Boy Scouts Handbook Part 61

[Ill.u.s.tration: Break for wrist hold.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Breaking back strangle hold.]

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Breaking "Death Grips"

If one uses care in approaching a frightened or drowning person in the water, there will be no use for the release methods; but the best of swimmers get careless at times and all swimmers need to know how to get clear when gripped.

Wrist Grip

Of these the simplest is the one where the wrists of the swimmer have been grasped by the drowning man in his {283} struggles. The swimmer throws both hands above his head which forces both low in the water and then turns the leverage of his arms against the other's thumbs, breaking the hold easily. It should be borne in mind that a drowning man grasps what he can see above the surface of the water, so he will not attempt to grasp his rescuer below the points of the shoulders.

Remember also that a tall man and a short man would have about the same amount of their body projecting above the surface of the water.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Break for front strangle hold.]

Neck Grip

For the grip around the swimmer's neck from the front, for both arms around the shoulders, and for a grip in which the drowning man had the other over one shoulder and under the other arm, the break is much the same. As soon as the rescuer feels the hold, he covers the other's mouth with the palm of his hand, clasping the nostrils tightly between his first two fingers, at the same time pulling the drowning man to him with the left hand in the small of the back, treading water in the meantime. Then, taking a full breath, he applies his knee {284} in the other's stomach, forcing him to expel the air in his lungs and at the same time preventing him from getting more by pressure on the nostrils and mouth. Should the pressure of the grip around the body be too great to allow freedom of the arms, the preliminary move in that case would be to bring both arms to the level of the shoulder, thus sliding the other's arms to the neck, leaving the rescuer's arms to cover the nose.

Back Strangle

The back strangle hold is an awkward one to break and one which must be broken without an instant's delay, or the would-be rescuer himself will be in great need of help. In practice it will be found that, by grasping the encircling arms at the wrists and pushing back with the b.u.t.tocks against the other's abdomen, room to slip out can be obtained. In a life and death struggle, sharper measures are needed, and if the rescuer throws his head suddenly back against the nose of the drowning man, he will secure his freedom very readily and have him under control by the time he has recovered from his dazed condition.

Rescue From Sh.o.r.e or Boat

It is not always necessary to go into the water to attempt a rescue, and in many cases, when some one has fallen off a bridge or dock, a line or buoy or boat can be used to advantage without placing more lives in danger than the one in the water. Discretion in such matters is worthy of recognition rather than too much recklessness in swimming out. Use a boat when possible. Practice in throwing a life buoy should be indulged in where possible, and a good scout should always leave the line coiled over pegs and the buoy hanging on top to bind it in place for instant use in an emergency.

Diving From the Surface

When a bather or victim from a boating accident sinks to the bottom of a river or pond of from seven to twenty feet in depth, prompt rescue methods may bring him to the surface, and resuscitation methods, promptly applied, will restore breath. If there is no current in the pond or lake, bubbles from the body will indicate its whereabouts directly beneath the place where it sank. Should there be tide or currents, the bubbles are carried at an angle with the streams and the searcher must go from the spot where the person disappeared and look along {285} the bottom going with the current. When a drowning man gives up his struggle and goes down, his body sinks a little way and is brought up again by the buoyancy within it and the air is expelled.

It sinks again and next rises less high and air is again expelled.

This happens several times until enough water is taken into the stomach and air pa.s.sages to offset the floating capacity. The floating capacity is barely overcome, so the body weighs but little. It is very simple, as almost any youthful swimmer knows, to go to the bottom if one can dive from a float, pier, or boat, but to be able to dive down ten feet from the surface requires practice. In most cases to go deeper would require a weight after the manner of the Southern sponge and pearl fishers. Grasp a ten or fifteen pound stone and dive in; to come up the swimmer lets go and rises to the top.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Throwing feet for dive from surface.]

Diving For Lost Objects

In covering a considerable area in search for bodies or lost objects, several ropes can be anch.o.r.ed with grapnels or rocks in squares and a systematic search thus maintained by divers. Going down from the surface is not so simple and the knack is attained by practice, especially by athletic lads. The secret is to swim to a point where a sounding is to be made, and to plunge the head and shoulders under, elevating the hips above the surface to drive the shoulders deep and give chance for a few strokes--breast stroke preferred--until the whole body in a vertical position is headed for the bottom. The elevation of the feet and lower legs in the air gives the body additional {286} impetus downward, and when the object is attained a push-off from the bottom with both feet sends the swimmer to the surface in quick order. To carry any weight ash.o.r.e, it is necessary to carry it low on the body, hugged close to the waist line, allowing one hand and both feet for swimming, or if on the back, hold by both hands using the feet as propellers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Artificial respiration (a)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Artificial respiration (b)]

Restoring Breathing

Knowledge of resuscitation of the apparently drowned is an important part of the equipment of a first-cla.s.s scout, and a great many lives could have been saved had it been more general. To be effective no time must be lost in getting the apparently drowned person out of the water and getting the {287} water out of him. The Schaefer or p.r.o.ne method requires but one operator at a time and no waste of time in preliminaries.

When taken from the water the patient is laid on the ground face downward, arms extended above the head, face a little to one side, so as not to prevent the free pa.s.sage of air. The operator kneels astride or beside the p.r.o.ne figure and lets his hands fall into the s.p.a.ces between the short ribs. By letting the weight of the upper body fall upon his hands resting on the p.r.o.ne man, the air is forced out of the lungs; by relaxing the pressure, the chest cavity enlarges and air is drawn in to take the place of that forced out. By effecting this change of air--pressing and relaxing, twelve to fifteen times a minute (time it by watch at first, and then count) artificial breathing is performed. Sometimes it is necessary to work an hour or two before the flicker of an eyelid or a gasp from the patient rewards the life saver's efforts, and then he must carefully "piece in" the breathing until natural breathing is resumed. When breathing starts, then promote circulation by rubbing the legs and body toward the heart. Do not attempt to stimulate by the throat until the patient can swallow.

Give a teaspoonful of aromatic spirits of ammonia, in half a gla.s.s of water.

_Remember that by laying the patient face downward fluids in the air pa.s.sages will run or be forced out and the tongue will drop forward, and require no holding, always an awkward task_.

Treatment After Respiration Begins

The after treatment is important. Put the patient to bed, keep quiet and warm. Always get the services of a physician as soon as possible, but do not wait for him to come. Start work instantly. The patient needs oxygen, so keep spectators away. They are robbing the man of the life-giving properties of the air. For this reason, in all but the most severe weather, it is well to work on the patient in the open.

Life Buoys

If one is to place a life buoy for instant use in emergencies it should be hung upon four pegs driven into holes in two pieces of wood nailed together in the form of the diameter of a two-foot square or three pegs in strips of wood arranged in the form of a T, about eighteen or twenty inches high, the two pegs at either side of the top bar of the T and the other one on the upright near the bottom. Most life buoys used on sh.o.r.e have fifty or seventy-five feet of light line attached to draw the {288} rescued person ash.o.r.e or to recover the buoy after a faulty throw. Commencing at the free end of the line, where a small wooden float is often attached, the rope should first be coiled on the pegs, hanging the buoy outside the coil to bind it in place so wind or jars will not loosen it. Then, when the buoy is needed, the ring is grasped by the throwing hand which clasps the buoy itself, and the coil is clasped in the free hand, the end of the rope being secured ash.o.r.e by standing upon it with one foot. After each use or practice the buoy line should be restored to its pegs for instant use.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Life buoy and ice ball/]

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Notes

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Notes

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CHAPTER VIII

GAMES AND ATHLETIC STANDARDS THE GAMES