The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-06-15
H PERILS OF THE DEEP.
WHY SAILORS FREQUENTLY LOSE
THEIE LIVES.
Mcn Who in Their Youth Neglect Learning
nu Accomplishment of Great Value to
Thcm--Whut Often Happens.


1t is a curious fact that many per-
sons who have been TO sea nearly all
their lives are unable to swim. 1t
stands to reason that in case a man
falls overheard his chances Of being
rescued are much better il he knows
how to swim than they would be had
he never mastered that arr. And yet
young men who expect to follow the
sea for a livelihood will stubbornly re-
fuse to learn to swim, alleging that
when one falls overheard his chances
of being rescued are very slim under
any circumstances. In the navy and
also in the revenue marine service Of
this country the men are taught to
swim, but in the merchant service it is
different. Neither the owner nor the
captain of a merchant vessel cares
whether the men who ship on her are
able to swim, and there is no leisure
time in which to teach them this useful
art.
"There are undoubtedly a great many
sailors who do not know how to SWIM"
said an old sea captain. at seems
strange, because any n can see how
much better a mans chances of being
saved are if he only knows how to
swim. TO be sure, if a vessel is going
along rapidly and a sailor falls over
board without being seen, it is rather
poor consolation for him to swim about
and watch her until she gets out of
sight. But as a general thing, warning
is given when a man falls overheard,
and something is thrown to him, while
the ship is hove to and a boat is lowered.
If a man cannot swim all this work On
the part Of his shipmates does no good,
for unless a buoy or something else is
flung exactly where he is he cannot
reach it, but after one or two faint
struggles he gives up and is lost.
Hardly a day passes without some
master reporting that one of his crew
fell overheard and vas lost. l remem-
Der a case viii h happened four or five
years ago. A fruit schooner was
bound to this port from the West Indies,
when one dark night the mate took it
into his head to stand where he could
drop overheard when the vessel gave
her next heavy roll, which she SOC
did. Then he was seen strug Cling in
the water. The schooner was move to
and a boat was put over, but by this
time the mate was not to be seen.
For over two hours that boat rowed
up and down in the neighEorhood, and
at last one of the men spied Il dark OBJ
ject on the crest of a rave. They
came up to it, and, sure enough, it was
the mate, who was still alive, but nearly
exhausted. He was a first-class swim
mer, and he had kept afioat all this
time without anything to cling to.
Now and then you read of alucky man
who is washed overheard by one sea
and then washed back on board by the
next wave. But this DOESN'T happen
very often. When a man goes over
board he has to swim for it, as a rule
l have often thought that it must b
"a terrible thing, even for a good swim
mer, to come to the surface and see
the big black hull of his ship gliding
away from him and the heavy ave
rolling about him, and for all he knows,
"a school of sharks making for him.
But it must be a still more terrible
position to be in for a man who has
never learned to swim. A good many
captains do not keep any boats in the
davits, but have them all fastened on
deck. 1t is a good deal of work to get
q boat from her lashings to. the davits
and then over into the water. A
swimmers chances are not very good
f he falls overheard from a ship of
that kind. I was told a case of that
kind a few years ago. a ship was
bowling along before a fine breeze at
over ten knots an hour, when overheard
went a poJr sailor in full sight of the
captain, who seized the BOBBY hatch
and flung it overheard. There was no
boat in the davits, and the captain was
anxious to make the best of the favor
able breeze while it lasted, so he didn't
heave the ship to, but left the poor
sailor to his fate in the hope that he
was able to swim to the hatch and stay
here till some ship came along which
wasn't in much of a hurry. The captain
couldn't find out whether the poor man
WAS a swimmer, but he was known to
BOAST of his generosity in giving the
sailor the hatch to keep him company.
n the navy they put a sail over the
side for beg nners to learn to swim on,
Ind sometimes they make a little pond
put of sails to prevent sharks from
getting at the men. Some captains in
he navy have their men practice swim
ming one day every week, but in the
merchant service we cannot afford the
lime to make the men learn TO swim.
When we are in foreign harbors they
night try it on Sundays or at night,
put the men are generally too tired or
Use they are afraid of the sharks. In
ONE crews the sailors are nearly all
WINNERS, but in others scarcely a man
Fnows how to swim. L never have
made an estimate as to the proportion
men in the merchant service who
Fannot swim, but l believe it to be very
arge. The fault lies with the men,
Who neglect to learn when they are
loys. L have been told that in small
owns, where there is nothing more
han a canal that l could wade
$500 Ill e