Foreign News: Last Chance

Even as a teen-ager in Dartford, Ted May was known as one of the strongest swimmers in England. The water never seemed rough enough to suit him. On stormy nights he would swim the lower Thames to visit his girl friend Florence; just for kicks, he would dive under water and stay down long enough to scare her. “One of these days,” he told her, “I’m going to swim right down this river and clear across to France.”

Eventually they got married, and the effort of raising a family crowded out Ted May’s old ambition. But this year, when Channel swimming season came round, he felt the old urge. He could find no sponsor. He was 44 now, and weighed a hefty 240 Ibs.; he figured this was his last chance. He decided to try it alone. A fortnight ago, he struck out from Cape Gris-Nez, towing an inner-tube raft filled with supplies. A Norwegian ship hauled him exhausted from the Channel.

He refused to quit. “There’s only one bad patch a few miles out,” he told his wife. “The rest is easy.” He was sure he could make it the next time. One night last week, Ted kissed his children, said “tata” to Florence, and took a boat to Calais. French police tried to stop him, even lifted his passport. Ted was adamant. Before dawn next morning, greased and goggled, wearing a luminous wrist compass and towing his frail little raft, he waded into the choppy water off Cape Gris-Nez.

Some 15 hours after Ted started swimming, the tanker San Vito, churning through a rising Channel gale, radioed: “Man in sea near Goodwin Sands.” All Channel shipping was alerted. R.A.F. launches and seaside lifeboats put out. The U.S. destroyer Glennon cruised the area with searchlights blazing. U.S. and British air-sea rescue planes droned over the water and dropped parachute flares. Next morning Ted was still missing. His wife Florence, waiting on the Dover sands, refused to give up hope. “Storms never bothered him before,” she said. “I’m sure he’ll turn up.” But after 32 hours, the search was abandoned, and Ted May was listed as the first Channel swimmer to lose his life since the first crossing in 1875.