Hence perhaps may be explained why so many sea-faring persons annually perish from shipwreck almost close to the shore. If but few escape, even by swimming, it is because few British mariners are expert swimmers; a proof that an art so necessary to all ranks of men is too much neglected, since even those who are destined to a seafaring-life, and to man our fleets, are often wholly ignorant of it; at a period too when the life of every brave soldier or sailor is peculiarly valuable. Should it be asked, What can the art of swimming avail when contending armies rush to battle with the desperate purpose to slaughter or be slaughtered? Or, in naval conflicts, when ships and men are at once blown into the air, or ingulphed in the bosom of the ocean? What can it profit when Death, thus in various shapes, sweeps away by shoals unfortunate human beings? Is it not thus that blossoms come forth only to be blighted? That infants peep into existence, suffer, and die? That men, like moths, play around the burning taper, and sink into the flame? In short, does not all this waste of germinating life demonstrate that it is not individuals, but the human species, that it is not men, but man, whose preservation is so necessary to the completion of the grand plan of the universe?
But allowing this argument its full force, it still affords no solid objection, since it cannot be denied that many individuals have been preserved by swimming, who otherwise must have perished. But of what do our fleets and armies, nay, the whole human species consist, but of individuals? To preserve, therefore, individuals, is virtually to preserve and perpetuate the species, and consequently to obey the dictates of nature, in completing the grand system of the creation.
In order, then, to preserve as many individuals as possible, the art of swimming and diving ought to be established as an essential branch of national education; and, that our British youth may enjoy the same advantages which it procured to the ancient Greeks and Romans, it would be necessary in all sea-ports and towns bordering on large rivers to institute schools with experienced masters for teaching systematically the art of swimming and diving. To execute this scheme in the most speedy and effective manner, the illustrious Count Berchtold recommends the establishing a law for prohibiting Captains of vessels from engaging sailors ignorant of swimming; and for nominating commissioners, before whom, national seamen should be obliged to exhibit proofs of their progress in this art, previous to their embarkation.
Formed by nature for the watery element, fishes can with wonderful facility preserve their equilibrium at different depths merely by contracting or dilating their air-bladders, a curious faculty, which, by the way, affords a beautiful illustration of the efficacy of impervious air-vessels.
The young of other Animals also swim spontaneously; and though man, in consequence of his peculiar structure, cannot swim naturally, yet by practice he easily acquires the art, and when once learnt, it can never be forgotten.
Among savage nations, the young of both sexes are inured to this exercise from early infancy. Hence they soon become adepts in the art, and, regardless of a rough sea, they buffet the billows, and brave the dangers of the deep, which would soon swallow up less-experienced swimmers. From their daily employment in fishing and other aquatic expeditions, they also become able divers. In the East Indies, the negroe divers engaged in the pearl fisheries are said by habit to acquire such a power of retaining their breath as to remain under water from ten to fifteen, nay even twenty minutes! The expert diver therefore, in all maritime dangers, has a decided superiority over ordinary mariners who are novices in the art, being qualified not only to save his own life, but that of others; and, were it not for this, disasters from drowning would be far more numerous than they are. The celebrated Dr. Franklin, a most expert swimmer, declares it to be one of the most healthy exercises in the world. After using it an hour in the evening, he found that he enjoyed cool refreshing sleep the whole night, even during the most sultry heat of summer.
He mentions a curious experiment which he tried by holding the string of a paper-kite and following its motion whilst he floated on the surface of the water, by which he was carried on very pleasantly and performed his uncommon aquatic expedition with great velocity, and without fatigue. Nay, he thinks it not impossible to cross the sea in this manner, from Dover to Calais, though the packet boat, as he humourously adds, is perhaps still preferable.
In short, were swimming and diving regularly practised by our sailors and marines, it would not only contribute to their health and agility, but enable them to bear the frequent vicissitudes of heat and cold to which they are exposed; not to mention its known efficacy in curing inveterate diarrhœas and other obstinate chronic discharges, to which they are liable.
It would also qualify them to encounter, without fear, a rough sea, with a lee-shore, for the purpose of fixing a line of communication with the coast. In this hazardous enterprize might not a paper-kite help to waft them through the stormy waves? In case of a naval victory, an experienced diver is enabled to plunge boldly into the deep to recover important dispatches thrown overboard in the heat of an engagement, or with equal alacrity in the moment of victory, to rescue the enemy in the act of drowning[[16]]. For it has ever been the glory and delight of an English seaman, expert in this noble art, to hazard his own life to save not only a friend but even an enemy, of which our naval history affords many illustrious examples.
[16]. In the Philosophical Magazine, vol. III. is described a new diving machine, in which the diver can, at 60 feet under water, view objects around him, and go directly to the particular spot. In searching, therefore, for a person drowned, this would seem far preferable to the present uncertain mode of using drags or nets.