They also gave us surfing but in the 19th century English swimmers did this forward crawl that looked like sideways breaststroke/dog paddle while they kept their head above water. That changed in 1844 when two American Indians named Flying Gull and Tobacco conducted a swimming demonstration in London by racing each other and other British swimmers over a distance of 43 yards.Flying Gull* took the race in 30 seconds and was awarded a medal for his efforts. Today that is like swimming a 50 SCY free in about 35 seconds while wearing clothes made out of dear skin leather. Nonetheless, post demonstration the article states that the swimming community was "rocked".
Per this article they describe their technique as a straight-arm freestyle with a windmill stroke. They allude to Janet Evans technique and rightfully so. If you look at Kate Ziegler or Laure Manadou's stroke you will see a lot of Janet Evans therein.
This article illustrates two concepts to me: International cooperation should move ideas forward rather than monopolizing them and swim technique is largely and individual model rather than "one technique fits all." Snippet from the article:
"I did have a lot of undulation in my stroke," said Evans, "and I definitely brought my head up just a little. I think that ties into the undulation. I worked a lot with a stroke coach named Nancy Schlueter. She and her late husband, Walt, did a lot of work with Mark Schubert. They were fantastic stroke coaches! Nancy always said that my freestyle was almost a modified butterfly."
Evans was a great puller in workout. Interestingly, her kick may have been as weak as her pull was strong.
"I was always in the back of the lane in kick sets," Evans chuckled. "Have you ever seen my feet? They're a size 6-tiny! I think I used my kick simply to keep the tempo of my stroke going." With this highly unusual combination of elements, it's easy to see why very few swimmers imitated her. [Link]
* I could not find an illustration of Flying Gull or Tobacco
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