Mercedes Gleitze

 Photograph of Mercedes from the Gleitze archives, courtesy of her daughter, Doloranda,  who is currently writing a biography of Mercedes.

Mercedes was a British pioneer long-distance swimmer from Brighton on the south coast of England, the youngest of three daughters of German economic immigrants.  She was born into a world where sporting achievement was the prerogative of men, and women were conditioned into believing that they didn’t have the physical stamina to take part in such activities, or indeed that it was unseemly to do so.  However, by the time she was a young adult, small groups of women in various countries were gradually penetrating these ‘mind barriers’ and demonstrating that women could climb mountains, fly aeroplanes, run marathons and swim across seas.  Mercedes was one of these ‘new women’. 

Although she had a well-paid job as a stenographer with a London-based company and was living an independent life, she harboured an ambition to become a professional long-distance swimmer.  She decided to make the English Channel the platform from which to launch her new career.   She obtained permission to train in the Thames (a tidal river) on Sundays, and during her summer holidays she travelled to Folkestone to acclimatise to sea conditions.  It took her a while, but she persevered, and on her eighth attempt, on 7^th October 1927, she became the first British woman (and third woman) to achieve this crossing.  Her swim was recognised by the newly-formed Channel Swimming Association. At that point in time she gave up office work and built up a unique career as a professional swimmer.  Her aquatic achievements over a ten-year period (see attached lists) have been recognised by the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) and the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (IMSHOF), into which she has been enshrined.

Tour of South Africa (February-July 1932):  During her career Mercedes travelled to various countries across the world to tackle previously un-swum bodies of water.   One of the last journeys she made before retiring into domesticity, was to carry out a tour of South Africa.   Her first event was an endurance swim in Cape Town’s Long Street Baths, increasing the British Record to 46 hours.   A few days later she undertook her main event - a two-way crossing between Cape Town and Robben Island.  The first leg of this swim was full of high drama caused by bitingly cold winds, low water temperature, and a dense fog which enshrouded the swimmer and her crew.  At one stage, when her pilot boat (The Flora) had gone to re-fuel, Mercedes swam off course in the dark, foggy conditions.  Luckily her guiding rowing boat, which was still with her, had a rifleman on board (because of possible attacks from basking white sharks), and they were eventually located an hour later by another accompanying passenger boat (The Chance) by the firing of rifle shots.  During this leg of the swim she was also badly stung by jelly fish.  The return swim back to Cape Town two days later was, thankfully, a more comfortable experience.

South Africa’s own Henry Charteris Hooper and Margaret (Peggy) Duncan had both made the crossing from Robben Island to Cape Town in 1909 and 1926 respectively.  However, no-one had ever swum in the reverse direction from Cape Town to Robben Island.  And so, in 1932 Mercedes was able to claim two new records: the first person to make the crossing from Cape Town to Robben Island and the first to achieve the double swim. 

Other South African swims: Following the successful Cape Town events, Mercedes then embarked on a tour of the East Cape, carrying out pioneering swims over set distances in South Africa’s rivers and lakes.  These includedthe Swartkops, Buffalo, Modder and Vaal rivers, Germiston Lake and the Hartbeespoort Dam.    She enjoyed a friendship with her contemporary, Peggy Duncan, and Peggy’s mother, during her stay in Cape Town, and Peggy was on poolside supporting Mercedes during her endurance swim at the Long Street Baths.

Charitable legacy:  On her retirement Mercedes instituted a charity with the money she had earned during her swimming career to help the unemployed in the city of Leicester during the Great Depression of the 1930s.   Although small, her Trust Fund is still active today and is being used to help families in poverty.