Sea bathing is swimming in the sea or in sea water. Unlike bathing in a swimming pool, which is generally done for pleasure or exercise purposes, sea bathing was once thought to have curative or therapeutic value. It arose from the medieval practice of visiting
spasA destination spa is a short term residential/lodging facility with the primary purpose of providing individual services for spa-goers to develop healthy habits. Historically many such spas were developed at the location of natural hot springs or sources of mineral waters...
for the beneficial effects of the waters. The practice of sea bathing dates back to the 17th century but became popular in the late 18th century. The development of the first
swimsuitA swimsuit, bathing suit, togs or swimming costume is an item of clothing designed to be worn while participating in water sports and activities such as swimming, water polo, diving, surfing, water skiing, or for any activity in the sun, such as sun bathing...
s dates from the period as does the development of the
bathing machineThe bathing machine was a device, popular in the 19th century, to allow people to wade in the ocean at beaches without violating Victorian notions of modesty. Bathing machines were roofed and walled wooden carts rolled into the sea...
.
In the 19th century, the introduction of railways led to the further development of seaside resorts. The high death rate from people swimming in unsafe conditions led to the introduction of surf lifesaving in Australia and lifeguards throughout the world in the early 20th century. With scheduled air transport becoming popular in the latter half of the 20th century, the development of seaside resort areas such as
IbizaIbiza is an island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Iberian Peninsula Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses...
in Spain, the
Queensland Gold CoastThe Gold Coast is a city in the southeast corner of Queensland, Australia. It is the second most populous city in the state and the sixth most populous city in the country. It is also the most populous non-capital city in the country...
in Australia and the Florida Gold Coast in the US attract millions of visitors annually.
Bathing in the 18th and 19th century
Sea bathing evolves from visiting mineral springs such as
SpaSpa is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Province of Liège. It is situated in a romantic valley amid hills which form part of the Ardennes chain, some 35 km southeast of Liège, and 45 km southwest of Aachen. As of 1 January 2006, Spa had a total population of...
in Belgium, Bath in England and
AachenAachen is a historic spa city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the medieval Kings of Germany...
in Germany. Sea water was similarly believed to have medicinal benefits with
William BuchanFor the 20th century English writer, see William Buchan, 3rd Baron TweedsmuirWilliam Buchan was a Scottish physician, born at Ancrum. He practiced at Edinburgh from 1766 to 1778, when he removed to London. He published Domestic Medicine , which was the first popular work of the kind, and was...
in his 1707 book
Domestic Medicine advocating the practice. Sea bathing and sea water were advocated with winter considered to be the best time to follow the practice.
Scarborough was the first resort to introduce bathing machines with a John Setterington engraving showing machines in 1736. They were soon adopted in most of the aspiring English seaside resorts. Women would wear "bathing gowns" in the water while the men would wear long swimsuits. Some resorts such as
MargateMargate is a seaside resort town within the Thanet district of East Kent, England. It lies east-northeast of Maidstone, along the North Foreland of the coastline of the United Kingdom....
had modesty hoods or tilts which were canvas awnings attached to bathing machines allowing women to enter and leave the water in complete privacy.
In 1753, Dr. Charles Russel published "The Uses of Sea Water" recommended the use of sea water for healing various diseases. With this recommendation, people suddenly flocked the coasts.
Marine hospitalsThe Marine-Hospital Service was an organization of Marine Hospitals dedicated to the care of ill and disabled seamen in the U.S. Merchant Marine, U.S. Coast Guard and other federal beneficiaries....
started to open up in parts of France and England.
By the end of the 18th century, sea bathing became highly fashionable with
George IIIGeorge III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
visiting Weymouth for the first time with the bathing machines showing
God Save the King"God Save the Queen", or "God Save the King", is an anthem used in a number of Commonwealth realms. It is the national anthem of the United Kingdom and her territories and dependencies, Norfolk Island, one of the two national anthems of the Cayman Islands and New Zealand and the royal anthem of...
.
Fanny BurneyFrances Burney , also known as Fanny Burney and, after her marriage, as Madame d’Arblay, was an English novelist, diarist and playwright. She was born in King’s Lynn, England, on 13 June 1752, to musical historian Dr Charles Burney and Mrs Esther Sleepe Burney...
recorded a humorous incident in her diaries.
