Gertrude Ederle sponsored by a newspaper, the "Baltimore Post", which tried to create a rivalry between her and Ederle in the weeks spent training off the French coast. In addition to Cannon, several other swimmers, including two other American women – Clarabelle Barrett and Amelia Gade Corson – were training in England with the goal of becoming the first woman to swim the Channel. Barrett and Cannon were unsuccessful but three weeks after Ederle's feat, Corson crossed in a time that was 50 minutes slower than Ederle. For her second attempt at the Channel, Ederle had an entourage aboard the tug (the
Kingsdown, Kent and was in operation until 1927. The nearest lifeboat is now based at Walmer to the north. From 1863, Oldstairs Bay at the south of Kingsdown Beach was also the location for an important Coastguard station and the substantial coastguard houses that remain (which are now privately occupied). In 1926, the first woman to swim the English Channel, 19-year-old Gertrude Ederle, made landfall at Kingsdown, after a 35-mile crossing (the direct distance is 21 miles) in record time. Kingsdown's proximity to France placed it on the front line of several wars. The defences at Walmer Castle, one mile north of