“In the forty-fourth page, volume first, of Turner’s Travels (which you
lately sent me), it is stated that ‘Lord Byron, when he
expressed such confidence of its practicability, seems to have forgotten that
Leander swam both ways, with and against the
tide; whereas he (Lord Byron) only performed the easiest part of
the task by swimming with it from Europe to Asia.’ I certainly could not
have forgotten, what is known to every schoolboy, that Leander crossed in the night, and returned towards the morning. My object
was, to ascertain that the Hellespont could be crossed at all by
swimming, and in this Mr. Ekenhead and myself both succeeded, the
one in an hour and ten minutes,
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“Mr. Turner says, ‘Whatever is thrown into the stream on this part of the European bank must arrive at the Asiatic shore.’ This is so far from being the case, that it must arrive in the Archipelago, if left to the current, although a strong wind in the Asiatic direction might have such an effect occasionally.
“Mr. Turner attempted the passage from the Asiatic side, and failed: ‘After five-and-twenty minutes, in which he did not advance a hundred yards, he gave it up from complete exhaustion.’ This is very possible, and might have occurred to him just as readily on the European side. He should have set out a couple of miles higher, and could then have come out below the European castle. I particularly stated, and Mr. Hobhouse has done so also, that we were obliged to make the real passage of one mile extend to between three and four, owing to the force of the stream. I can assure Mr. Turner, that his success would have given me great pleasure, as it would have added one more instance to the proofs of the probability. It is not quite fair in him to infer, that because he failed, Leander could not succeed. There are still four instances on record: a Neapolitan, a young Jew, Mr. Ekenhead, and myself; the two last done in the presence of hundreds of English witnesses.
“With regard to the difference of the current, I perceived none; it is favourable to the swimmer on neither aide, but
may be stemmed by
| A. D. 1821. | LIFE OF LORD BYRON. | 449 |
“I crossed the Hellespont in one hour and ten minutes only.
I am now ten years older in time, and twenty in constitution, than I was when I passed
the Dardanelles, and yet two years ago I was capable of swimming four hours and twenty
minutes; and I am sure that I could have continued two hours longer, though I had on a
pair of trowsers, an accoutrement which by no means assists the performance. My two
| 450 | NOTICES OF THE | A. D. 1821. |
“With this experience in swimming at different periods of life, not only upon the spot, but elsewhere, of various persons, what is there to make me doubt that Leander’s exploit was perfectly practicable? If three individuals did more than the passage of the Hellespont, why should he have done less? But Mr. Turner failed, and, naturally seeking a plausible reason for his failure, lays the blame on the Asiatic side of the strait. He tried to swim directly across, instead of going higher up to take the vantage: he might as well have tried to fly over Mount Athos.
“That a young Greek of the heroic times, in love, and with his limbs in full vigour, might have succeeded in such an attempt is neither wonderful nor doubtful. Whether he attempted it or not is another question, because he might have had a small boat to save him the trouble.
“P.S. Mr. Turner
says that the swimming from Europe to Asia was—‘the easiest part of the
task.’ I doubt whether Leander found
it so, as it was the return; however, he had several hours between the intervals. The
argument of Mr. Turner ‘that higher up, or lower down,
the strait widens so considerably that he would save little labour by his
starting,’ is only good for indifferent swimmers; a man of any practice
or skill will always consider the distance less than the strength of the stream. If
Ekenhead and myself had thought of crossing
at the narrowest point, instead of going up to the Cape above it, we should have been
swept down to Tenedos. The strait, however, is not so extremely wide, even where it
broadens above and below the forts. As the frigate was stationed some time in the
Dardanelles waiting for the firman, I bathed often in the strait subsequently to our
traject, and generally on the Asiatic side, without perceiving the greater strength
of the opposite stream by which the diplomatic traveller palliates his own failure.
Our amusement in the small bay which opens immediately below the Asiatic fort was to
dive for the land tortoises, which we flung in on purpose,
| A. D. 1821. | LIFE OF LORD BYRON. | 451 |
