HIS BOLD ADVENTURES ON THE WATER.
[Sidenote: SWIMMING ADVOCATED.]
That swimming is a noble and useful art, deserving the best attention of
all classes of the community, is a fact few will dispute. 'Swimming,'
says Locke, 'ought to form part of every boy's education!' It is an art
that is easily acquired; it is healthy and pleasurable as an exercise,
being highly favourable to muscular development, agility of motion, and
symmetry of form; and it is of inconceivable benefit as the means of
preserving or saving life in seasons of peril, when death would
otherwise prove inevitable. Mr. Ellerthorpe early became an accomplished
swimmer; he often fell overboard, and but for his skill in the art under
consideration he would have been drowned. He also enjoyed the happiness
of having saved upwards of forty persons, who, but for his efforts must,
to all human appearance, have perished.
To a maratime nation like ours, with a rugged and dangerous coast-line
of two thousand miles, indented by harbours, few and far from each
other, and with a sea-faring population of half a million, it seems as
necessary that the rising generation should learn to swim as that they
should be taught the most common exercises of youth. And yet 'this
natatory art' is but little cultivated amongst us. On the Continent, and
among foreigners generally, swimming is practised and encouraged far
more than it is in England. In the Normal Swimming school of Denmark,
some thirty years ago, there were educated 105 masters destined to teach
the art throughout the kingdom. In France, Vienna, Copenhagen,
Stockholm, Berne, Amsterdam, &c., similar means were adopted, and very
few persons in those countries are entirely destitute of a knowledge of
the art. But so generally is this department of juvenile training
neglected by us as a people, that _only one in every ten who gain their
livelihood on the water_ are able to swim.
[Sidenote: HULL SWIMMING CLUB.]
Mr. Ellerthorpe, in a characteristic letter, says: 'I think no
schoolmaster should regard the education of his scholars complete unless
he has taught them to swim. That art is of service when everything else
is useless. I once heard of a professor who was being ferried across a
river by a boatman, who was no scholar. So the professor said, "Can you
write, my man?" "No, Sir," said the boatman. "Then you have lost one
third of your life," said the professor. "Can you read?" again asked he
of the boatman. "No," replied the latter, "I can't read." "Then you have
lost the half of your life," said the professor. Now came the boatman's
turn. "Can you swim?" said the boatman to the professor. "No," was his
reply. "Then," said the boatman, "you have lost the whole of your life,
for the boat is sinking and you'll be drowned." Now, Sir, I think that
if those fathers who spend so much money on the intellectual education
of their children, would devote but a small portion of it to securing
for them a knowledge of the art of swimming, they would confer a great
blessing on those children, and also on society at large. I would have
every one learn to swim females as well as males; for many of both sexes
come under my notice every year who are drowned, but who, with a little
skill in swimming, might have been saved. Not fewer than forty men and
boys were lost from the Hull Smacks alone during the year 1866, of whom
twenty per cent, might have been saved had they been able to swim.'
[Sidenote: HE LEARNS TO SWIM.]
Mr. Ellerthorpe was, for many years, Master of the 'Hull Swimming Club,'
and also of 'The College Youth's Swimming Club,' and his whole life was
a practical lesson on the value of the art of swimming. He contended
that the youths of Hull ought to be taught this art, and pleaded that a
sheet of water which had been waste and unproductive for twenty years
should be transformed into a swimming bath. The local papers favoured
the scheme, and Alderman Dennison, moved in the Town Council, that £350
should be devoted to this object, which was carried by a majority. The
late Titus Salt, Esq., who had given £5,000 to the 'Sailor's Orphan
Home,' said at the time, 'I think _your corporation ought to make the
swimming bath_ alluded to in the enclosed paper; _do ask them_.' 'The
private individual who gives his _fifty_ hundreds to a particular
Institution,' to use the words of the _Hull and Eastern Counties'
Herald, Oct. 10th_, 1857, 'has surely a right to express an opinion that
the municipal corporation ought to grant _three_ hundreds, if by so
doing the public weal would be provided. If the voice of such a man is
to be disregarded, then it may truly be said that our good old town has
fallen far below the exalted position it occupied when it produced its
Wilberforce and its Marvel.'
