Captain Webb's feat has been repeated. Between Tuesday and Wednesday
morning Mr. Frederick Cavill swam in twelve hours and forty-five minutes from the Calais side of Cape Grisnez to within twenty-five yards of the Dover coast. Both wind and tide were in his favour, but the sea ran very high, and the party with him would not allow him to land. Of course, cold is the great enemy a strong swimmer has to fear, and to prevent his being utterly exhausted, Cavill was first rubbed over with porpoise- oil, and he wore a silk jacket and an indiarubber overall. He seems to have suffered much—far more than Captain Webb— during his journey, and to have required stimulants almost every half-hour, in the shape of brandy, cocoa, and hot curaeoa. When he was placed on the deck of the lugger which accom- panied him, he became utterly exhausted, and was brought round by the application of stimulants and hot bricks. Mr. Cavill does not deserve to be voted a public benefactor on the strength of his feat. None the less will Englishmen feel proud that they have two men among them who can swim the Channel, and that the feat has not yet been accomplished by any other human beings.
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