Who was Gertrude Ederle?

0:00 Welcome to History's Not Boring by Kudopoly.com. I'm Mira. And I'm Finn. Before we start, a big hello to Sisters Harper and Nora in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who ask about today's hero, Trudy Eddie. We also want to say hi to swimmers Quinn and Jack in San Rafael, who asked about famous historical swims.

0:23 And a very special 10th birthday shout-out to Grady in New Hampshire, listening with his sister Hadley. Happy birthday, Grady! If you haven't already, tap follow wherever you're listening so you never miss an episode. Now, since we recently passed the 100th anniversary of this incredible event, we just had to share it.

0:46 Wait, what event? Was it a massive battle? No, but it was an epic fight against nature. Picture this: jumping into a freezing cold, super choppy ocean and swimming for 21 miles straight. 21 miles? That's like walking for an entire day, but in the freezing water. Exactly! Back in 1926, people thought it was completely impossible for a woman to do it.

1:17 But a 20-year-old from New York named Gertrude Edelley didn't just do it, she totally smashed the record. Whoa, how fast did she go? She beat the fastest man's record by more than two whole hours and came home to a huge parade with two million people cheering for her. Two million people? I gotta hear this story.

1:41 To understand how crazy this was, we have to talk about the English Channel. It's one of the most famous and dangerous waterways in the entire world. What exactly is a channel? Is it like a really big river? Or like a channel on TV? No, it's a huge body of water. The English Channel is the stretch of ocean separating the countries of England and France.

2:06 It connects the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. Oh, that makes sense. And how wide is it exactly? Could I see the other side? On a really clear day, you might just see the cliffs. At its narrowest point, it's about 21 miles across. But it is famously brutal. Brutal how? Are we talking about giant squid or great white sharks?

2:31 Well, sharks have been spotted there, but mostly it's the freezing cold water, massive rolling waves, and crazy tides that pull you in completely the wrong direction. Had anyone ever swum across it before 1926? Yes, but only five men in all of human history. Hundreds of people had tried and failed. It was like climbing Mount Everest, but for swimmers.

2:57 So people thought a woman definitely couldn't do it. Exactly. The newspapers back then actually wrote that the swim was beyond the limits of a woman's strength. They said it was scientifically impossible. I bet Trudy had something to say about that. Who was she? Gertrude Edely, known as Trudy, was born in New York to a family that owned a butcher shop.

3:20 Her dad taught her to swim in the ocean when she was young. Was she super fast right away? Incredibly fast. By 1924, she was an Olympic gold medalist at the Paris Games. But she had a bigger dream, conquering the English Channel. Did she just jump right in and do it on her first try? Nope. Her first attempt was in 1925.

3:44 She swam for almost nine hours, but the water got rough and her coach thought she was swallowing too much salt water. Oh no, did she start to drown? No, she was just resting and spitting out some water. But the coach panicked and grabbed her arm to pull her into the support boat. Wait, if someone touches you during an open water swim, you're instantly disqualified, right?

4:08 Yep, because he touched her, her swim was officially over. All that training was wasted. Trudy was absolutely furious. I would be too. She had to try again, right? You know she did! She trained incredibly hard, got a new coach, and exactly one year later, she was ready. Where did she start? Did she jump off a dock or something?

4:34 She started right from the sandy beach at Cape Greene, which is on the northern coast of France. It was August 6, 1926, just after 7 in the morning. Was the water freezing? I hate jumping into cold pools. It was about 60 degrees Fahrenheit, which is around 15 degrees Celsius. If you stay in water that cold for 14 hours, your body can just shut down from hypothermia.

5:01 So how did she survive the cold without a modern neoprene wetsuit? Those didn't exist yet, right? Nope, they didn't. So she covered her entire body from head to toe in a thick, gross, yellowish layer of grease to stay warm. Ew! Wait, what kind of grease? Like motor oil from a car? Worse. A mixture of sheep's wool grease called lanolin, olive oil, pork lard, and petroleum jelly.

5:30 It took her sister a long time just to paint it all over her skin. She looked like a greasy human slippery slide. I guess it worked like a seal? Exactly! It trapped her body heat inside. She also designed her own two-piece bathing suit, which was very unusual back then, so she could move her arms completely freely without heavy wet fabric dragging her down.

5:54 And she had goggles, right? Salt water in the eyes for that long sounds awful. Yes. Swimming goggles weren't really a thing yet, so she actually used a pair of motorcycle goggles. She sealed the edges with wax so the salt water wouldn't leak in. That is absolute genius. So she dives into the ocean. What happens next?

6:16 She starts swimming her powerful freestyle stroke, and chugging along right next to her was a tugboat called the Alsace. Who was on the tugboat? Her family, her new coach, and a bunch of reporters. To keep her motivated, her sister played a phonograph, an early record player, blaring Trudy's favourite songs over the sound of the ocean.