For upwards of forty years Mr. Ellerthorpe was known as a fearless
swimmer and diver, and during that period he saved no fewer than forty
lives by his daring intrepidity. In his boyhood, he, to use his own
expression, '_felt quite at home in the water_,' and betook himself to
it as natively and instinctively as the swan to the water or the lark to
the sky. 'This art,' to use the words of an admirable article in the
_Shipwrecked Mariners' Magazine_ for October, 1862, 'he has cultivated
so successfully that in scores of instances he has been able to employ
it for the salvation of life and property. Perhaps the history of no
other living person more fully displays the value of this art than John
Ellerthorpe. Joined with courage, promptitude, and steady
self-possession, it has enabled him repeatedly to preserve his own life,
and what is far more worthy of record, to save not fewer than
thirty-nine of his fellow creatures, who, humanly speaking, must
otherwise have met with a watery grave.'
[Sidenote: HIS RECKLESS DARING.]
It is but right to state that, in the early period of his history, a
thoughtless disregard of his own life, and an overweening confidence in
his ability to swim almost any length, and amid circumstances of great
peril, often led him to deeds of 'reckless daring,' which in riper years
he would have trembled to attempt. Respecting most of the following
circumstances he says, 'I look upon those perilous adventures as so many
foolish and wicked temptings of Providence. I have often wondered I was
not drowned, and attribute my preservation to the wonder-working
providence of God, who has so often 'redeemed my life from destruction,
and crowned me with loving kindness and tender mercies.'
And certainly we should remember that heroism is one thing, reckless
daring another. Two or three instances will illustrate this. A few years
ago Blondin, for the sake of money, jeopardized his life at the Crystal
Palace, by walking blindfolded on a tight-rope, and holding in his hand
a balancing pole. In so doing he was foolhardy, but not heroic. But a
certain Frenchman, at Alencon, walked on one occasion on a rope over
some burning beams into a burning house, otherwise inaccessible, and
succeeded in saving six persons. This was the act of a true hero. When
Mr. Worthington, the 'professional diver,' plunged into the water and
saved six persons from drowning, who, but for his skill and dexterity as
a swimmer, would certainly have met with a watery grave, he acted the
part of a 'hero;' but when, the other day, he made a series of nine
'terrific plunges' from the Chain Pier at Brighton--a height of about
one hundred and twenty feet--merely to gratify sensational sightseers,
or to put a few shillings into his own pocket, he acted the part of a
foolhardy man. Can we wonder that he was within an ace of losing his
life in this mad exploit? And when John Ellerthorpe dived to the bottom
of 'Clarke's Bit,' to gratify a number of young men who had 'more money
than wit,' and struggled in the water with a bag of coals on his back,
he put himself on a par with those men who place their lives in imminent
danger by dancing on ropes, swinging on cords, tying themselves into
knots like a beast, or crawling on ceilings like some creeping thing!
But when he used his skill to save his fellow creatures, he was a true
hero, and was justified in perilling his own life, considering that by
so doing the safety of others might be secured.
We shall close this chapter by recording a few of his deeds of reckless
daring.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: JOHN'S FIRST ATTEMPT AT SWIMMING.]
'My first attempt at swimming took place at Hessle, when I was about
twelve years of age. There was a large drain used for the purpose of
receiving the water from both the sea and land. My father managed the
sluice, which was used for excluding, retaining, and regulating the flow
of water into this drain. It was a first rate place for lads to bathe
in, and I have sometimes bathed in it ten times a day; indeed, I regret
to say, I spent many days there when I ought to have been at school. I
soon got to swim in this drain, but durst not venture into the harbour.
But one day I accidentally set my dirty feet upon the shirt of a boy who
was much older and bigger than myself, and in a rage he took me up in
his arms and threw me into the harbour. I soon felt safe there, nor did
I leave the harbour till I had crossed and recrossed it thirty-two
times. The next day I swam the whole length of the harbour twice, and
from that day I began to match myself with expert swimmers, nor did I
fear swimming with the best of them. Some other lads were as venturesome
as myself, and we used to go up the Humber with the tides, for several
miles at once. I remember on one occasion it blew a strong gale of wind
from S.W., several vessels sank in the Humber, and a number of boats
broke adrift, while a heavy sea was running: I stripped and swam to one
of the boats, got into her, and brought her to land, for which act the
master of the boat gave me five shillings. During the same gale a keel
came ashore at Hessle; I stripped and swam to her and brought a rope on
shore, by the assistance of which, two men, a woman, and two children
escaped from the vessel. The tide was receding at the time, so that they
were enabled, with the assistance of the rope, to walk ashore. There are
several old men living now who well remember this circumstance.
[Sidenote: SWIMS ACROSS THE HUMBER.]
