Caption:
Being Readied For Battery-Coney Island Swim Shirley May France, 16, of Somerset, Mass., has a protective Grease covering applied by her high school coach, Harry Boudakian (left) and her father, J. Walter France, before starting out on an 8-mile swim from the Battery to Coney Island, New York, July 10. Shirley, holder of several women's professional swimming titles, is preparing for her attempt at swimming the English Channel this summer. The 177-***** high school sophomore comes from a swimming *****. Her father was a long distance *****. July 10, 1949. (Photo by Associated Press Photo).