drowning save

8/6/2019 Drowning Save

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HOW TO SAVE A DROWNING MAN

By ALEXANDER MEFFERTInstructor in Swimming. Knickerbocker Athletic Club

MOST of the drownings that occur

about the bathing places resultgrown man and a swimmer to fear cramp. The average opinion is that the man who

from lack of nerve or coolheaded is attacked when swimming in deep watercourage. If swimmers could be trained to is as good as drowned. Therefore, when akeep cool under all circumstances there swimmer feels a leg or arm begin to cramp

would be comparatively little drowning he is frightened, in most cases, entirely out

among bathers and summer pleasure seek- of his wits. He loses his head, begins to

Put your left hand against his jaw and push him away.Photographs by W. P. Robertson.

ers. Cramp is usually assigned as thecause when some good swimmer drowns.But cramp ought in reality to be nothingserious. Usually it affects only an arm ora leg, or, may be, only a hand or foot. Any

moderately good swimmer can keep afloat with one arm, or even without the use ofthat; yet good swimmers are drowningevery week as a result of cramp. If suchfatalities were analyzed they would bemore properly classed as drownings fromfright and loss of nerve. This comes fromthe fact that every one is taught in child-hood to fear the water, and comes as a

splash and paw and struggle, and then goesdown.

What the swimmer should remember isthat he can keep afloat with very, verylittle effort if he will turn on his back and

keep his chest inflated. It is the simplematter of floating, which every swimmerknows and finds very easy. If the swim-mer will keep cool and float, the crampinglimb will frequently relax after a little andhe will find himself as well as ever.

At every summer resort and every coun-try village which has a lake we hear moreor less frequently of double drownings, in


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which the drowning man has seized his would-be rescuer and pulled him under. This is because the average swimmer doesnot know how to approach a man in

trouble. He has read of rescues in cheapnovels, and in these the hero invariablyplunges in, seizes the drowning man, and,taking him on his back, swims ashore, land-ing the rescued but little the worse for

wear. Some one sees a swimmer drowning,goes for him in this way, is grabbed aboutthe neck and pulled under, to drown withthe man he would save.

goes down for another breath of water,comes up utterly insane, and repeats thegoing down and coming up until his lungsare pretty well filled with water. Then hesinks to stay. His sinkings are very slow,and he does not at first go far below thesurface. He probably rises three or fourtimes before he finally goes down.

If the lifesaver dashes at the drowningone while he struggles, and attempts tocarry him out in dime novel fashion, he isgrabbed, pulled down, finds his arms use-less, and, unless he is a very strong manor a good wrestler, will be unable to break The would-be lifesaver must know some-

Get a good hold in his hair * * * and strike out.

thing of how drowning occurs and of howdrowning men act. There are two chiefcauses of drowning. Either a swimmer istaken with cramp, as a result of going intothe water overheated, swimming with astomach full of undigested food, or from

staying too long in the water and becom-ing chilled; or else some one falls into the water, or what amounts to the same thing, ventures beyond his depth. Now noticehow he acts. He begins to struggle in afrantic way and sinks, takes a mouthful of water into his lungs, rises crazy with fear,grabs at everything about him, expels alittle of the air remaining in his lungs,

his hold, and will drown with the man he would save.

First of all, then, the lifesaver must re-member that there is no need of hurry.

The drowning one will not sink at once, notuntil he has gone down enough times tofill his lungs with water. A little more water will not harm the victim to any ex-tent. He will have to be resuscitated whenhe is taken ashore anyway, and the more water he breathes now the easier it will beto take him there. When you see a mandrowning, therefore, wait. Do not wait onthe shore or in a boat. Swim close to theone in danger, so as to be ready when the


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time comes. But, by all means approachcarefully, from behind if possible, so as tobe out of reach of his arms. If the manturns around, or if for any reason it isimpracticable to approach from the rear,swim as near as necessary in front, but inthis case be always on guard. The bestguard is to keep the left arm extended asfar as possible in front, pointing towardthe drowning man. Should he flounder to-

ward you and attempt to grab you, put your left hand against his lower jaw andpush him away. Now the only hold he canpossibly get is on your arm, and this maybe

take in a little more water, if necessaryholding his head under to help along theprocess. When the struggling is over,turn on your side or back, whichever way

you can swim most strongly, and strikeout, dragging your man as shown in thephotograph.

Do not labor under the impression that you must keep the victims head abovewater. If you can do so easily, it will dono harm, and possibly some good. But if

you try to raise him out of the water youtend to force yourself under, and multiplythe difficulties of keeping afloat yourself.

A much safer way is to approach from behind.

easily broken by turning, raising one legso that your foot is on his chest, and thenpushing with all your might.

