Mercedes Gleitze

Mercedes Carey (née Gleitze; 18 November 1900 – 9 February 1981) was a British professional swimmer. She was the first known person to swim the Straits of Gibraltar and the first British woman to swim the English Channel. The name of Mercedes Gleitze was used to market Rolex's new waterproof case, the "Oyster". She established endurance records for swimming including a record of 46 hours in 1932. She was able to raise funds to found the Mercedes Gleitze Homes in Leicester via sponsorship. The Mercedes Gleitze charity is now linked to the Family Action charity.

Early life Mercedes Gleitze was born to Heinrich and Anna (née Kurr) in 1900 in the English south-coastal town of Brighton. Her father was a German immigrant from the county of Göttingen who worked as a baker and her mother taught languages. She and her two elder sisters spent time with her grandparents in Herzogenaurach in Bavaria and two years studying at the Maria Stern Convent School in Nördlingen.

Swimming achievements With her bilingual background and education, Gleitze became a secretary and stenographer in central London, exploiting her talent for languages. In her spare time, she started swimming in the River Thames.

Gleitze made her first attempt to swim the English Channel on 3 August 1922. She entered the water from Shakespeare Beach in Dover at 7:30 am. However, rough seas and severe shoulder pain forced her to abandon the swim after three and a quarter hours, having covered about six miles. Her first significant record was for endurance after 10 hr 45 min swimming in the Thames. This was the longest time for a woman in 1923.

At the eighth attempt, she became the first British woman to swim the Channel, on 7 October 1927. Gleitze failed to complete the swim but her endurance of the cold convinced all that the original record should stand. She swam from the Pilot's Station at Shrove (pronounced 'Shroove'), a coastal hamlet near Greencastle in Inishowen in the north of County Donegal, south-eastwards across to Portstewart, a small town on the coast of County Londonderry, on 17 August 1929.

Gleitze travelled to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to establish new records for swimming. Besides swimming the 100 miles around the Isle of Man and becoming the first person to swim to Robben Island and back to Cape Town, she also staged feats of endurance swimming.

When she first took the endurance swimming record it stood at 26 hours. Over several years she extended this record in public swimming baths where crowds would attend and encourage her by singing together.

Gleitze married engineer Patrick Carey in Dover in 1930 with the American swimming twins Bernice and Phyllis Zittenfeld as bridesmaids. The ceremony was covered by British newsreels where Gleitze announced that she was off to swim the Hellespont instead of going on honeymoon. Gleitze continued to extend her endurance record to 45 hours the following year. In 1932 she retired after again extending the record finally to 46 hours. She died aged 80, on 9 February 1981, in London.

Legacy Besides her three children and many swimming records, Gleitze founded several homes that were used by homeless British people during the 1930s. In 1939 they were used for homeless Czech people. The buildings were destroyed in Second World War bombing in 1940; In 2023, her name and a picture of her emerging from water clutching a bag and goggles were featured in advertisements for Rolex alongside those of Lara Gut-Behrami, Iga Swiatek, Sonya Yoncheva, Grace Kelly, Sylvia Earle, Lexi Thompson, Khoudia Toure and Yuja Wang.

In January 2022, a blue plaque for Gleitze was unveiled at her birthplace in Freshfield Road, Brighton.

In March 2024, the film Vindication Swim, about Gleitze's 1927 English Channel swim, was released. It was written and directed by Elliott Hasler, and starred Kirsten Callaghan as Gleitze.