Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
D96176-2
Date(s)
- 1956-01-19 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
(1919-1980)
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Famed long-distance swimmer, Bert Thomas, a 275-pound ex-Marine frogman who conquered the Strait of Juan de Fuca, checks the January, 1956, temperature of Puget Sound. Dick Beckman and Betty Jane McGuigan hold a thermometer sign registering 45 degrees. On the night of January 26th, Thomas attempted the first long-distance, cold water, midwinter endurance swim in history and the first 18 nautical mile swim between Seattle and Tacoma. After 1 hour and 20 minutes in the water, Thomas ended his swim due to frigid winds and 42 degree choppy waters. For the Tacoma Athletic Commission. ALBUM 9.
Athletes; Swimmers; Thomas, Bert; Thermometers; McGuigan, Betty Jane; Beckman, Dick;