On the cliffs of Dover, there are memorials to three men who made history in their own way. There is one to Louis Blériot, who made the first aeroplane flight across the English Channel in 1909 and one to Charles Rolls, who made the first non-stop double crossing of the Channel the following year.
The third memorial is to Captain Matthew Webb who became the first man to successfully swim the Channel, coming ashore at 10:41am today, 25th August, back in 1875.
Or was he…
There is a tale that an Italian soldier by the name of Jean-Marie Saletti, who was imprisoned in a Prison Hulk off the shore of Dover, jumped into the sea and swam to Boulogne. This allegedly took place 60 years earlier on 16th August 1815, but might well be fictional as there are no records of a Prison Hulk being anywhere near Dover at the time.
The third memorial is to Captain Matthew Webb who became the first man to successfully swim the Channel, coming ashore at 10:41am today, 25th August, back in 1875.
Or was he…
There is a tale that an Italian soldier by the name of Jean-Marie Saletti, who was imprisoned in a Prison Hulk off the shore of Dover, jumped into the sea and swam to Boulogne. This allegedly took place 60 years earlier on 16th August 1815, but might well be fictional as there are no records of a Prison Hulk being anywhere near Dover at the time.