The ancient myth of Hero and Leander as retold by Christopher Marlowe especially captivated Lord Byron with its tale of Leander swimming across the Hellespont (today known as the Dardanelles) to reach his beloved Hero. So captivated was Byron that he attempted twice to replicate the feat.
On May 3, 1810, Byron (who became an excellent swimmer in part because the water provided him the kind of freedom of movement that could not be replicated when walking due to his clubfoot) made the attempt in the reverse direction from that taken by Leander. He was accompanied by another swimmer, Lieutenant Ekenhead.
In the poem, Byron specifically notes that the mythic swimming by Leander took place during the frigidity of December whereas he made his own attempt in what he referred to as a “genial month” with spring already arrived. Nevertheless, in a note related to the poem, he asserted that precisely due to the arrival of warmer weather and the subsequent melting of the snow on the mountains feeding the rivers flowing to the Dardanelles, the water actually extremely cold.
Byron proved to be exceptionally proud of his accomplishment because the feat not only wound up in a poem entirely devoted to it, but is also referenced in Canto II of his masterpiece Don Juan. Interestingly in light of the clear pride he felt at replicating the mythical accomplishment, there is no mention in “Written after Swimming from Sestos to Abydos” of how long Byron had to slice through the chilly waters in order to pull off what would have been quite an unusual display of athleticism at the time for anyone, much less someone with a physical deformity. Nevertheless, Byron’s gratification with himself for managing to make the swim eventually does provide that information. In a letter to Henry Drury--former tutor and eventual close friend--Byron writes that it took about 70 minutes to swim from Sestos to Abydos.