- "Nor is this all. Think but of the surprise of His Majesty when, the first time of his bathing, he had no sooner popped his royal head under water than a band of music, concealed in a neighbouring machine, struck up "God save great George our King". (1)
During this period, resorts sprang up along the English
coastThe coast is defined as where the land meets the sea. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the process of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
, such as Weymouth,
BournemouthBournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the Borough of Bournemouth, England. The town has a population of 163,444 according to the 2001 Census, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is the largest town on the south coast and the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
,
BlackpoolBlackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. Situated along the coast of the Irish Sea, it has a population of 142,900, making it the fourth-largest settlement in North West England behind Manchester, Liverpool and Warrington...
and Scarborough. In 1771,
Tobias SmollettTobias George Smollett was a Scottish poet and author. He was best known for his picaresque novels, such as The Adventures of Roderick Random and The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle , which influenced later novelists such as Charles Dickens.-Life:Smollett was born at Dalquhurn, now part of Renton,...
recorded the use of bathing machines in
The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker.
Jane AustenJane Austen was an English novelist, whose realism, biting social commentary and use of free indirect speech, have earned her a place as one of the most widely read and most beloved writers in English literature....
regularly visited seaside resorts and in her uncompleted novel
SanditonSanditon is an unfinished novel by the British novelist Jane Austen.-Background:In Sanditon, Austen explored her interest in the verbal construction of a society by means of a town – and a set of families – that is still in the process of being formed. The manuscript for Sanditon was originally...
stated "The Sea air and Sea Bathing together were nearly infallible, one or the other of them being a match for every Disorder..." (2)
Resorts were set up throughout Europe in the late 18th century and early 19th century as far north as Scandinavia. In Victorian times, the railroad made the resorts both more accessible and therefore more popular. In the US, resorts such as Atlantic City became very popular while the
French RivieraThe Côte d'Azur, often known in English as the French Riviera, is the Mediterranean coastline of the south eastern corner of France, extending from Menton near the Italian border in the east to either Hyères or Cassis in the west....
became popular not only amongst the French but with English visitors.
Dippers or guides were used with the bathing machines and they escorted visitors into the water. Some of the dippers became quite famous with Martha Gunn and Old Smoaker of
BrightonBrighton is a town in the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex on the south coast of Great Britain...
both having worked for
the Prince RegentGeorge IV was the king of Hanover and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
. The role of the dipper was to ensure that the guest had enough dips with three immersions being the preferred treatment.
While the swimming costumes of the early nineteenth century were quite modest, it was very common for men to swim naked when away from women in the UK especially in lakes, streams and rivers but at the seaside as well. When Benjamin Disraeli said of
Robert PeelSir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet was the Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 to 8 April 1835, and again from 30 August 1841 to 29 June 1846...
in the House of Commons "The Right Hon. Gentleman caught the
WhigsThe Whigs are often described as one of the two original political parties in England and later the United Kingdom from the late 17th to the mid-19th centuries. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
bathing, and walked away with their clothes" (3) about the switch to free trade, everyone understood the analogy.
However, the practice was eventually banned in the UK in 1860. In
New South WalesNew South Wales is Australia's most populous state, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south of Queensland and east of South Australia...
and other parts of Australia, bathing in the ocean was banned during daylight between 1838 and 1902 because women's swimming costumes were considered indecent despite being neck to knee and men often swam nude. Bathing was segregated in the United Kingdom until 1901.
In the US, bathing beauty contests of women in bathing contests became popular from the 1880s. The first such pageant took place in
Rehoboth Beach, DelawareRehoboth Beach is a city in Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 1,556...
in 1880 with contestants from several states competing for the title of "Miss America" in the fall frolic in
Atlantic City, New JerseyAtlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. Famous for its boardwalk, casino gambling, sandy beaches, shopping centers, view of the Atlantic Ocean, and as the inspiration for the board game Monopoly, Atlantic City is a resort community located on Absecon Island on the...
. However, such contests were deemed not to be respectable.
