This was a return visit to the Tara Street Baths following her successful endurance swim of 28 hours in that pond the previous February.

This new attempt at 42 hours started at 5.30 p.m. on Sunday 2 November and finished at 11.30 a.m. on Tuesday 4 November. Patrick Lynch, Superintendent of the Baths, was again given charge of its organisation.

(Photographer: J. Merriman, Amiens Street, Dublin.)

There were 3,607 spectators at the event, and even at midnight, especially on the second night, a dense throng was present. Community singing took place throughout, and on Monday evening an impromptu concert was given by a group of singers and instrumentalists, including Davy Lee and Chris Sylvester on accordions.

The swim went without incident. The Dublin Evening Mail and others covered the event, and it was recorded that it was only on the second night, during the early hours of Tuesday morning, that Mercedes appeared to be seriously affected by lack of sleep. The lights were switched on and off several times and the many people who had stayed on poolside through the night kept up a conversation with her to keep her awake. The lethargy lasted about one hour on this occasion, and from then on she swam strongly, giving a display of different swimming strokes during the last hour.

At 11.30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, to the strains of The Soldiers Song, she was lifted out of the water by Peter Dunne, Andrew Carroll and Joe Lynch (the Leinster schoolboy swimming champion). Four St John Ambulance Brigade officers (Privates Burch, Byrne, Dunne and Byrne) carried her out on a stretcher to the waiting motor, which then conveyed her to Croydon Park to recuperate from the swim.

During the last few hours the terraces at the edge of the pond and the balconies were packed to capacity. A large crowd had gathered outside under the supervision of Inspector O’Callaghan, and although unable to enter, they stayed until the end to cheer her as she was carried out of the building.

The Lord Mayor (Senator the Rt. Hon A. Byrne) and a number of prominent city people were present during the closing stages.

Members of the Irish Amateur Swimming Association had contributed to the success of the swim, and their representatives also came to see the finish, including Mr H. Brennan (Chairman), Mr C. Fagan (President of the Leinster Branch), Mr G. Cullen, Mr. P.T. O’Neill, Mr E. Cox and Mr G.W. McCormack.

The doctors in attendance were Dr Purcell and Dr Robert Corbett, and two nurses from the Irish Nurses Union (Mrs Nye and Miss Murphy) watched over Mercedes during the swim and afterwards.

Stewarding arrangements were in the hands of Inspector Beggs, and all the swimming clubs were represented at the event, including Dublin S.C., Dublin University S.C., Sandycove S.C., Clontarf S.C., Pembroke S.C., Republican S.C. and Emerald Rechabite S.C.

The Lord Mayor presented Mercedes with a gold fountain pen as a souvenir of the swim and said he earnestly hoped she would return to Dublin and inaugurate a school of swimming in that city.