Or as Paul Harvey would say, get “The rest of the story.” Swimming the English Channel at the time Captain Webb accomplished the feat, was considered suicide. But then on the other hand ...

In 1875 Captain Matthew Webb, a retired merchant seaman, survived fierce winds, treacherous currents and multiple jellyfish stings to swim from Dover to the shores of France, a crossing that took ...

In 1875, Captain Matthew Webb - with little more than some brandy, beer and beef tea to keep him going - became the first man to successfully swim from England to France.