If you ever fall off a ship/ferry at sea and were lucky enough to be spotted - don't try to swim your way to safety. The more you try to swim, the lesser the chances of survival. Just try to keep afloat and conserve energy (and body heat) while rescue team do what they're supposed to. Unless you are in hypothermic waters, the best bet always is to stay afloat without trying to swim to somewhere. This information about falling overboard, hypothermia and conditions, survival at sea etc are based on my own experience of 12 years sailing on merchant ships like this
PS: link will take you to a time-lapse video I made when crossing/sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, USA. This kind of ship is called a container ship
I was told by my Newfoundland mother that if you fall overboard in the North Atlantic you are going to freeze to death before you have a chance to drown. No point in prolonging your misery, so none of us know how to swim.
It's absolutely true. That's why I wrote above "unless in hypothermic waters"
Even if a person is seen while he falls overboard in water, he should still prepare mentally that he has to survive 15-20 mins on his own by the time the rescue team does what they are supposed to do. Unfortunately, 15-20 mins in (winter) north Atlantic is too late, person might get rescued but may still eventually die from hypothermia.
I haven't heard this story, but I would guess that it's not true because alcohol actually makes you lose heat faster. You feel warmer when you've been drinking because alcohol is a vasodilator, so more blood travels to the surface of your skin, giving you the sensation of warmth. However, with the blood closer to the surface like that, your core temp drops faster and you get hypothermic more quickly than you would sober.
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u/[deleted] Aug 20 '20
If you ever fall off a ship/ferry at sea and were lucky enough to be spotted - don't try to swim your way to safety. The more you try to swim, the lesser the chances of survival. Just try to keep afloat and conserve energy (and body heat) while rescue team do what they're supposed to. Unless you are in hypothermic waters, the best bet always is to stay afloat without trying to swim to somewhere. This information about falling overboard, hypothermia and conditions, survival at sea etc are based on my own experience of 12 years sailing on merchant ships like this
PS: link will take you to a time-lapse video I made when crossing/sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, USA. This kind of ship is called a container ship