What year did the first person, Benoit Lecomte, swim across the Atlantic?

1998-on july 16, 1998, lecomte set out from cape cod with 8 wet suits, a snorkel and some flippers into turning weather. navigated through the 40th and 50th latitude by two french sailors on a 40-foot sailboat and protected by an electronic force field, lecomte swam 6 to 8 hours a day at two-hour intervals. he mainly used the crawl stroke, switching occasionally to a mono fin and using an undulating dolphin kick to carry him over the (3,736 nautical miles) of relentless waves. 72 days later, on 28 september, he swam ashore exhausted but heroic at quiberon, france. (source: www.didyouknow.org)