Haunts of the Black Masseur

"Charles Sprawson - himself an obsessional swimmer and diver - explores the meaning that different cultures have attached to water. He gives the reader glimpses of the great swimming heroes- Byron leaping dramatically into the surf at Shelley's beach funeral; Hart Crane, swallow-diving to his death in the Bay of Mexico; Ulysses, Leander, Weismuller, Spitz and a host of others."