 But doctors were starting to advocate the benefits of sea-bathing as an all-round tonic and a cure for a wide variety of ailments.So, by the 1750s, seaside towns and hamlets were vying with each other to attract wealthy visitors.The first recorded evidence of this fad in Ramsgate was in 1764, when James Hawkesley was “rated” for two sheds where female clients could undress and wait for a bathing machine to become vacant.