Water And Ocean Survival

Water And Ocean Survival by Gary Benton
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Surviving after a mishap in a large body of water is tough business and one mistake can cost you your life. When I attended the United States Air Force Water Survival School, at Homestead Air Force Base, they stressed that water survival was difficult, challenging, and often fatal for the unprepared. While most of us may never intend to buy a yacht and head out to sea, there are a number of different ways we could end up on a large body of water fighting for our lives. If we fish on the Great Lakes or one of the oceans, fly in private or commercial aircraft, or take a cruise, we could find ourselves in the water as a result of bad weather, a collision, mechanical failure, or other emergency.

A lot depends on the type of vessel you are on when the situation becomes an emergency. On a large boat, you’ll have a better chance of survival than if you’re in a ditched aircraft (aircraft landing in water may cause some serious impact injuries). Then again, you’re somewhere in the middle if you’re on a private fishing boat of average size. Commercial aircraft carry life rafts and they are often huge twenty person rubberized rafts (or larger) that work fairly well, if you have the time to deploy them before you go into the water and most of the time you will. The only complaint I have, and I’ve been in one in the ocean, is the fact they ride rough in even mild weather. But, let’s assume you have a raft or small boat because you most likely will end up in one, how can you survive long enough to get rescued?

My first consideration would be both the water temperature and the ambient air temperature, because both will affect your survival odds. If the weather is hot, you’ll need to keep as much of your body covered with clothing as you can to avoid sunburn and sweating, as well as a shelter of some kind if you can make one. Most commercial life rafts come with a canopy made of a light weight rubberized material that is bright in color on one side, orange or magenta usually, and dark on the other, so a type of shelter (the canopy) is packed in the survival kit. The bright color should be placed toward the sky in hot weather, because it will reflect sunlight and help keep you cooler. During cold weather, the dark color (black is the most common) should be toward the sky to absorb the heat from the sun. Once again, keep your body covered to retain body heat and consider huddling with other survivors to help keep each other warm. The canopy is held in place on some rafts by aluminum rods (others may have an inflatable canopy and they are very warm) and once in place, the canopy will actually have sides that can be lowered and tied closed to give you additional protection from the elements.

Next, consider your water supply. If you are floating on fresh water, you don’t have much of a problem, just purify the water and enjoy. On an ocean or large body of salt water, you may have a dilemma. Many of the commercial survival kits will come with water, though they may be packaged in cans about the size of a pop can, pouches, or bottles. Do not ration your water, because it does your body no good if it is not used as needed. It is important for you to drink enough water to keep functioning and that means a quart a day, if possible. Keep in mind at a moderate temperature most people can live for around three days without water and the majority of rescues occur within forty-eight hours, so there is no need to ration your water supply. Additionally, dehydration is a very dangerous situation for a survivor in any emergency, not just at sea. But, how can you find additional sources of safe drinking water?

I would suggest you use your imagination as well as some common sense to procure drinking water. Have empty containers (most survival kits will have empty canteens, water bottles/bags, collapsible bailout buckets, or other containers in them) available and ready to use immediately to store rainwater or to collect ice (need a container with a wide mouth perhaps). Do not drink salt water, because it will increase dehydration and may cause salt water poisoning. However, it you are in a cold environment, you can collect sea water and then let the water freeze. Since fresh water will freeze before salt water, you will see a lump of ice (fresh water) in the container, remove it to use for drinking and discard the salt water.

There are two other methods to collect drinking water and both are found in most survival kits. In the survival supplies you may find chemicals that look like small bricks, only they are used to treat salt water to make it drinkable. These bricks remove the salt and alkaline from the water making it safe to drink. Usually these chemical bricks are a very dark, almost black, color. Additionally, you will most likely find a distillation kit in the survival gear. The kits I have seen require you to inflate a balloon looking container that sits in the water and through the process of evaporation, safe water is collected for drinking. I know from experience you will need to inflate this, using a small hand pump, as soon as you can because it takes a lot of energy. Don’t wait until you’re very weak to start to inflate it, or you may never get the job done. Water from both the chemical bricks and distillation kit do not require purification.

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