Swimming the Charles

Two members of the Sunshine Club, a local ecology group, braved yesterday's near-freezing temperatures to swim the Charles River just below the Eliot Bridge.

Theodore Moynihan of Cambridge and Jeffry Ferris '78 made the swim in what they said was an effort to draw attention to the club's main goals, cleaning the Charles and protecting an area known as Hell's Half Acre.

Moynihan and Ferris were nearly hit by a one-man shell and Moynihan had some trouble with a buoyant collar that became waterlogged.

After the swim, eight other members of the club collected litter in Hell's Half Acre, four acres of lightly timbered land bordering the Charles near the Eliot Bridge and the Mt. Auburn Cemetery.

Moynihan said yesterday he was disappointed that more people did not watch the swim. He attributed the poor turn out to the cold and lack of publicity.

The Sunshine Club works closely with the Audobon Society and the Charles River Watershed Association in conservation projects.