6:39 Did she just swim straight across like a torpedo? At first, yes, but a few hours in, the weather turned terrible. It was about to become the hardest fight of her life. The wind started howling, and the waves grew to 20 feet tall. It was so rough, the boats were bouncing around like little corks. I would be terrified.

7:06 Exactly! Freezing rain poured down, and the ocean became a violent washing machine. The people on her support boat were getting horribly seasick. Did her coach try to pull her out again like the first time? He actually yelled at her to give up. He leaned over the boat and told her she had to come out.

7:26 But Trudy looked up from the freezing water and shouted, What for? Go, Trudy. She wasn't giving up this time. She must have been super tough. She kept going, stroke after stroke, but the ocean threw everything at her. She even swam right through a huge swarm of red jellyfish and got stun. Ouch! That burns!

7:50 And what about those man-eating sharks you mentioned? Did she see any? There were definitely sharks in those waters, but reporters asked her about it later, and she said she didn't care. She told them they were man-eating sharks, not woman-eating sharks. She was entirely focused on her goal. But wait, if she was swimming for over 14 hours, didn't she get hungry?

8:15 How do you eat while swimming? When she needed fuel, she would just float on her back. The boat crew lowered a net on a fishing pole down to the water, filled with warm chicken broth, hot chocolate, and pineapple. Drinking hot chocolate while floating in a 20-foot wave, that is hardcore. Because of the terrible cross currents and tides, she didn't just swim 21 miles.

8:40 The water pushed her in zigzag patterns so much she actually swam about 35 miles to reach the other side. That's farther than a marathon. Did she make it to England? At 9.40 pm, in the pitch dark, she finally touched the sandy beach at Kingsdown, England. Thousands of people had gathered on the shore and lit huge bonfires to guide her safely in.

9:06 That is incredible! What was her final time? 14 hours and 31 minutes. She didn't just beat the men's record, she completely crushed it by over two full hours. I bet the whole world went absolutely crazy when they found out what she did. They absolutely did! The news travelled across the world by telegraph.

9:28 When Trudy returned to New York City on August 27th, they threw her a massive ticker tape parade. What's a ticker tape parade? It's a huge celebration where people throw thousands of pounds of shredded paper and confetti out of tall skyscraper windows while the hero drives through the streets below in an open car.

9:50 That sounds amazing! How many people were there? An estimated two million people crowded the streets just to see her. It was one of the biggest crowds in New York history. The whole city practically shut down. Wow! I bet the president even called her to say good job. He did! President Calvin Coolidge invited her to the White House and called her America's best girl.

10:17 What happened to all those people who said women couldn't do tough physical things? Trudy completely smashed that myth forever. She proved that women could compete in extreme endurance sports. And she also proved that her freestyle swimming technique was the best way to cross long distances. She changed sports history.

10:37 That is the best legacy ever. Are there any weird facts from the trip? Yes. When she finally walked out of the ocean in England, exhausted and covered in Greece, a British immigration officer actually walked right up to her on the beach and demanded to see her passport. She's standing there in a bathing suit covered in lard after swimming for 14 hours, and he wants a passport.

11:03 Yes. She had to promise to report to the authorities the next morning. Also, because of a childhood illness, Trudy was hard of hearing, and the cold water actually made her completely deaf later in life. Oh no, that's really sad. It was tough, but Trudy was amazing. She didn't let it stop her. She spent the rest of her life teaching swimming to deaf children.

11:28 She became a beloved teacher and lived to be 98 years old. Alright, Finn, time for the quiz. Are you ready? Okay, I'm ready. First question. What two countries does the English Channel separate? Next one. How many men had swum the channel before Trudy? Question three. What weird mixture did she put on her skin to stay warm?

12:01 Here's number four. How long did her record-breaking swim take? Last question. How many people cheered for her at the New York Ticker Tate Parade? Great job! Let's see how you did. The first answer is, it separates England and France. For question two, only five men had done it before her. Number three, the answer is a gross mix of lanolin, olive oil, lard and petroleum jelly.

12:39 Question four. She swam it in 14 hours and 31 minutes. And the final answer is two million people showed up for her parade. Wow! I still can't believe she swam 35 miles in freezing water, covered in lard and fending off jellyfish. Trudy Edley was basically a real-life superhero. She really was. She showed the world that with enough determination and courage, you can conquer the impossible.

13:19 Yes please, and make sure to follow this show wherever you are listening so you never miss an episode. Oh, and we have sister shows too. Science and philosophy is not boring, and maths is not boring. Go give those a listen and a follow as well. And if you want a shout out on the show or just want to say hi, email us at hello at kidopoly.com.

13:43 Thanks for learning with us today, everyone. See you next time on History's Not Boring. Bye.