Downstream

Smith’s attempt, the press
believed ‘there is no reason
why a woman with her
splendid physical
endowments, grit and staying
power’ should not manage it.
Her diet during training
included plenty of cream and
meat; while in the water she
ate dry toast and sponge cake.
She was ‘a magnificent
specimen of English
womanhood’ who already
had ‘between 70 and 80