'Soon after this occurrence, I remember one Saturday afternoon, going
with some other boys of my own age, and swimming across the Humber, a
distance of two miles. We started from Swanland Fields (which was then
enclosed), Yorkshire, and landed at the Old Warp, Lincolnshire. Here we
had a long run and a good play, and then we recrossed the Humber. But in
doing so we were carried up as far as Ferriby Sluice, and had to run
back to where we had left our clothes in charge of some lads, but when
we got there the lads had gone, and we didn't know what to do. We sought
for our clothes a full hour, when a man, in the employ of Mr. Pease told
us that the lads had put them under some bushes, where we at last found
them. We were in the water four hours. This was an act of great
imprudence.
'On another occasion myself and some other lads played truant from
school, and went towards the Humber to bathe, but the schoolmaster, Mr.
Peacock, followed us closely. He ran and I ran, and I had just time to
throw off my clothes and leap into the water, when he got to the bank.
He was afraid I should be drowned, and called out 'If you will come back
I won't tell your father and mother.' But I refused to return, for at
that time I felt no fear in doing what I durst not have attempted when I
got older.
[Sidenote: SWIMS IN HESSLE HARBOUR.]
'On several occasions some young gentlemen, who were scholars at Hessle
boarding school, got me to go and bathe with them. They had plenty of
money, and I had none; and as they offered to pay me, I was glad to go
with them. One day while we were bathing, the eldest son of Mr.
Earnshaw, of Hessle, had a narrow escape from drowning. I was a long way
from him at the time, but I did all I could to reach and rescue him. He
was very ill for some days, and the doctor forbade him bathing for a
long time to come. This deterred us from bathing for awhile, but we soon
forgot it. We agreed to have a swimming match, and the boy that swam the
farthest was to have _sixpence_. We started at three o'clock in the
afternoon from the third jetty below Hessle harbour, and went up with
the tide. One of the boys got the lead of me and I could not overtake
him until we got opposite Cliffe Mill, about a mile and a half from
where we started. He then began to fag, while I felt as brisk as a lark
and fresher than when I began. I soon took the lead, and when I got to
Ferriby Lane-end, I lost my mate altogether. However, I knew he was a
capital swimmer, and I felt afraid lest he should turn up again, so I
swam as far as Melton brickyard, and fairly won the prize. I had swam
about seven miles, and believe I could have swam back without landing.
[Sidenote: HIS EXPLOITS ON THE WATER.]
'When I was about fifteen years of age a steam packet came to Hessle,
bringing a number of swimmers from Hull. Soon alter their arrival a lad
came running to me and said, "Jack, there's some of those Hull chaps
bathing, and they say they can beat thee." I didn't like that; and when
I got to them, a young gentleman said, pointing to me, "Here is a lad
that shall swim you for what you like." One of them said, "Is he that
Ellerthorpe of Hessle?" "No matter who he is," replied the young man,
"I'll back him for a sovereign," when one of the young gentlemen called
out, "It is Jack Ellerthorpe, I won't have aught to do with him, for he
can go as fast feet foremost as I can with my hands foremost, he's a
first-rate swimmer." By this time I was stripped, and at once plunged
into the river. I crept on my hands and knees on the water, and then
swam backwards and forwards with my feet foremost, and not one among
them could swim with me. I showed them the "porpoise race," which
consisted in disappearing under the water, and then coming "bobbing" up
suddenly, at very unlikely spots. I then took a knife and cut my
toe-nails in the water. The young gents were greatly delighted, and
afterwards they would have matched me to swim anybody, to any distance.
And I believe that at that time I could have swam almost any length; for
after I had swam two or three miles my spirits seemed to rise, and my
strength increased. When other lads seemed thoroughly beaten out, I was
coming to my best, and the longer I remained in the water the easier and
faster I could swim.
[Sidenote: SWIMS TO BARROW.]
'It will be remembered by some who will read these pages, that about ...
years ago a Mr. Burton was returned, as a member of Parliament for
Beverley. He was a wild, drunken, half-crazy fellow, and I remember he
came to Hessle about two o'clock one afternoon, and drove full gallop,
with postillions, up to my father's house. At that time my father was
ferryman, and Mr. Burton wanted a boat to take him to Barton. "But,"
said my father, "there is no water," when the Member of Parliament said,
"Won't money make the boat swim?" "I'm afraid not," was my father's
reply. At that time, however, there was a ballast lighter at Cliffe, and
my father and I went to see if we could borrow the lighter's boat; we
succeeded, and as it was a great distance from the water (the tide being
low), my father asked the Cliffe men to help in launching it, when about
thirty of them came to his assistance. Mr. Burton left a guinea to be
spent in drink for the men. We then started in the boat, and took Mr.
