Swimming in History

>>1082206

About the only thing I can remember off the top of my head is that in a discussion in the Gemara of the things a father needs to do for his son in order to be a proper parent, there's a split among the Rabbis whether or not teaching him to swim should be counted as minimum acceptable practice.

>>1082206
The British Imperial navy would only accept recruits who could not swim, because those would defend the ships for longer.

In the Netherlands you learn to swim at school.

>>1082206
Vaugely related. There was a Roman emperor (cant remember which) who sent a slave to the baths everyday to round up people with gross hernias.

Then he would line them all up so the could get a good look at them.

Then give guy or gal with the biggest/grossest/weirdest hernia a prize.

Life was hard for weirdos before image boards.

In Ghent you learn to swim at school.

>>1082285

the british imperial navy also kidnapped people and forced them into labour at sea. great HR practices

>>1082336
All the navies did that. Merchants and pirates also.
There is a moment int he fictional book of XIX century Zalacain The Adventurer which I love.
>main character gets kidnapped into slavist ship
>crew whines to the captain about the black slaves receiving better treatment than the crew.
>captain answers "Of course, you dumbasses. Every nigger cost me twenty pesetas, and I get you for free in any port!"

File: Murraycom_reuters2_2300353b.jpg (113KB, 620x388px) Image search: [Google]

113KB, 620x388px

>>1082336
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>>1082365
No. It was not in Zalacain The Adventurer. It was in The Adventures of Xanti Andia.

Pio Baroja sure liked adventurers.

>>1082206
In the norse sagas to be a hero its pretty much a requirement you be a great swimmer. In frigid Baltic/Icelandic water no less.

>>1082336
Man, I was just kidding. The joke is ancient.

>>1082206
Chairman Mao swam over the Yangze a lot while his country was starving to death

>>1082490
He also went swimming during a visit by Khrushchev, who could not swim. Khrushchev had to be given armbands. This was one of the defining factors in the Sino-Soviet split.

did everyone swim breaststroke back in the day? forward crawl was only created recently, no?

was swimming an olympic sport for the greeks?

>>1082365
Why does Hollywood never show us that the crew usually endured worse condition than the Atlantic slaves?

I'd like a "centrist" or "leftist" to answer this, as I already know what the others will say.