A different view on current affairs & history
Having already dealt with the bathing rules, regulations and customs such as non-mixed bathing i.e. males and females swimming together – how immodest – and the areas allocated for swimming in another blog, I will now deal with the bathing events and tragic incidents in the 1880s as recalled by a Mr N. Cripps who would later be appointed as the first Speaker in the Rhodesian Parliament.
Main picture: 1894 Bathing House at the mouth of the Baakens River
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Swimming in the 19th century must be understood against the backdrop of the conservative mores of that era. This resulted in a flurry of rules to prevent men and women swimming together. By the end of the century, attitudes towards “mixed swimming” were more relaxed.
This blog chronicles the saga of sea swimming in Port Elizabeth from its first attempt at the breakwater in 1866, the construction of the first swimming pool in Port Elizabeth and finally to swimming at Humewood.
Main picture: Swimming facilities just north of the mouth of the Baakens River
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