Sea Bathing as Jane Austen would have pictured it
A Little Sea Bathing
Sea bathing looked very different in Austen’s day. Here are some images of the activity as she would have pictured it.
A calm, by James Gillray (died 1815), published 1810., public domain 
A squall, by James Gillray (died 1815), published 1810, public domain 
The Bathing Place at Ramsgate Benjamin West circa 1788 public domain 
Bathing place in Cardigan Bay, near Aberystwith James Baker circa 1800 public domain 
Bathing Machines (An Excursion to Brighthelmstone) Henry Wigstead, Thoman Rowlandson, Samuel Alken 1 June 1790 Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. 
Vies of Margate bathing huts. A guide to all the watering and sea-bathing places . . Feltham, J. Published: circa 1805 Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 
Bathing machine on wheels at Royal Victoria Dock. Amanda Slater Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic 
Advertisement for bathing machines in Jersey from Le Constitutionnel 28 April 1838 public domain 
Trade card of Beale & Sayer, bathing machine makers 1770, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 
Trade card of John & Mercy Sayer, bathing machine makers 1760-1818 CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 
Sea-bathing machine at Margate. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) 
Four women and two men swimming near bathing machines. Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
I could have done with an outfit like that when, as a teenager, my mum made me a towelling bikini? Completely forgetting how towels cope with excess water! Luckily I had an actual towel for the sake of my modesty!
Having read many descriptions about and seen other pictures of sea bathing from that time these are as expected. Thankfully we have other choices in our times. Thanks for sharing.