America's First Surfer

George Freeth

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

At a time when the coronavirus is putting us all at risk and cutting lives short, medical experts and historians are looking back on the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, which left its mark around the world, including on the then-emerging sport of surfing.

One who lost his life was George Freeth - the first surfer in the United States...and a hero many times over, who received the U.S. Life Saving Corps Gold Medal and other awards.

SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel believe that Freeth - who died 101 years ago this month at the age of 35 - is someone who had an incredible story to tell.

Long before the legendary Duke Kahanamoku popularized surfing in the mid-1900s there was George Freeth, who was billed as The Man Who Can Walk on Water.

Freeth, who was born in Hawaii November 8, 1883, was invited to California in 1907 by railroad tycoon Henry E. Huntington to demonstrate the sport of surfing.

Huntington read about Freeth’s ability to ride the waves in an article by Jack London, the renowned author of Call of the Wild, and thought that Freeth could get people interested in his new Los Angeles to Redondo Beach rail line by putting on a surfing show at the Redondo Beach Pier.

The crowd was amazed by Freeth's exploits and he lived up to London’s description: “He is a Mercury. His heels are winged, and in them is the swiftness of the sea.”

Later, in 1914, when the Huntington Beach Pier farther down the coast was built, Freeth was the first to surf it, too – on an 8’ wooden longboard – marking the first milestone in HB’s becoming Surf City, USA - the destination made famous in Jan and Dean's 1963 surfing song.

Along with surfing, Freeth promoted the aquatic sports of swimming, diving and water polo and became Southern California's first official lifeguard. A proponent of water safety, Freeth formed the organization that was the forerunner of today’s Lifeguard Services...

and invented the torpedo rescue can preserver still used by lifeguards.

Most noteworthy of all, on December 16, 1908, he single-handedly saved seven Japanese fishermen from drowning when their boats were pummeled by a storm in Venice Beach...swimming out repeatedly to rescue them.

Often in the news for his surfing exploits, Freeth was more interested in water safety and training lifeguards than in being in the spotlight. Sadly, he died April 7, 1919, after being unable to fight off the Spanish Flu, partly due to lung damage from his heroic lifesaving efforts.

If even one as strong as George Freeth fell victim to the virus of his time, it shows that we must all take precautions - sheltering in place, social distancing, and sanitizing - to protect ourselves now while the world's governments and medical professionals fight this invisible enemy among us.  

SurfWriter Girls

Surf’n Beach Scene Magazine

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