World’s First Frogman Swam Strait of Gibraltar
words | Reg Reynolds
The world’s first ‘frogman’ isn’t in the record book for swimming the Strait of Gibraltar but maybe he should be... The Albany Evening Journal Almanac of 1879 recorded that on 20th March 1878 the Irish-born American Paul Boyton entered the water at Caripa [sic] at 7.50am and emerged at Tangier at 12.55pm. Further confirmation of the feat was reported in Harper’s Book of Facts for 1906: “Paul Boyton swims the Straits of Gibraltar from Caripa to Tangier in five hours five minutes”. Boyton, nicknamed the ‘Fearless Frogman’, was already famous when he made the crossing of the Strait wearing the first ever ‘scuba gear’ which was actually the first ‘survival suit’ and had been created by inventor Clark S. Merriman of Iowa. Merriman had invented the suit because of his concern for the many people who died every year from drowning after shipwrecks. Boyton, a strong swimmer and a member of the fledgling United States Life-Saving Service (later Coast Guard) was just the man to promote the device. Boyton proved to be a natural self-publicist and he hatched a spectacular stunt to introduce the ‘frogman’ suit to the world. He would stowaway on an ocean liner at New York and when it was sufficiently far out to sea he would jump overboard and swim to shore. Everything went to plan in the beginning and Boyton managed to hide away in a canopy-covered lifeboat on the liner Queen. But that night Captain Bragg went for a stroll around the deck and happened to arrive at the lifeboat just as Boyton climbed out carrying his strange looking gear. “What do you think you are doing?” asked the surprised Captain Bragg. “I’m going to jump from the ship,” replied a self-assured Boyton. “Not from my ship you’re not,” growled the Captain. Boyton tried to argue that as he had not paid a fare the Captain should allow him to leave. Captain Bragg had the suit confiscated and assigned the stowaway to a comfortable cabin. The two men dined together through the next few days and the personable Boyton finally convinced the Captain to allow him to go overboard. Following is Boyton’s description of the suit: “It was 1874 when I donned my first rubber suit. It was composed of vulcanized rubber and consists of two distinct sections, both joined at the waist. The pantaloons end in a band of steel over which the lower part of the tunic fits with a strap covering it all, thus making a perfectly water-tight joint. At the back of the head, the
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GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE • MAY 2014
25/04/2014 17:25