Burton to Barrow, there being no _usable_ jetty at Barton. I was to run
to Barton for a post-chaise, but before we got to the shore the boat ran
aground, so out of the boat I jumped, and away I ran, until I came to a
pool of water, about twelve feet deep. Almost mad with excitement, I
sprang into it, and small as I was, soon crossed it and was ashore. Mr.
Burton saw me in the water, and he was afraid I should be drowned, and
when I returned with the chaise he gave me a sovereign, the first I ever
had, so you may be sure I was mightily pleased. I found my father and
the men drunk, and they gave me some rum. On being asked, "What Mr.
Burton had given me," I evaded the question by saying "A shilling," for
I was of opinion that if my father had known I had got so much as I had,
he would have taken most of it to spend in drink. So I hastened home and
gave the sovereign to my mother, and we were both highly delighted to
possess so large a sum of money.
'The following amusing circumstance took place in 1836-7, when I
belonged to the Barton and Hessle packet. One day we had put on board
the "tow boat" a great number of fat beasts, belonging, if I remember
rightly, to Mr. Wood, of South Dalton. The "tow boat" was attached to
the steamer by a large thick rope. We had not got far from Barton when
the boat capsized, and we were in an awful mess. The boat soon filled
with water; some of the beasts swam one way and some another, while
several got entangled in the rails attached to the boat's side, and were
every moment in danger of breaking their legs. So seizing an axe I
jumped into the water and cut away the rails, and then went in pursuit
of the oxen, heading them round in the water and causing them, by shouts
and gestures, to swim for the land. Most of them were driven back to
Barton and landed safely, others swam across the Humber and were landed
at Hessle. I was up to my chest in water and mud for nearly three hours
swimming backwards and forwards after the beasts; sometimes I had hold
of their tails, and anon had to meet them and turn them towards the
shore. There are lots of people now living at Barton who saw the affray,
and who could describe it much better than I have done.
[Sidenote: JOHN AND THE BEASTS.]
'A similar incident took place in 1844. I was captain of a ferry-boat
plying between Winteringham and Brough. One Sabbath-day I was taking a
load of beasts from Brough to Winteringham, and when we had got about
half way across the Humber, the boat upset, and the beasts were thrown
into the water. I was afraid they all would be drowned, and, in spite of
all I could do, some of them were. I jumped overboard and drove some of
them back to Brough, while others swam to the Lincolnshire side of the
river. I was swimming about after the beasts for five hours, chasing
them backwards and forwards, turning them this way and that, and doing
what nobody but myself would have done. At length, several men came to
our assistance, and when we had got the poor animals out of the water,
we hastened to the public-house at the harbour-side, and got drunk. I
kept my wet clothes on until they dried on my back. This was one of the
most wretched days of my life. My anxiety about the beasts, the
exhaustion brought on by my efforts to get them safe to land, and the
sense of misery and degradation I felt when I thought of the plight I
was found in on the blessed Sabbath-day, I shall never forget.
'On one occasion I was helping to load the "Magna Charter," and being
half drunk, I fell into Hull harbour, with upwards of eight stones of
coal on my back, but through foolish bravado I refused to let the bag
drop into the water. After being in the water several minutes, I swam
to the landing with the coals on my back, amid the deafening shouts of
scores of spectators. I look back on this act of temerity with feelings
of shame and unmixed regret.'
[Sidenote: HE IS CAST OVERBOARD.]
When sailing from Hull to Barton, one night in the year 1842, John was
thrown overboard. The night was dark, the wind was blowing a heavy gale
from the west, and every moment the spring-tide, then at its height,
carried him further from the packet, which soon became unmanageable. The
boat was launched, but the engineer, who had charge of it, became
greatly agitated and much alarmed, and uttered the most piteous cries.
'I felt more for him than I did for myself,' says John, 'and though one
moment lost in the trough of the sea, and the next on the crest of the
billows, now near the boat and again fifty yards from it, I cried out,
'Scull away. Bob, scull away, thou'll soon be at me.' After being in the
water half-an-hour I reached the boat in safety. All this time I had on
the following garments, made of very stout pilot-cloth: a pair of
trousers, a double-breasted waistcoat, a surtout coat, and a heavy great
coat, which came down to my ancles, a thick shawl round my neck, and a
new pair of Wellington boots on my feet. I had in my pockets the
following sums of money: £25 in bank notes; 25 sovereigns; £4 16s. 6d.
in silver, and 8d. in coppers; also a tobacco-box, a large pocket knife,
and a silver watch and guard. I made an attempt to throw off some of my
clothes, but the thought of losing another man's money checked me.
