Downstream

In 1921 Derham moved to
Southend, still aiming to do
the Channel, and a few years
later he set ‘myself the task of
swimming the Thames
Estuary’. On 4 June 1925, he
made his first attempt, giving
up after four hours because of
cramp, but earning the name
Sinbad the Sailor as ‘several
miles from the shore a large
porpoise rose to the surface
beneath me, lifting me
completely out of the water’.