Bathing in the 20th and 21st century
In the twentieth century, conditions for bathing gradually became less restrictive throughout the world. In 1903, Australian bathers were allowed to use public beaches in daylight hours. Throughout the world, some daring male bathers did not wear a top.
Annette KellermanAnnette Kellerman was an Australian professional swimmer, vaudeville and film star, writer, and advocate for the change of women's swimwear....
, an Australian swimmer championed the use of a onepiece swimsuit and toured throughout the world as the "Australian mermaid" and the "diving Venus". Kellerman was arrested on a Boston beach for
public indecencyPublic indecency refers to activity prohibited by the law in many locations. Public indecency is used as a blanket term for activities that authorities would like to prohibit but that may not be explicitly defined as prohibited. It may also be referred to as "sexual misconduct" or "public lewdness"...
for wearing her trademark one-piece swimsuit but by the 1910s the style was becoming generally acceptable and Kellerman became a Hollywood star. Beauty contests became more respectable with the first modern "
Miss AmericaThe Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
" contest being held in 1921 under the title "Inter City Beauty".
As public bathing became more popular, there were risks as inexperienced swimmers went out into unfamiliar waters. In the US,
lifeguardA lifeguard is a person responsible for overseeing the safety of the users of a body of water and its environs, such as a swimming pool, a water park, or a beach. This differentiates them from life savers who partake in similar activities as a sport or practical life skill...
s were often paid employees of local governments employed when bathing was most popular. In Australia, the Surf Bathing Association of NSW was formed in 1907 to coordinate voluntary surf lifesaving on beaches throughout Sydney. This organisation became the
Surf Lifesaving Association of AustraliaSurf lifesaving is a multifaceted movement that comprises key aspects of voluntary lifeguard services and competitive surf sport. Originating in early 20th century Australia, the movement has expanded globally to other countries including New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, and the United...
in 1923. This organisation proved its worth on February 6 1938 on Bondi Beach when hundreds of bathers were saved when they were taken out to sea in a freak rip on what became known as Black Sunday. Lifesaving organisations were established in other countries such as Canada and the UK. As a result of the development of such organisations, lifesaving techniques became standardised and competitions between competing clubs were established becoming popular.
As modern airline transport made warmer locations more accessible, new areas were developed for their access to good beaches for bathing. In Australia, the Gold Coast became a popular destination with the population growing from 33,716 in 1961 to 135,437 in 1981 and growing rapidly thereafter. (4) More recently, the population of
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
has continued to have the fastest growth in the nation with 12.8% growth between 1991 and 1996 as compared to almost stationery populations in South Australia and Tasmania. The fastest growing regional areas in Australia
Sunshine CoastThe Sunshine Coast is a coastal region located in South East Queensland, north of the Queensland capital of Brisbane...
, Gold Coast - Tweed and Cairns all having good beaches for bathing, warm weather and growth rates in excess of twenty per cent. (5)
In the US, the
Gold Coast (Florida)The Gold Coast is the region of the southeastern coast of the U.S. state of Florida between Palm Beach and Miami. The region consists of the long urban cluster that runs along the eastern shores of Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade County; also called the South Florida metropolitan area...
enjoyed similar growth as first the railroad and then aircraft brought tourists to its beaches for bathing. By 2000, the
MiamiMiami is a major coastal city in southeastern Florida, in the United States. Miami is the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida. With an estimated population of 424,662 in 2007, Miami is the largest city within the Miami metropolitan area, which is the...
and Fort Lauderdale areas had a total population of just under 4 million. Tourism is one of the areas largest employees with tourists from around the world travelling to Florida's beaches. Due to population growth, Florida went from having 21 electoral college votes in 1981 to 27 in 2001.
In Europe, the presence of good beaches for bathing, a warm climate and favourable exchange rates led to the rapid growth of tourism in Spain. By 1974, tourism had become Spain's leading industry and Spain is currently the world's second most popular tourism destination after France. Similarly, the popularity of Greek beaches was a major factor in
Tourism in GreeceGreece attracts more than 16 million tourists each year, thus contributing 15% to the nation's Gross Domestic Product Economy. Greece has been an attraction for international visitors since antiquity for its rich and long history and more recently for its glorious Mediterranean coastline and beaches...
accounting for a quarter of Greece's export earnings.