Besides, the suit of clothes I had on was bran-new, and being a poor
man, and only just earning a livelihood, I could not brook the thought
of having to get a new "rigging." When a wave carried me a great way
from the boat, I unbuttoned my coat and prepared to throw it off, that I
might more easily swim to land. And when it seemed certain I should have
to make this attempt, I felt for my knife, that I might cut off my
boots, and I believe I could have done it; but, after a desperate
effort, I approached within a few yards of the boat, when I again
buttoned my coat. I felt confident I could have reached the shore--a
distance of one mile--had I been compelled to make the trial. My
Wellington boots had nearly cost me my life, as they were heavy and
difficult to swim in, and I never wore a pair after this fearful night.'
[Sidenote: HIS SKILL AS A DIVER.]
There is another department of the art now under consideration, in which
our friend greatly excelled, namely, that of diving. There are few
divers who do not feel a kind of exultation in their power over the
element, and in their ability to move under the surface of the water
with ease and pleasure. Half a century ago, diving was a difficult and
dangerous art, demanding great skill and endurance; but modern science
has given the professional diver an almost perfect accoutrement, by
means of which he can literally walk down to the bottom of the sea, and
telegraph for as much air as he requires. Hence, it has been utterly
deprived of all dramatic element. Properly managed, the thing is as easy
as going up in a balloon, or going down a coal pit; but our friend
excelled in 'real naked diving.'
[Sidenote: HE DIVES IN 'CLARK'S BIT.']
His first attempt at fetching anything from under water took place when
he was about sixteen years of age. The vessel in which he then sailed
was being painted at 'Clark's Bit,' Castleford, when John accidentally
let his brush fall overboard, and it sank to the bottom. The Captain was
furious for about an hour, when, having handed the lad another brush, he
went into the town. John could not brook the hour's grumbling to which
he had been subjected, and hence, scarcely had the Master left the
vessel, when he threw off his clothes and dived to the bottom of the
'Bit,' a depth of twenty-six feet, and brought up the brush. He hastily
put on his clothes, and when the Master returned, John held up the
brush, and with that comical twinkle of the eye and humorous expression
of the countenance, so common with sailors, said, 'Here's your brush.
Sir.' 'What brush?' asked the Master. 'The brush I lost overboard an
hour ago,' said John. 'That's a lie.' replied the Master, 'how could you
get it?' 'I dived to the bottom and brought it up,' was the lad's
response. Now Clark's Bit, in those days, was supposed to be of fabulous
depth; indeed, the Master, using a common expression, said, 'You can't
have fetched it up from the bottom, for there is no bottom to Clark's
Bit.' John was unabashed by this charge of falsehood, and with honesty
beaming in every feature of his face, he answered with untrembling
tongue, as he handed the brush to the Master, 'Throw it in again. Sir,
and I'll fetch it up.' The Master refused to test the lad's honesty at
the risk of losing his brush. However, several witnesses came forward
and declared they had seen him plunge into the water and bring up the
brush. From that time John was famous in the neighbourhood, as a great
diver.
'At the time of this occurrence,' he writes, 'a number of young
gentlemen were being taught, at a school at Castleford, by the Rev. Mr.
Barnes. They had plenty of money, and I had little enough, and they
would often, for the sake of seeing me dive to the bottom of the "Bit,"
throw in a shilling, and sometimes half-a-crown. To gratify them, and
for the sake of money, I often dived to the bottom, and never, that I
remember, without bringing up the money. I got at last that I would not
go down for less than a shilling, and I have sometimes got as much as
five shillings a day. I have dived to the bottom of Clark's Bit hundreds
of times, and there are numbers of people at Castleford, at the present
day (1868), who recollect these youthful exploits, which took place
upwards of forty years ago. And I may add that, I have often had the
impression that but for that paint-brush I should never have been the
diver I afterwards became. God overruled these foolish acts, for good,
and what I did for mere pleasure and gain, prepared me to rescue
property and human life in after years.'
[Sidenote: HE DIVES INTO A SUNKEN VESSEL.]
We will mention one instance of his prowess in saving property, which is
well worthy of being recorded. 'The barque "Mulgrave Castle," says the
writer of the article in the _Shipwrecked Mariners' Magazine_, 'laden
with timber from the Baltic, was waterlogged in the Humber; there was in
the cabin of the vessel a small box containing money and papers which
the captain was anxious, if possible, to secure. Ellerthorpe dived into
the cabin, groped his way round it, and after two or three attempts
succeeded in bringing up the box and its contents.' This was in the year
1835. The writer of this sketch received the fact from an eye witness.