When I was about eight years old, I went to look for something I left near a motel swimming pool. I slipped into the deep end of the pool, I didn't know how to swim. At first I flailed as fast as I could, instinctively I suppose. This didn't help and I realized two things, I was still sinking and was getting tired. So I stopped and just stared ahead. I can't say I knew I was going to die, I just knew I was in trouble. Then my feet slowing hit the bottom of the pool, this startled me and it occurred to me I could jump and maybe catch the edge of the pool. For the first time I looked up and saw sky and leaped.
I was very lucky and made it the first time. When I got my head above the water, I was so exhausted I stayed there for a few minutes before climbing out of the water. Over the years, I've thought about this many times and, after a many years, came to the conclusion that calming myself after the initial terror probably saved my life. The calming came, I believe, because I was tired and stopped moving.
I almost drowned as a kid too, maybe a couple of years younger. Out in rural Ireland I was jumping from rock to rock at edge of a small lake and fell in. I remember it was actually a very calm experience - sinking down underwater with eyes open, then coming back up a little, then an arm from above came down into the water and dragged me out. Luckily one of my elder cousins had seen me fall in. My parents were there too, but oddly I can't remember ever talking to them about it... I guess fell in, got pulled out, end of story!
I taught/got my daughter to swim at an early age (4-5) for the safety benefit. I'd just take her to the pool once a week and we'd hang out and play, and over a year or two she just learnt to swim from being in the water!
> Then my feet slowing hit the bottom of the pool, this startled me and it occurred to me I could jump and maybe catch the edge of the pool.
A really startling story. That is one of my nightmares as a parent. I really need to learn my kids to swim soon.
I wonder if you could actually stand on the bottom with your head over water if you tried? Like it is really hard to "jump" under water. And you don't really sink until your lungs are filled with water (I believe?).
In general, at least some ability to swim is a pretty basic skill. It should happen much earlier (and it did in my case) but my undergrad required passing a swim test or at least taking the Phys Ed course.
While it's beneficial to learn swimming as young as you possible can people should be encouraged to learn it later too if they are at least mildy interested in water. I learned to swim very young pretty much on my own and thought I was decent, but it was only after taking some technique classes later on that made swimming longer distances actually enjoyable to me.
Swimming as competitive sports never interested me at all, and unfortunately the training aspect of swimming is way too often hardlinked with it. And many other sports hobbies suffer from the same "this is a pipeline to create professional athletes from children" mentality.
I was never a "good" swimmer. I was fairly negative buoyancy as a teenish and barely got the one mile Boy Scout patch at one point. Never had any interest in competitive.
I agree with what I think your basic point is. Swim well enough and comfortable enough so you probably won't drown in a trivial water situation or even doing stuff like canoeing/kayaking and that goes a long way.
Maybe it's my background but you end up in a river or a lake sooner or later. Or you step off into something that's a bit deeper than you expected. It seems pretty stupid to not be prepared for something that seems basically normal life for a lot of people that doesn't actually require a huge amount of work.
If you exhale you’ll probably find you sink quite well. And ‘jumping’, even just using your feet/ankles will be enough to move you up 5-8 feet. Give it a try (assuming you can swim!)
It also depends on the type of fat. People with high density fat (like me) can be 100 pounds overweight (or more), and still be negatively buoyant. I have to work to stay afloat.
My wife has low density fat, and she can't sink or dive for love or money.
Generally (assuming a healthy weight) women float and men sink, due to women having a few percentage points more body fat. I imagine children sink as well as men though.
For high school wrestling we got body fat analysis done. The, fit and healthy, women on the team were in the %30s while men down to the single digit %.
Fit women (just regularly fit, not even athletes) have body fat percentages in the 20s.
And unless all of you had been cutting for an event (in which case, why weren't the girls also doing that?), I highly doubt all the boys on your team had body fat percentages in the single digits. See e.g. this random sampling of NCAA wrestlers[0] with an average of ~14% body fat even excluding heavyweights.
Not to mention that describing high school students as "men" and "women" casts a fair bit of doubt on this story ever actually happening.
Yes, that's what I'm saying - unless you are quite obese, your body fat will not be so huge a factor that it will cause you to float with your lungs empty. You might not sink quite as far but still.
Many years ago my toddler fell into the deep-end of the pool and just gradually sank into the water, not even making a fuss. I was right there so I grabbed her and pulled her right out, but it's now seared into my memory like a slow-motion video I can never erase. Teach your kids to swim ASAP if there's any chance they'll ever be near a pool.
