Episode 254: Gertrude Ederle
They said it couldn’t be done; that the deck, and the odds, were stacked against her, but Trudy Ederle listened only to her heart during her record-breaking swim across the English Channel. She was the first woman to accomplish this feat, and her record would hold for another 24 years, but there was a lot more to her life than one phenomenal swim.
Gertrude Caroline Ederle was born on October 23, 1905 in New York City. She was the the third daughter of Henry Ederle and Gertrude Anna Ederle. Both of Trudy’s parents (although her family seemed to call her “Gertie” few others did) were immigrants to the US. Pop Ederle came over at 16 and lived the actual dream: He opened a butcher shop on the upper west side of Manhattan, and made enough money to finance more and more relatives emigrating to the States. He made enough for family trips back to Germany, real estate and other investments, and a summer cottage on the New Jersey shore in a town named Highlands.
Trudy was slow to learn to swim (almost drowning might do that to a person) but once she did at age nine, she never looked back. An early childhood bout of measles had left her with impaired hearing that only got worse as the years went on, Trudy was at peace in the water and began to compete in an early women’s swim organization called the Women’s Swim Association.
Competition led to victories and world records for Trudy, which led to the Olympics in 1924, and a disappointing showing eventually guided Trudy away from the pool and into the open water. While only five men had ever swum the English Channel in 1925, no woman had…and despite attempts by Trudy and other women, by the summer of 1926, a woman had yet to achieve this feat.
But on August 6, 1926, 20-year-old Trudy swam the American crawl from Cap Gris-Nex, France to Dover, England in 14 hours and 31 minutes (which beat the previously held record by almost two hours!) As part of her pre-swim preparation, she invented the two-piece bathing suit and improved swim goggle technology. She was a worldwide sensation!
While Trudy’s long, post-swim life eventually settled down to “normal,” she was content to work a variety of jobs and live a fairly quiet life in New York. Gertrude Ederle died on November 30, 2003, she was 98 years old.
Time Travel With The History Chicks
Books!
Web!
For more information about the General Slocum sinking disaster, start with this article from the New York Public Library (Content warning: there are graphic photos from the newspapers at the time in the article.)
For a bit of information on the science behind long-distance, open-water swimming, check out this article in Popular Science.
Gertrude’s New York Times obituary (unlike a lot of our subjects, it was in real-time, not as part of the Overlooked No More series.)
Queen of the Channel honors the woman who has swum the English Channel the most times. Gertrude is, naturally, first but check out the other five women to achieve this honor.
Moving Pictures!
