The Savannah morning news., 1900-08-04
SAFETY IN THE WATER.
MANY VICTIMS OF THE SEA MIGHT
HAVE AVOIDED THEIR FATE.
The Secret of FIoating-Most of the
Dangers That Threaten Swimmers
May BE Averted by the Use of a
Little Presence of Mind

ACCORDING 10 an expert swimmer, most
people who are drowned while in bath
ing owe their deaths primarily to fright,
losing presence of mind when really they
are not in danger.
The thing that browns a man, says this
authority. is his inability to get his
mouth or nostrils above the surface of
the water long enough or often enough to
breathe regularly. The two things that
usually sink his mouth below the water
so that he cannot get his breath are his
own stupidity in wasting his strength
in the effort to keep the back of his head
up as if he breathed through the parting
in his hair, and his getting so excited
that he tries to take in air while his
mouth is under water
Unless a man gets his lungs full of wa
ter he can never drown. His stomach will
hoid quart or two without troubling
him very much, and as long as he can
keep the air space in his lungs clear Of
water he can live for hours in the rough
est sea that ever ragged
The greatest safeguard in the water is
the ability to float, not to swim. Any
person can float in salt water the first
time he tries it, and any one can float
in fresh water after little practice. The
only reason a person cannot float in salt
water is because he will not do
as he is toid-put the back of the head
clear under water and leave nothing above
the surface but the mouth and nose. All
good swimmers lie on the side and stick
the head well down into the water and
| many of them bury 1t altogether expell-
Ing the breath while under water and
lifting their mouth oniy enough to inhale
again.
ANY person who will lie upon his back
and raise his chin sufficiently to put the
torehead under water almost to the eyes
| VIII Immediately float in salt water, 10
matter what he does with his hands and
Feet. The most dangerous thing that can
| happen to any one in the water is to
RANT, but the expert swimmer who feels
any tendency TO faintness, as he may
from sudden injury In the water, will i'm
mediately assume this position and throw
the arms straight out beyond the head
the nands slightly apart In this position
he will breathe freely until he recovers
unless the water is rough that it
washes completely over him.
cramps do not add an ounce to the
weight of the body and can therefore have
nothing to do with sinking it, The only
cramp thar could possibly drown a good
swimmer would be enc in the neck which
would draw the head down on the chest
In salt water unless in rush of foam
or scum thick enough to smother, one can
| float and breath indefinitely. and a per-
scn OF determinat on would finally de of
hunger and thirst, but would never drown
| Cramps are never of long duration. and
can usually be kicked out in a few min
uies If in the legs. If in one leg only, a
good swimmer can easily get along with
| the other and his arms. The great trou-
BILE with so many alleged experts is, that
they cannot float In salt water, the spe-
ctfic gravity of the water is enough to
float the human body instantly, but in
fresh water it is necessary to acquire
what is called the balance" before one
can feat easily. The first time you try
10 float in fresh water you will find that
| efter you have thrown yourself on your
back your mouth ard eyes will sink just
| a little below the surface. Instead of
waiting a second or two for them to come
up again. you Immediately duck your chin
| down on your chest. in the effort to get
your head out of the water again.
Instead of duckipg your chin in this
manner, the moment you find yourself ap-
plrently sinking. just hold the full breath
| you have taken, and In a few seconds
you will frd that the mouth and nose
come up again. Take another quick, full
breath and you are floating. You may os-
cillate up and down a little, but YOU will
all day. After little practice, you will
find that this rising and sinking process
| which Inconvenience you SO at the be-
| ginning Will disappear and you can get
your body balanced in the water at The
| first attempt. There is sort of trick
about it, just like riding bicycle which
consists in getting the breath just right
and extending the body calmly and easily,
50 that there is nothing to start the up
and down motion which makes you feel
as If you were sinking.
There are one or two bugaboos which
are supposed 10 drown great many peo-
pie every year One Of the most famous
| of these is the undertow. The sea pousse
and the undertow are similar in many
ways. The undertow is usually the re-
turn water from the surf running along a
beach on which the sand is loose or mixed
| with dirt, something like a quicksand.
| When bather steps on this moving sand
| his feet sink into it and are apparently
| pulled from under him by what he calls
the undertow. If he can swim all he need
do is to lift his feet off the treacherous
bottom, extend himself on the stin wa
| ter at the surface and swim back 10 the
shadows. If he cannot swim and does
not know how to float he will probably
| throw up his hands, Shrek for help and
drown himself.
A sea pousse is a sort of undertow COM
| Dined with an overflow, because In the
sea pousse the whole current of water
| from the surface to the bottom, sets in
certain direction When you find your
self In q pousse or in any current
! which sets strongly from the shore, re-
| member that the water which supplied
! that current from the shore must go to-
| wards the shore first. Let yourself float
until you see the direction of the current,
and then go out of il sideways; never at
tempt to fight against 1t. In minute or
two you will find yourself in calm water
or in a current running in the opposite
| direction.
| There is only one real danger to the
| really expert swimmer and that is some
! thing that is rarely mentioned by the
newspapers The writer came across 1t
in rough sea at Cape May some years
ago. In swimming upon the breast with
the mouth open to inhale, a single drop
of water was either blown or splashed
into the mouth in such a manner that 1t
struck right into the epiglottis. The i'm
mediate effect of this was a violent ut of
choking and coughing, Which SO paralyzed
the ordinary powers of the limbs that no
attempt at swimming was possible Even
immediate turning on the back and float
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