Recently I was in Hawaii, snorkeling in an area where I could walk around. I don't now how to swim, but I have been in shallow pools before. Unbeknownst to me, I was slowly drifting into a deeper area as I was busy just looking down at the fishies. Suddenly I realized my feet no longer could touch the bottom, and an initial panic set in. Then I quickly reasoned that I would just sink to the bottom (which was, about, 8 feet or so) and push myself off of it to reach the surface, then take a deep breath and do a doggie paddle-sort of a motion to get closer to the rocks nearby. If I had panicked, I would not have been able to hold my breath long enough. Luckily I did not at the moment and managed to reach the rocks (which were about 3 feet deep).
After that day, I swore to be more careful next time!
Might I suggest that swearing to learn to improve your swimming skills may be more beneficial to your long-term survival? Plus a lot more fun once you have more confidence in the water.
I live in a seaside tourist town. Here we learn to swim as young children, it is impossible not to know how to swim and now, as a parent, I understand that only the peace of mind of knowing that my children could swim without problems gave me the peace of mind to take them to the sea and be able to (fairly) relax.
I often read about people who drown because they were swimming on the seashore without knowing how to swim. Often more than one (the first in difficulty forces others to attempt a rescue). They are often people who know little about the sea, newly immigrated non-EU citizens.
I honestly cannot understand how a sane person can enter the water knowing that any problem, a hole, a higher wave is an almost certain death sentence.
Could it be that in addition to teaching us to swim, our parents taught us to fear and respect the sea? And that this simple precaution "is out of fashion"?
I also grew up in a seaside town. Gorgeous place. Beautiful but we grew up with a healthy dose of respect for the sea. maybe we saw too much. But I would postulate the difference is in understanding the sea is moving, constantly in motion. If you do not understand that simple notion, it might be easy to misjudge.
What did lifeboats of that period stock for emergency rations?
> Immediately after hearing the collision with an iceberg, the chief baker leapt out of his bunk and began dispatching his staff to stock the lifeboats with bread and biscuits ... Not only did Joughin refuse his own place in a boat, but he and a few other men began forcibly chucking reluctant women into empty seats, likely saving their lives ... while scholars have obsessed about the boozy reputation of Charles Joughin, beneath it all might simply have been a man unwilling to die. “It’s impossible for scientists to predict who will perform and respond well to extreme situations,” noted Cheung. “Some people give up very quickly, others you just cannot seem to kill.”
I've heard that a strong reason to live can get you through tough situations. E.g. in prison camps. I've also been solo skydiving and first hand experienced the loss of agency that comes from a poor response to life threatening situations:)
So, I'm not optimistic about my own chances in those situations.
So the secret is to remain calm and keep hope (both of which are helped by drunkness) besides the obvious "be last to get into the water" and "put on more layers of clothing" (though I didn't know that more clothes help even when wet).
I'm not sure how being fully submerged for long periods of time affects this, but in outdoor culture there are sayings like "warm when wet" - pertaining to certain fabrics such as wool and polyester.
One famous strategy is the pile and pertex combination. Where you have a thin basically windproof but not waterproof shell made typically from Pertex, and then fake fur from polyster on the inside.
These jackets are used to (might still be) be worn by law enforcement to old school rock climbers for it's ability to keep you warm and damp for hours.
There are videos of people submerging in ice cold water and "walking it off" until they are damp but warm again.
Another saying is "cotton kills", because it does not provide warmth when wet and also sucks up insane amounts of water for its weight, so it bascially never dries out.
The first time I had a serious accident with my car, I saw my life going before me. I was fine but my body was trembling after the accident. I saw a pub, I went there and drank 2 whisky straight. It was just what i needed to stop my body from shaking, and get my ideas clearer again and be able to deal with the situation.
“You have a defence if you can convince the court that you drank the alcohol in question after you had driven and that you were not over the limit whilst you were driving.”[1]
With that said, your BAC can be estimated from whatever you prove you drank after the accident, which would reveal a discrepancy. Not a reliable way to get away with a terrible crime.
I think any clothes can help building an insulating layer around your body.
I've been doing some cold plunges recently and the difference between still and moving water is staggering, as you quickly get a thermal layer around you. Surely clothes would help with that.
Wet suites work on principal of after they get wet they don't convect heat. I think certain clothing combination might reach same effect, just not as well.
That's not now wetsuits work. Neoprene is simply a good thermal insulator, largely because of the embedded gas bubbles. And the tight fit minimizes the amount of cold water that can flow into the suit. There is still some heat convection regardless of whether the suit is wet or not.
