The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1883-07-04
THE PERILS OF THE DEEP
WHY SAILORS FREQUENTLY LOSE
THEIR LIVES.

1d64h LIVED
Men Who In Their Youth Neglect Learning
nm Accomplishment of Great Value to
Them--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 if he knows
how to swim than they would be had
he never mastered that art. And yet
young men who expect to follow the
sea for a livelihood will s%tubbornly 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 1t 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. cit 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 he sure, if a vessel is going
along rapidly and a sailor falls over
board without being seen, it is rather
Door 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 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 was lost. l remem-
Der a case whi"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 soon
did. Then he was seen struggling IN
the water. The schooner was nc We 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 neighborhood, and
at last one of the men spied Il dark OBJ
iect on the crest of a wave. They
came up to it, and, sure enough, 1T was
themate, who was still alive, but nearly
exhausted. lie was a first-class swim
mer, and he had kept afloat all this
time without anything to cling to.
Now and then you read of alucky man
who is washed overheard by n 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. rs a rule,
I have often thought that it must be
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 waves
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
a boat from her lashings to the davits
and then over into the water. A
swimmers chances are not very good
if he falls overheard from a ship of
that kind. I was told a cas- 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 poar sailor in full sight of the
captain, who seized the BOBBY hatch
and flung it overheard. Th'rc 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
there 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.
In the navy they put a sail over the
side for beginners to learn to swim on,
and sometimes they make a little pond
out of sails to prevent sharks from
getting at the men. Some captains in
the navy have their men practice SWIM
ming one day every week, but in the
merchant service we cannot afford the
time to make the men learn TO swim.
When we are in foreign harbors they
might try it on Sundays or at night,
but the men are generally tue tired or
else they are afraid of the sharks. In
some crews the sailors are nearly all
swimmers, but in others scarcely a man
knows how to swim. I new have
made an estimate as to the proportion
Of men in the merchant service who
cannot swim, but 1 believed it to be very
large. The fault lies with the men,
who neglect to learn when they are
boys. l have been told that in small
towns, where there is nothing more
than a canal that l could wade
through, all of the boys are expert
swimmers, while in some seaside
places, where many funerals are
brought about by drownings, there are
hardly any swimmers. Many women
learn to swim who probably will never
have occasion to use the accomplish
ment, while fellows who so to sea all
their lives refuse to learn. I suppose
one reason that many Of them won't
learn is that they never expect to have
to swim for their lives. The captain
who carries no good boats on his vessel
of course has no idea that he will have
to use them. Such persons think they
are going to get through all right, and
take risks which a wise mar would
avoid. Years ago persons used to
think that if they could carry a caul
with them to SEA they could not be
drowned. Many would prefer the caul
of an infant to a good life-preserver or
the ability to keep atloat for several
hours by swimming. But nowadays
not much stock is taken in cauls, and,
l regret to say, not enough in swim
ming. TO be able to swim is, in my
opinion, almost us good a thing for a
sailor as a life insurance policy. The
time for a sailor to learn to swim is
before he goes to sea. If there was a
law requiring I'LL sailors to know how
to swim before they shipped there
would be less drowning at sea-
Electricity and Storms.
The question Of the electric nature
Of cyclones is Il question of fact, and