In January 1901, the Eastern Province aquatics team travelled to Cape Town on the Carisbrook Castle steamship to compete in the annual inter-provincial championships at the Claremont swimming bath. Although the event started as planned on the 21st January 1901, the death of Queen Victoria on the 22nd January resulted in the whole event being abandoned.
The Championship events were to include a water-polo competition for the Currie Cup and 110-yard and 220-yard Championship swimming races. A 500-yard Championship event would be swum at a later date. Filler events included handicapped swimming races for men and women, as well as diving. Only one water polo match was held, on the 21st January, which was won by Western Province, although the Eastern Province team objected that there was insufficient light to play! The objection was also abandoned the next day.
On the 26th February, another new Championship event over 220 yards was held in the Claremont bath. There were only four entries, and the title was taken by WD Cornwall, RR Solomon 2nd and WF Porter in 3rd place.
At a meeting on the 8th March 1901, the SAASU committee decided to reschedule the Championships to the 20th and 21st March, to be held at the Municipal swimming pool in Port Elizabeth. The new 500-yard Championship event was to be added to the programme, and the pool, which was 50 yards long, was deemed an ideal place to hold a race of that length.
There were nine entries for the 500-yard event, namely AE Marks, R Gronan PP Sexton and R Carswell of the PE Amateur Swimming Club; FS Herslet of Redhouse SC; WD Cornwell, E Marais, RR Solomon from the Green and Sea Point SC; and one from an Australian soldier named Edward M Wearin, representing the North Brisbane Harriers Club in Queensland.
Wearin won the race, beating WD Cornwall of the Sea Point SC in Cape Town. R Carswell of the Eastern Province finished in third place. Wearin became a fixture in South African swimming over the next two decades, winning the 50, 100, 550 and 880-yard titles for five years. He married a Port Elizabeth descendant of the 1820 settlers and became a ship owner and captain.