I can't speak to the physics but I've done cold water dives, and if you prime your wetsuit with a thermos of hot water, that envelope of hot water stays in your suit for a surprising amount of time
Statistically on a sinking ship a sailor who couldn’t swim had better chance of surviving than a sailor who was a good swimmer. In a cold Atlantic water the former had been expending less energy then the later, so he would last longer until being rescued.
> a sailor who couldn’t swim had better chance of surviving
I don't know about the statistics, but I'm descended from a small Scottish fishing village and remember being told that sailors didn't lean to swim. The logic was if you went overboard you were dead, the non swimmer would suffer less as they'd drown sooner.
I'm not sure how much truth is in that, and I doubt it applies these days as it was probably from the days of sail when a ship couldn't just stop & turn around.
> ... who survived history’s worst maritime disaster ...
Not the worst maritime disaster by loss of life (90K in Second Punic War storm; 100K in Mongol naval invasion typhoon disaster). Not even the worst of peacetime maritime accidents in the 20th century (Dona Paz, 1987, in the Philippines -- 4386 deaths). [0] There are easily forty WWII sinkings with greater loss of life. [1]
Could the many calories of the alcohol help in such situations?
Eating fat during a ship sinking accident is probably better, but alcohol has more calories than sugar and having enough energy to survive in the cold is important.
Many, many years ago my friends and I were out in the East Village (NYC).
We went out for drinks and then to recharge we walked to a pizzeria (I assume 24 hours) to get a few bites.
While I don’t normally drink I found I can hold my own with whiskey and I must’ve had about 10 (expensive!!) double shots over the course of 2 hours. Needless to say I was pretty buzzed.
Anyway, another group picked a fight with one of my friends; a hot pizza was thrown at the instigator’s face and a small brawl ensued. While I’m. it physical, when one of my friends tripped I weighed out how to help (mostly made them
pause, so friend didn’t get stomped); then shortly after NYPD showed up.
Held hand up to show that I wasn’t a threat; saw the pepper spray out and the officer’s panicked face; and I closed my eyes because I knew what would happen.
After running away as a group—thankfully the witnesses pointed out the instigators and some sympathetic bouncers let us cut through another club—I also had the presence of mind to buy a quart of milk—reasoning the fat and cool liquid would help—to ready myself against the burn.
The point: Some individuals can be pretty trashed but still retain planning skills, concerns of responsibility.
The baker clearly fell into this category.
Sidenote: I’m glad it didn’t get into my eyes, but wow did the spray burn…even with milk.
This story is crazy/funny but it's true that being calm is a huge lifesaver. It's why one of the elements of military training is not just learning "what to do" but also practicing those things in stressful conditions so that a habit can kick in.
I have no military background but do have (and teach) a couple of outdoor hobbies that have on three occasions caused me to think that there was a high chance I would not survive. I still sporadically wake up with nightmares of them years later.
Interestingly at each time my initial overwhelming thought was "I'm an idiot for letting this happen" while without really thinking I took action as I teach my students. In two cases I had a large dog with me and that was probably decisive. In all cases I was alone (not with other people, just the dog) which is also a massive risk factor. Obviously irrelevant to the Titanic case.
>"Most Titanic victims understandably succumbed to mortal panic as soon as they hit the icy water, but [Charles] Joughin was so bombed out of his mind that he didn’t seem to care.
Booze didn’t protect Joughin from the cold that night, but it did give him just enough false hope and inflated confidence to think that he could doggy paddle his way out of history’s worst maritime disaster. And in this one case, that turned out to be true."
So, there's the Bear Grylls and Wim Hof and Les Stroud (etc.) survival methods -- do everything you can to survive -- but now there's also apparently the Charles Joughin survival method -- just get completely sh-tfaced drunk! Get completely hammered, get completely sloshed!
And well, that's it!
There's nothing more to do!
Let nature (or in this case, the sinking Titanic!) take care of itself!
All you gotta do is find some (well, technically a lot of) alcohol -- and imbibe it!
And well, that's it!
There's no survival techniques, no preparedness checks, no physical and mental strengthening beforehand, no grit, no training, no exercise, no survival will, no special survial equipment, no nothing required -- just booze!
And the guy actually survived! :-) <g> :-)
Amazing!
(Reminds me of two things: Jackie Chan in "Drunken Master", and the Hitchhiker Guide To The Galaxy's "Don't Panic" advice...
