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
Carlo Ederle part of the Third Army Artillery Headquarters, which had the role of neutralizing the enemy's artillery efforts. In December, when Italian troops withdrew from the front to regroup and reorganize, a colonel told Ederle he was going to recommend him for promotion and reassignment away from the front because he had skirted death too often "with a smile on his face." But, says one report, Ederle refused promotion consideration if it meant he would not remain at the front. During the afternoon of December 4, 1917, Ederle went to an observation point at the bend of Zenson on the Piave