Gertrude Ederle had her goggles sealed with paraffin to render them water tight. Gertrude possessed a contract from both the "New York Daily News" and "Chicago Tribune" when she attempted the Channel swim a second time. The money she received paid her expenses and provided her with a modest salary. It also gave her a bonus in exchange for exclusive rights to her personal story. The "Daily News" and the "Chicago Tribune" got the jump on every other newspaper in America. Another American swimmer in France in 1926 to try and swim the Channel was Lillian Cannon from Baltimore. She was also
Bill Burgess his breaststroke-only swim. In the 1920s Burgess was hired by the Olympian gold medalist and world record holder Gertrude Ederle, who in 1926 became the first woman to cross the English Channel. Around the same time Burgess bought a summer home at Cap Gris Nez near Calais, as a summer base to train channel swimmers from 1922 to 1934, while his main residence was at Clichy, Paris. In 1941 Burgess was taken prisoner by the Nazis and held in a prison camp "Frontstalag 142" in Besançon, France. He was released later the same year. Bill Burgess Thomas William Burgess (15