Florence May Chadwick was an American swimmer known for long-distance open water swimming. She was the first woman to swim across the English Channel in both directions, setting a time record each time. She was also the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, the Straits of Gibraltar, the Bosporus, and the Dardanelles.
Florence May Chadwick in 1963
Gertrude Caroline Ederle was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and world record-holder in five events. On August 6, 1926, she became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Among other nicknames, the press sometimes called her "Queen of the Waves".
Gertrude Ederle
Gertrude Ederle: "People said women couldn't swim the Channel, but I proved they could."
Parade for Ederle along the Canyon of Heroes, 1926
The grave of Gertrude Ederle