Henry MacCormac

“ The brute in the water continues to go on all-fours, and the man who wishes to save his life, and can not otherwise swim, must do so too, striking alternately, one two, one two, but without hurry or precipitation, with hand and foot, exactly as the brute does. Whether he be provided with paw or hoof, the brute swims with the greatest ease and buoyancy. The human being, if he will, can do so too, with the further immense advantage of having a paddle-formed hand, and of being able to rest himself when tired by floating, a thing of which the animal has no conception. ”

“ The brute has no advantage in regard of his relative weight, in respect of the water, over man, and yet the man perishes while the brute lives. Nevertheless, any man, any woman, any child who can walk on the land may also walk in the water, just as readily as the animal does, if only he will, and that without any prior instruction or drilling whatever. Throw a dog into the water, and he treads or walks the water instantly, and there is no imaginable reason why a human being under like circumstances should not do as the dog does. ”

“ The loss of life from shipwreck, boating, bathing, skating, fishing, and accidental immersion is so disastrously great, that every feasible procedure calculated to avert it ought to be had recourse to. ”

“ In every school, every house, there ought to be a slate tank of sufficient depth, with a trickle of water at one end and a siphon at the other, in order to keep the contents pure. A pail or two of hot water would at any time render the contents sufficiently warm. In such a tank every child from the time it could walk ought to be made to tread water daily. Every adult, when the opportunity presents itself, should do so. ”

“ People will not consent to wear life-preservers, but, if they only knew that in their own limbs, properly used, they possessed the most efficient of life-preservers, they would most likely avail themselves of them. ”

“ I WISH to show how drowning might, under ordinary circumstances, be avoided, even in the case of persons otherwise wholly ignorant of what is called the art of swimming. The numerous frightful casualties render every working suggestion of importance, and that which I here offer I venture to think is entirely available. ”

“ The dog, the horse, the cow, the swine, the deer, and even the cat, all take to the water on occasion, and sustain themselves perfectly without any prior experience whatever. Nothing is less difficult, whether for man or brute, than to tread water, even for the first time. ”

“ Men and animals are able to sustain themselves for long distances in the water, and would do so much oftener were they not incapacitated, in regard of the former at least, by sheer terror, as well as complete ignorance of their real powers. ”

“ The printed injunction should be pasted up on all boat-houses, on every boat, at every bathing-place, and in every school. "Tread water when you find yourself out of your depth" is all that need be said, unless, indeed, we add, "Float when you are tired." Every one, of whatever age or sex, or however encumbered with clothing, might tread water with at least as much facility, even in a breaking sea, as a four-footed animal does. ”

“ Bridget Money, a poor Irish immigrant, saved her own life and her three children's lives, when the steamer conveying them took lire on Lake Erie, by floating herself, and making them float, which simply consists in lying quite still, with the mouth shut and the head thrown well back in the water. ”

“ A man on the east coast of Lincolnshire saved quite a number of lives by swimming out on horseback to vessels in distress. He commonly rode an old gray mare, but, when the mare was not to hand, he took the first horse that offered. ”

“ The natives of Joanna, an island on the coast of Madagascar, young persons of both sexes, walk the water, carrying fruit and vegetables to ships becalmed, or it may be lying-to, in the offing miles away. ”