A refusal to be subdued
You’ve probably never heard of Mercedes Gleitze. I certainly hadn’t. But my life was made richer on discovering her story thanks to 15 minutes of air time. Let's just say, I have a deeper appreciation for the twin qualities of tenacity and indomitable energy.
Mercedes was featured in an interview as part of the "Close Encounters” series, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (Thursdays,1.45), in which BBC journalist Martha Kearney celebrates portraits and portraiture through the eyes of contemporary “Great Britons”.
I happened to tune into the episode with multi-medal-winning Olympic rower, Dame Katherine Grainger. Asked to pick a portrait from the newly refurbished National Portrait Gallery (NPG), London, Grainger chose a photo of the little-known 20th-century long-distance swimmer, Mercedes Gleitze. (Nowadays she would probably be called a “wild” swimmer.)
Although relatively uncelebrated, Mercedes was the first British woman to swim the channel as well as breaking many swimming endurance records in the 1920s and ‘30s. She was also the first person on record – man or woman – to swim the straights of Gibraltar. Not forgetting, she swam the circumference of the Isle of Man (small fry eh?)
She competed across the globe, including in South Africa and Turkey. Remember, this was a time when international travel was challenging and limited, especially for women.
“But this is not a tale of meteoric ascent in the world of competitive sport. Rather, Gleitze had a long and lonely start, motivated outwardly by a steely determination and, in plain English, stubbornness perhaps? ”
Copyright: National Portrait Gallery
I checked out Mercedes’s portrait on the NPG website. Yes, she has strong shoulders and a definite vital presence. Beyond that, what you really notice in various archival images of her is the grin. You sense a giggle coming on, you really do. Nothing grandiose about Mercedes Gleitze at all.
“The bit that gives me goose bumps was hearing how humble she was. How she just “did her thing” rather than demand accolades. ”
She didn’t even tell her grandchildren she was an international athlete at all. Until she passed away, they knew nothing of her early life as a swimmer and the work she did for homelessness*.
As a child, she lived in Brighton. The sea obviously called, although she first started swimming in the River Thames while working in London as a young woman. She attempted the channel crossing eight times, doing so three times every year, until she achieved her goal in 1927.
She was thwarted for various reasons – by tides, schools of porpoise, freezing fog… you name it. She was even beaten to the “first woman to swim the channel” record by an American earlier in the same year. But that didn’t mean she was going to give up. And channel swimmers then did not have nearly the same level of support and equipment as they do now.
Author Peter Radford also speaks about her in the broadcast, with infectious admiration and ebullience. He described her as the “toughest minded woman in the country" with “bottomless courage”. The portrait, he says, should be 10-feet square not inches wide as it is.
“ Mercedes’s story gives me a firm kick up the bum; she embodies a certain spirit – that refusal to be subdued. ”
So at some point I will make a pilgrimage to the NPG. I will bring Mercedes to mind when I’m navel-gazing over whether my art is progressing or I’m feeling too isolated, too vulnerable, too blah blah. You know the score.
Because none of this is primarily about outcomes; it’s all about the doing, the making, the daily return. We are here for the discovery and treasures found only through tenacious practice. That is where the juice lies in this creative life and all the rest is noise.
And finally…. if I could give one of Mercedes’s big swims a soundtrack, it would be “The Water Sustains Me” by Laura Marling and Johnny Flynn (YouTube) – I think it will make your heart sing.
* She won sponsorship from Rolex (quite unusual for the time) and was able raise funds to found the Mercedes Gleitze Homes in Leicester (now linked to the Family Action charity).