After he has gone down once or twice hisstruggles will weaken. Now is the time toact. Your method of handling the man

mill depend on the way he is dressed andthe length of his hair. If his hair is longenough to give a good hand hold you neednot consider any other grip. Just reachout your left hand, if you are a righthanded swimmer, and get a good hold inhis hair. If he still shows an inclinationto struggle do not be in any hurry to takehim out. Just keep your hold and let him

If you pull him after you, however, lettinghis head follow as it will, you will find thathe floats easily and that your task is notmuch more difficult than towing a stick of

wood or other floating body.All this may sound cruel and cold-

blooded, but it is not. If you try to takethe man out while he is still struggling youare more than likely to drown with him.If you try to hold his head out of water

you lessen the chances of saving his lifeby tiring yourself. Besides, he is nearly aswell off brought ashore unconscious as onlyhalf so, for if any system commonly em-ployed for resuscitating the drowning be


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employed he will soon come to conscious-ness not so very much the worse for hislate experience.

The easiest man to save, other things

being equal, is the long haired one. Nextcomes the man with the bathing suit on ora suit of clothing loose about the neck.Approach such a one the same way you

would approach the man with long hair. Wait for him to quit struggling in thesame manner. Then reach your left handdown the back of his neck, inside his bath-ing suit or coat, and grab firm hold of the

Drowning Man

other grip until his struggles end. If youfind yourself in danger of being grabbed,do not hesitate to break away in the harsh-est manner necessary, for if seized the

chances are for your both drowning.A much safer way of approaching andseizing a person who has neither clothingnor hair to take hold of is to approachfrom behind and put a hand in each of hisarmpits. To do this you may best ap-proach with the ordinary breast stroke,and then, allowing your body to assume ahorizontal position, keep afloat by treading

Put a hand in each of his armpits * * * swim on your back, dragging the unconscious man.

garment on the inside. This gives you agood grip, and you may turn and swim outas before.

If the drowning person have on no cloth-ing whatever there are two principalmethods of taking hold. The rescuer mustuse his judgment as to which is preferable. The easiest of these, when it is safe, isthe hand hold. After the drowning manhas stopped struggling get hold of one of

his hands, preferably his left, with yourown left. Turn and swim, dragging himafter you. The greatest objection to thisis that if the victim is not quite uncon-scious your hold on his hand makes iteasier for him to turn in his struggles andseize you. Therefore, if you must use thehand hold, and it is a fairly easy way totake a man from the water, do so guard-edly, if necessary holding the man by some

water. You may grab a person who is stillstruggling in this way, for, since you takehold from both sides at once, you can veryeasily prevent his turning in either direc-tion. When you have a firm hold, turn,pull the drowning man back until he isfloating face up, at the same time bringing your feet upward and forward until theyare under the others body. Now you areswimming on your back, dragging the un-

conscious man. If he be very strong andis still inclined to struggle it is best tochange your hold from the armpits tothe upper arms. You may do this so as toeither keep his arms at his sides or byraising them above his head. In eithercase he is powerless to turn.

The advantages of this hold are that itis a very safe approach, and that it can beused on a person who has neither hair nor


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Forest Fables 601

clothing. It allows one to catch the victimbefore the latter becomes unconscious. Ifthe latter is a child or a very light personit may be advisable to take this hold even

when clothing is worn, but if he be heavythis is the very worst of all. The disad-

vantages are that it requires both handsand keeps the rescuers body below that ofthe victim, forcing him to lift up some-

what and tending to force his own headunder water. If the distance to shore begreat it is a very difficult method indeed.

In using this hold, and in fact any of the

others, the rescuer must bear in mind thatit is necessary to husband his own strength.In no way can this be better done than byswimming slowly and keeping the chestfull of air. This latter precaution willenable him to float, if he turns on hisback. And above all he must bear in mindthat all he need do is to get the drowningperson ashore. If he can do that resus-citation will bring him back to life. Letthe victim float as far down as he will;take it easy, and get to shore with as littleeffort as possible.

Dragging the Victim by a Hold on his Bathing Suit.

FOREST FABLES

V.THE TRILOGY OF THE TALKING APPLE TREE

By ALOYSIUS COLL

OOK on these gnarled boughs, this

Lmossy trunk, these lichened twigs

that begin to show, like gray hairsin the head of an old man, and you guessnot that my tough, knurred core is an urn

wherein I have inscribed a tale of tender-ness, a triple picture that is the heart his-tory of a good woman and a true man.

When in my prime I was the noblestpippin tree in this glorious orchard ofmany noble trees. Wide of girth, lusty of

leaf, fertile of blossom, and sweet of fruit,I stood, greatest and greenest on the pin-

nacle of the apple lot, and first and finestin the affections of the children that cameto pluck my rosy baubles and swing be-neath my thickest branch. My sap ranfree, like the blood in the veins of a farmboy. I was the mecca of the nomad birds;in my network of shadow and sun theycomposed their sweetest lyrics and triedtheir gladdest canticles. Only one de-

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