I read about a north fisherman whose boat sunk. everyone perished in the cold water but he was so large and wrapped in heavy clothing he eventually paddled to shore, walked a mile and knocked on a door, without dying. Fat and cloth layers really help. He was also said to have survived because he was incredibly drunk. Maybe the alcohol in the system reduces the effects of the cold?
In non freezing temperatures bad blood circulation probably is an advantage? There is probably no point in heating your fingers if in cold water for a long time. It will just cool more important organs.
Your body already has the reaction to cold temperatures of reducing circulation to your limbs.
If you ever have to take a cold shower, and aren't the sort for them normally, hold your arm in for a good long while before jumping in.
It's still going to be cold, but it's much less shocking than jumping in, between giving your brain time to get used to the idea and giving your body time to cut circulation to your skin and extremities.
I find it difficult to believe. It was April -2C air temp in the open ocean and water temp probably 0C or 1C. Even with clothes on or relaxed you'd be dead in 15 minutes.
I live in Canada on the coast and there are many news articles of people drowning after falling into cold water. And those people were in modern cold weather clothing.
Even today, the myth persists that the human body cannot withstand more than a few minutes in the ocean. Thus, many people thrown into the sea assume that cold shock is the icy grip of death closing around them. In reality, the cold shock ends after 90 seconds. Even in the winter waters of the North Atlantic, an average-sized adult still has 10 minutes before going numb, and at least an hour before the heart stops.“The average adult is a big chunk of meat and it takes a lot of energy to cool it off”
Apparently most people die because they panic due to the cold shock or just kinda give up.
Some people do have quite a bit more innate cold tolerance than normal. See for example Wim Hof.
Hof claims his high cold tolerance is due to exercise and lifestyle, but his identical twin brother has similar cold tolerance without having done the things Wim attributes his to suggesting its genetic.
That fits what scientists who have studied Hof found. They found that (1) he really does have very high cold tolerance, and (2) this are not attributable to the specific exercise and lifestyle choices he thinks it is.
There are some really wild stories about Wim Hof. I read that he would sometimes sit on a fountain in a park in Amsterdam, using it to flush his bowel. Then one day, the fountain nozzle was changed without him knowing, and next time he did this he had to go to hospital because of perforated intestines.
I googled around a bit and did find some evidence that this actually happened but not that he did this regularly. I read it in an NRC or Volkskrant (Dutch papers) article if I remember correctly.
I have personally spent a little over an hour in water only slightly above 0C and I was periodically diving under water during that time too. This was to free debris from by boat’s propellor. I had a single layer on, kept calm and did not move more than necessary. I can assure you I am not dead :)
I live in a cold Canadian city that has a substantial population with drug addictions.
I was talking to a cop one night (he was off duty) and he was telling me about how you eventually learn some of the regular offenders names and stories. He told me how tough some of these guys are. How he'd pick one up for stealing and he's out in -30C with ganggreen on his leg.
Similar to Crackhead Strength you might encounter in the states. There's videos of sketchy looking folks hauling away anything they can find while riding bikes that were probably stolen too. One guy hoisted a fridge into his shoulder and biked it away.
I remember a video from long ago describing exactly what you mention. A tweaker riding a bike with a full sized fridge on his shoulder. Wild thing is that it wasn't even a full sized bike. lol. I think it was a BMX one.
> Then, he used the first rays of dawn to spot an overturned lifeboat set adrift in the Titanic’s chaotic final minutes. He paddled over, pulled himself out of the water
This is wrong, it was worse, there was no room for him so he hung on the side in the water
2:20 Titanic sunk. Sunrise was around 5:10am and he found the lifeboat to hang onto, then half a hour later another life boat arrived. So three hours.
Come on. Getting drunk will lower your survival chances for sure. It counterintuitively doesn't warm you up, waste precious energy while the body fights intoxication, and you are more likely to injure yourself in anything requiring body coordination.
The article addresses this. One hypothesis is that the cold shock counteracted the vasodilation, and being drunk allowed him to make it through the cold shock without drowning. How he managed to not go hypothermic is unclear, but maybe paddling around without noticing the fatigue or pain was enough to keep him going until he found the overturned boat.
I am not sure that drinking alcohol wastes energy. It contains a lot of calories, more than sugar. I also haven’t heard about people drinking alcohol to lose weight.
People lose a lot of weight on beer only fasts… there is also a long history of trappist monks doing beer only fasts for religious reasons, and presumably losing a lot of weight.
My understanding is they are usually using high carb low alcohol beer, so it’s more of a liquid only low fat diet than an alcohol diet.
