Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 July 1875 — Boyton’s Successful Channel Trip. [ARTICLE]

Boyton’s Successful Channel Trip.

The London newspapers print copious accounts of the crossing of the channel on May 29, A brief report of the feat appears in the London Echo. A correspondent of that journal, writing from Folkestone on May 29, says : At a very early hour this morning Folkestone was abnormally excited by the news which spread with lightning rapidity that Capt. Boyton had effected a very successful landing immediately beneath the South Foreland Lighthouse at 2:30. The fact was announced by the firing of a rocket from the boat of the steamer that had piloted him in his adventurous journey, and the loud cheering of those on the steamer’s deck, as the Captain was taken on board, testified to the general enthusiasm and admiration for his prowess. The cool determination and astonishing powers of endurance which were displayed by Capt. Boyton throughout the journey were subjects of marvel on the part of those who watched him from the steamer. When he emerged from the water he exhibited very slight symptoms of distress or fatigue. The temperature of the body taken at once by the medical gentlemen in attendance showed it to be but one degree in excess of the average temperature of a man in full health. The only thing of which the Captain complained was a slight swelling of the wrist, caused by the incessant labor of paddling, and his face was likewise somewhat sore, due to the action of the sun and salt water during an immersion of nearly twentyfour hours. The steamer arrived at the landing-stage at Folkestone at four o’clock, and from information there obtained it appears that the time when Capt. Boyton made most progress was between six and seven yesterday evening, accomplishing in the hour a mile and three-quarters. While off Dover the Wiltshire life-boat came alongside, and the officer in charge said he had been instructed by the National Institution m London to meet Capt. Boyton in the channel, and in its name to wish him a speedy and successful journey. Within half an hour of his arrival in Folkestone Capt. Boyton presented himself at the breakfast-table of the Pavilion Hotel, where he was enthusiastically received by a large body of gentlemen who had witnessed his wonderful performance from the steamer. In acknowledgment of the compliment paid him, Capt. Boyton said: “I think I have fairly and squarely crossed the channel from France to England, and the channel can, therefore, no longer be said to be master of the situation." He then retired to rest at the Pavilion.

Further particulars run as follows: The course steered during the journey was north-nortfa-east-by-half-east, and then north-north-west-by-west. The most tedious part of the journey was the latter portion. The sea was then exceedingly calm, and we knew success w;aa certain, so strong did the swimmer appear, and so sanguine was the steamer’s Captain as to the right course we were going. The delay, however, was caused by there being a slack tide, and but little way was made in our progress until tide did come, and then at a given signal Irom Capt. Bovton we bent with no little swiftness for tie Fan Bay shore. An incident worth recording as showing an American’s coolness at a moment of supreme excitement look place as the rocket announcing the swimmer’s landing flew upward from the beach. At the moment in question, Michael Boyton, the brother of the Captain, was standing on the paddle-box, with eager eyes bent toward the shore. As the signal of success met his sight he raised himself to his full height, and shouted out loudly and calmly to his brother this message: “ Come back now. That will do for to-night.” The whole time that Capt. Boyton was in was twenty-three hours and thirty-eight minutes. On the first trip it will be remembered that he remained in the water for fifteen hours. The doctors agree that the patient’s pulse at the close, being seventy-one degrees, was in itself ajstrong proof that his physical condi-

tion was not much disturbed by his exertions, and also the fact that his temperature was on this occasion ninety-nine degrees, instead of ninety-seven degrees, as on the last trip, when he was obliged to relinquish his attempt, proved that he was in better health on the last occasion. Thus he has, in a very great measure, established the character and reputation he has claimed for his lifesaving dress since its introduction to the notice of the public on this side of the water. The part of the Kentish coast where Capt. .Boyton came on shore was wild in the extreme. There is from the sea inward a small stretch of rocks and dense sea-weeds, and behind rise cliffs averaging in height fully 200 feet. As the rockets ascended announcing his landing the birds rushed in flocks from their eyrie nests, and their screams of alarm made hideous discordance in the air. In less than ten minutes from his arrival Capt. Boyton was taken on board the steamer.