As sea bathing and sun bathing became increasingly popular and a sign that the individual was wealthy enough to go on holidays overseas or to a warmer climate,
sun tanningSun tanning, also called bronzing, is the act of exposing the skin to ultraviolet radiation, for the purpose of darkening skin color, either during sun bathing or using artificial sources, such as tanning beds....
became increasingly popular. As a result, beach fashions that have allowed the wearer to gain an all over tan such as the
bikiniA bikini or two piece is a women's swimsuit with two parts, one covering the breasts, the other the groin , leaving an uncovered area between the two . It is often worn in hot weather or while swimming...
,
monokiniA monokini, sometimes referred to as a unikini, is a woman's one-piece garment comprising only the lower half of a bikini, leaving the breasts uncovered...
, string bikini and
G-stringA G-string is a type of underwear, a narrow piece of cloth, leather, or plastic, that covers or holds the genitals, passes between the buttocks, and is attached to a band around the hips, worn as swimwear or underwear by women and men...
have become increasingly popular on beaches. This fashion has met with considerable resistance from more conservative people. In the 1950s, beach inspectors banned women wearing shortish bikinis from Bondi Beach in Sydney while g-strings are banned from many beaches in the US.
There has been some reversal of this trend with excessive exposure to the sun being linked with the development of
melanomaMelanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes which are found predominantly in skin but also in the bowel and the eye . It is one of the less common types of skin cancer but causes the majority of skin cancer related deaths. Melanocytes are normally present in skin, being responsible for the...
. In Australia, the "Slip, Slop, Slap" campaign developed by
Phillip AdamsPhillip Andrew Hedley Adams AO is an Australian broadcaster, film producer, writer, humanist, social commentator, satirist, left-wing pundit and atheist. He currently hosts a radio program, Late Night Live, four nights a week on the ABC, and he also writes a weekly column for the News...
encouraged people to slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat. This resulted from Australia having the highest rate of skin cancer in the world. (6)
Though no longer widely considered to actually cure disease, shades of the supposed curative properties of sea water can still be noted with the trend of bath products containing
Dead SeaThe Dead Sea is a salt lake in Jordan to the east and in the West Bank and Israel to the west. Its surface and shores are below sea level, the lowest elevation on the Earth's surface on dry land. The Dead Sea is deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. It is also one of the world's...
salt, which is claimed to provide some relief from certain skin diseases.
Footnotes
- Fanny Burney Diary and Letters of Madame D'ArblayVolume 5-6 pages 35-36 reprinted in Jane Austen Society of Australia article on bathing
- Jane Austen, Sanditon pages 329-330 op cit
- Benjamin Disraeli, House of Commons 28 February 1845
- Australians - A History Fairfax, Syme and Weldon Associates 1987
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, Year Book of Australia 1998 Population Distribution
- Australian Associated Press, "Slip, Slop, Slap message getting through" 18 November 2002
Further reading
- Orvar Lofgren, On Holiday, University of California Press July 1, 2002 ISBN 0-520-23464-2
- Douglas Booth, Australian Beach Cultures: The History of Sun, Sand and Surf Routledge UK 2001 ISBN 0-7146-5167-2
- Stephen V Ward, Selling Places: The Marketing and Promotion of Towns 1850-2000 Spon Press UK ISBN 0-419-20610-8
- Anthony Hern, The Seaside Holiday Cresset Press UK 1967
- Ruth Manning-Sanders
Ruth Manning-Sanders was a Welsh poet and author who was perhaps best known for her series of children's books in which she collected and retold fairy tales from all over the world. The dust jacket for A Book of Giants aptly describes her writing style: "Mrs. Manning-Sanders tells the stories with...
, Seaside England BT Batsford 1951
- John K. Walton, The English Seaside Resort - A Social History 1750-1914, Leicester University Press 1983
- John K. Walton, The British Seaside: Holidays and Resorts in the 20th century, Manchester University Press 2000 ISBN 0-7190-5170-3
External links