Charles Toth

Charles Toth was a Boston hotel waiter whose swimming career connected the waters of Massachusetts with the English Channel. The Dover archive describes an immigrant who first reached the United States in 1904, worked in the brass trade in Los Angeles and settled in Boston in 1912. His published birth accounts disagree, so a precise birthplace and birth date remain unresolved here. The Boston Light organiser’s history records him as the only finisher of its 1921 race, in five hours and 37 minutes.

Toth’s Channel campaign included unsuccessful efforts before his eventual crossing in September 1923. He trained with Thomas William Burgess, the successful Channel swimmer who also coached other leading swimmers of the period. Dover Museum identifies the Boulogne tug Alsace as his escort and places his landing on the coast between St Margaret’s and Kingsdown.

The Dover biographical archive dates his completion to 9 September, just after the Daily Sketch prize offer had expired. His achievement is recognised by the Channel Swimming Association as a solo France-to-England crossing. The surviving summaries disagree about elapsed time: CSA publishes 16:58, Dover Museum 16:54 and the separate Dover biography 16:40. The successful crossing is retained with that uncertainty visible.