering of the men’s record by more than two hours captured the imagination of millions of people around the world.
On the 106th anniversary of Webb’s crossing, another first took place in the English Channel. That day, 25 August 1981, the first black American completed a solo crossing of the Channel when Charles Chapman, AKA Charlie the Tuna, of Buffalo, New York, made an impressive crossing in 13 hours and 30 minutes.