[Practise this by tying a bowline round the patient's waist, another round his ankles, and another round your own neck. Turn your back to him, go on all fours with the rope underneath you, and thus drag him out. Also practise the "Fireman's Lift" for getting an insensible person on to your shoulders.]
RESCUE FROM DROWNING.
The list of Boys' Brigade heroes shows you what a large proportion of accidents are due to not knowing how to swim. It is therefore most important that every boy should learn to swim, and having done so to learn how to save others from being drowned.
Mr. Holbein, the great Channel swimmer, writing in The Boys' Own Paper, points out that a boy, when learning to swim, should learn first how to get in and out of a boat, i.e., by climbing in over the stern. Secondly, how to support himself on an oar or plank, i.e., by riding astride on it, or by catching hold of one end and pushing it before him and swimming with his legs. Thirdly, how to get into a floating lifebuoy, i.e., by shoving the nearest side of it down under water and capsizing it over his head and shoulders, so that he is inside it when it floats. Fourthly, how to save life.
[Practise these at swimming baths or bathing parade.]
A moderate swimmer can save a drowning man if he knows how, and has practised it a few times with his friends. The popular idea that a drowning person rises three times before he finally sinks is all nonsense. He often drowns at once, unless someone is quick to help him. The important point is not to let the drowning person catch hold of you, or he will probably drown you too. Keep behind him always. If you find yourself clutched by the wrist, turn your wrist against his thumb, and force yourself free. Your best way in helping a drowning man is to keep behind and hold him up by the hair, or by the back of the neck, or by putting your arms under his armpits, and telling him to keep quiet and not to struggle; if he obeys, you can easily keep him afloat; but otherwise be careful that in his terror he does not turn over and catch hold of you. If he should seize you by the neck, Holbein says, "Scrag him, and scrag him quickly. Place your arm round his waist, and the other hand, palm upwards, under his chin, with your finger-tips under his nose. Pull and push with all your might, and he must perforce let go." But you will never remember this unless you practise it frequently with other boys first, each taking it in turns to be the drowning man rescuer.
[Practise this.]
Among the innumerable cases of saving life from drowning, Mr. Scullion was recommended for the Albert Medal. He sprang into the river to save a boy from drowning who had fallen between the wharf and the ship's side. When he got hold of the boy there was no room for him to swim in that narrow space, and the tide was very strong, so he dived down, taking the boy with him, under the ship's bottom, and came up in open water on the other side of the ship, and then easily swam to a boat and thus rescued him. Had he not kept his head and dived under the ship, it is probable that both would have been drowned.
Any of you who cannot swim as yet, and who fall into the water out of your depth, remember that you need not sink if you can remember to do the following things. First, keep your mouth upwards by throwing the head well back. Secondly, keep your lungs full of air by taking in long breaths, but breathe out very little. Thirdly, keep your arms under water. To do this you should not begin to shout, which will only empty your lungs, and you should not throw your arms about or beckon for help, else you will sink.
[Practise this position.]