Young Woman and the Sea: How Trudy Ederle Conquered the English Channel and Inspired the World by Glenn Stout Read Free Book Online Page A

bravery with the breaststroke, making daring long-distance swims either down rivers or between towns along the seacoast, hugging close to the shore as they plodded along, no one in the West thought about emulating the savages.
    Catlin, however, found the sight both mesmerizing and melancholy. Although he was certainly not the first westerner to witness Native Americans swimming, he was certainly the first to pay such close attention. To him, it was personal.
    Born in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1796, Catlin had been raised on a small farm in nearby Broome County, New York. From an early age Native American culture had fascinated him. His mother had briefly been held by a band of Iroquois, and Native Americans still roamed the nearby woods. Once, in fact, while hunting in the woods young Catlin was surprised when a shot rang out and dropped a deer before him. As Catlin later wrote, he then saw "what I never had seen before, nor ever dreamed of seeing in that place, the tall and graceful form, but half bent forward, as he pushed his red and naked shoulders and drew himself slowly over the logs and through the bushes, of a huge Indian!" Petrified, Catlin considered killing the Indian but when the native turned his way, wrote Catlin, "I saw then (though a child), in the momentary glance of that face, what infant human nature could not fail to see, and none but human nature could express. I saw
Humanity.
"
    The encounter sparked a lifelong interest by Catlin in the American natives. He studied law and briefly worked as an attorney but soon abandoned the law and turned to painting, eking out an existence as a portrait artist. Although the self-taught artist was kept busy, his work was considered crude and was a critical failure.
    In 1824, however, after encountering an Indian delegation traveling to Philadelphia, Catlin had an inspiration and decided to devote his talent to documenting the American natives as his primary subject matter. Over the next few years Catlin made plans to take an extended trip west to observe Native American tribes. But in September 1928, as Catlin tried to wrap up his affairs before beginning his journey, his younger brother Julius Catlin traveled to Rochester, New York, to deliver one of his brother's portraits. While there, he decided to sketch a waterfall along the Genesee River. On the hot day, after sitting in the sun for several hours, he found the waters too tempting and decided to cool off.
    Like most other of his contemporaries, Julius Catlin's swimming skills, were, at best, rudimentary. He could float and probably paddle along a bit using the breaststroke, but was by no means an accomplished swimmer.
    On this day he delicately stepped into the water. Taking care not to slip, he slowly made his way from shore, feeling, with each step, the rising tide of cool water around his body, and then a steady pull as the current increased.
    Then he was gone. The current lifted him off his feet, pulled him into the Genesee, and swept him downstream. Panicked, he fought and splashed and called out, but neither Catlin himself nor anyone else had the skills needed for rescue. In only a few moments he was exhausted, slipped beneath the water, and drowned. His battered body was found days later far downstream.
    George Catlin was broken. Not only was his brother dead, but he had died while making a journey on his behalf and while pursuing a vocation George Catlin himself had inspired. George Catlin then decided to make his journey westward alone, a trip that in 1832 brought him to the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes.
    Catlin observed the tribes with the eye of an artist and a keen attention to detail, but he was never more precise than when he saw the natives swimming in the swift currents of the Knife and Missouri rivers. The Mandan and the Hidatsa took to the water every single day without incident, the women and younger children at a place above their village, and the men and older boys below. As he looked down