For physical development the breast stroke is useful, for it is one that is used in carrying a tired swimmer and is used to go to the bottom for lost articles and to search for a person who has sunk before help has reached him. It is possible, you know, to go to the bottom and bring a body to the surface and swim with it to shore before life is extinct and to restore consciousness by well-directed efforts. The body of an unconscious person weighs little when wholly or partially submerged {280} and in salt water weighs less than in fresh water, and is consequently more readily carried. Training makes a small boy the equal or superior of an untrained boy much larger and of greater strength, and the way to learn to carry a drowning person is to carry a boy who is not drowning to get used to handling the weights. A little struggle now and then lends realism to the work and increases the skill of the scout candidate for a life saver's rating. Speed swimming for itself alone is a very selfish sport so that the scout should develop his ability to make it generally useful to others.
Breast stroke for tired swimmer
Under-arm carry
Floating
After the breast stroke is learned, floating on the back for rest and swimming on the back, using feet only for propulsion, leaving the hands free to hold a drowning person, should be learned. This can be readily acquired with a little practice, carrying the hands on the surface of the water, arms half bent, with the elbows close to the sides at the waist line. To carry a man this way the hands are placed at either side of the {281} drowning man's head and he is towed floating on his back, the rescuer swimming on his back, keeping the other away. It is well to remember to go with the tide or current, and do not wear your strength away opposing it. Other ways of carrying are to place the hands beneath the arms of the drowning man, or to grasp him firmly by the biceps from beneath, at the same time using the knee in the middle of his back to get him into a floating position, the feet acting as propellers. Methods which enable the rescuer's use of one arm in addition to the feet are known as the "German army" and the "cross shoulder." In the first, the swimmer approaches the drowning person from the back, passes the left arm under the other's left arm, across in front of the chest, and firmly grasps the right arm, either by the biceps or below the elbow, giving him control. This leaves the right arm to swim with. The other {282} one-arm hold mentioned is one in which the rescuer passes an arm over the shoulder of the one to be carried, approaching from the back as before, and getting a hold under the other's arm, which makes the drowning man helpless. The breast stroke carry previously mentioned is used only for helping a tired swimmer, and one in possession of his faculties who will not try to grasp the rescuer. The tired swimmer lies on the back and, extending his arms fully in front, rests a hand on either shoulder of the swimmer who rests facing him in the regular breast position allowing the feet of the other to drop between his own. Quite good speed can be made in this way, and all of these methods are practical as a trial will show. A little practice will enable the beginner to see which he can do most readily and then he can perfect himself in it for instant use.
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