HOW PEOPLE DROWN.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5218, 19 December 1927, Page 4

HOW PEOPLE DROWN.

NOT THE WAY OF LEGEND. A TIMELY OBSERVATION. The following timely observation on a near-drowning accident ip New York is quoted from the New York World by “The Erie Railroad Magazine.” “Out in Central Park lake the’ other day Ernest Riedel, international canoe champion, nearly drowned when he fell into the water, because the hundreds who were watching him thought that his antics were only foolery. And surely this was not an unusual state ofi affairs. Almost all of us can recall, the aftermath of some accident in the water, with everybody having the same story to telj: ‘I had no idea he was in trouble’ ; 4 I thought he was only fooling’; ‘I, could have reached him easily, but I never knew he was really going down’; and so on. Why is it that this ghastly comedy recurs so often in connection with swim-> ming ?

“One reason, of course, is that pranks are so common on swimming parties that the members are soon in a giggly frame of mind, interpreting every gurgle and splash as a ruse to pave the way for a ducking. But another reason is that an accident in the water occurs in a way quite different from the way in Which most of us have visualised it.

“A drowning man, we have often been told, goes down three times before he finally sinks; furthermore, we somehow have formed the idea that he does this in very leisurely fashion, probably holding up one finger to indicate that he is going down for the first time, two fingers the second time, and three fingers to indicate that the situation is really serious. Thus, when we see an actual drowning map we are either so dumfounded that all our co-ordinations are paralysed pr else we do not realise he is drowning.

“For a man does not drown in the way legend has it, with a lusty call for' aid and three distinct dives towards the bottom. The first sign he gives that he is in trouble .is when he rides low in the water ; he is having trouble keeping his nose out, and gives queer lurches to get higher. His bobbing at this stage is probably what has given rise to the belief that he goes down three times.

“His next sign is a hysteria of fright, when his eyes roll amd his mouth emits curious noises. It is his actions at this stage which strike his friends as so comical. “His next sign is when he goes down. . When he goes down he stays down, and there is no X to mark the -spot so that heroic rescuers can dive and bring him to the surface. And all this takes place in the time it would take to count five. The rapid-, jty of it, indeed, is what makes an ■accident in- the water so terrible; you look, you see a distorted, bobbing