Newcastle upon Tyne (41½ hours) – 24 to 25 Oct 1930
Northumberland Baths
The Newcastle Baths and Washhouses Committee had agreed to offer Mercedes a contract earlier in the year and they delegated to Mr John Chapman (Chairman), the Vice-Chairman and Mr Edward W. Priestley (Baths Superintendent) the task of organising the event in the Northumberland Baths at the end of the summer season. October 24 was the start date.
Edward Priestley and Mercedes outside the Baths
Gleitze archives. (Unknown photographer.)
Northumberland Baths (opened November 1928)
Photograph published courtesy of Lynn Pearson, Gosforth.
Councillor R.J. Thompson JP started the proceedings at 6.00 a.m. on Friday 24 October, and Mercedes began her swim using an easy but powerful breaststroke, alternating with backstroke, at 32 strokes per minute. During the morning she requested a handkerchief to bind her right wrist, which was feeling a little stiff. She also asked for newspapers to read whilst swimming, and signed autographs of her photograph on request. During the early part of Friday morning about 120 spectators had entered the pool, and by lunchtime this number had increased to 800.
Although Mercedes carried out her first endurance swim (26 hours) on a diet of small amounts of mainly liquid nourishment, as the length of the swims increased so did her intake of solid food. At this particular swim she was given three proper meals during the course of the day, with Glucosade, Bovril, coffee, chicken broth and Bemax in between. She washed her face with hot water at intervals throughout the two days, and intermittently applied Vaseline to her face, neck and feet.
After lunch she was interviewed whilst swimming by several journalists (notably from the Newcastle Journal and the Newcastle Chronicle), followed by a visit from the former Sheriff and Lord Mayor of Newcastle, Sir Arthur Lambert, who introduced himself to her and wished her good luck in her endeavours. Later in the swim Sir Arthur sent Mercedes a note, which read: “The French Consul and American Consul are here and wish you success.”
At 3.00 p.m. over 1,000 people had attended the swim, and by 9.00 p.m. this number had doubled to 2,000. During the evening Mercedes showed her first signs of fatigue, but after having her face sprayed with cold water, she roused and began to swim strongly again.
Apart from the gramophone, a piano had also been installed on poolside, and at 10.00 p.m. a member of the audience started to play it, accompanied by a good deal of community singing. With this encouragement Mercedes was now swimming without much effort.
Florrie and Mercedes were introduced to each other, and then, with the permission of the Hippodrome management, Florrie entertained everyone for 40 minutes with old time songs. This was received with tremendous applause from the huge audience, who joined very lustily in the choruses.
Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery
Towards midnight the audience started to retire, reducing the night watch to about 150 people. This vigilant group worked hard to give Mercedes the necessary encouragement to stay awake. They were instrumental in getting her through the worst period of the swim, which they did by singing marching songs, talking to her, and generally making a noise. At 4.15 a.m. in response to an extra loud bang created by the then 100-strong crowd, Mercedes came out of her lethargy and began to swim in splendid form.
Early on Saturday morning a good number of people came to see her before going to work, and by that time she was back to full strength, and showing no signs of fatigue. Between 9.00 a.m. and midday people entered the building in large numbers, including some personal friends who greeted her from poolside, and Mercedes appeared in very good spirits. Several telegrams also arrived for her, which pleased her very much.
Repeated cheering greeted Councillor Thompson’s announcement at noon that 30 hours had passed, and Mercedes reassured the crowd that she would not disappoint them in achieving her target.
During the afternoon she began to feel a little cold so the water temperature was raised to 84ºF. She also had an attack of cramp in the early evening but this released its grip after an hour.
At 6.00 p.m. when Councillor Thompson announced the 36-hours time marker had passed, this caused the building to ring for several minutes with a tremendous round of cheering from the huge crowd. By then Mercedes was swimming as well as when she started, giving a varied exhibition of different styles of strokes, and keeping up an average of 32 strokes per minute.
The Lady Mayoress (Miss Stevenson) arrived in the early evening with a party of friends, and she presented Mercedes with a bouquet of roses. Other visitors arriving to witness the end of the swim included Mr J. Chapman, Chairman of the Baths Committee and several Councillors and Aldermen of the City. More bouquets of flowers were handed to her, which pleased her very much.
A musical encore:
At 9.00 p.m. Florrie Forde returned for a second visit, delighting everyone by again singing popular songs to the crowds, who joined in the choruses with vigour.
After this, several other artists performed numbers, and the Armstrong College students sang songs accompanied by their own jazz band.
At 11.00 p.m. Mr Percy Bush arrived with his dance band from the Festival Hall and entertained everyone with many popular selections until the end of the swim.
At 11.30 p.m. four members of the Northumberland Swimming Club entered the pool at the shallow end and lifted Mercedes out of the water accompanied by terrific applause from the dense crowd after she had completed 41 hours 30 minutes of non-stop swimming.
It was reported that between 6.00 a.m. on Friday and midday on Saturday, 4,800 people had attended the event, and at the finish of the swim 3,500 were present.
A luncheon was given in Mercedes’s honour at the County Hotel on 27 October and an inscribed gold pencil was later sent to her as a souvenir of the swim.
