The following simple method of rescuing drowning persons from a
watery grave, is contained in a long article on that subject, in a
late Liverpool paper, and is deserving of attention. The writer says:
If any one estimate inventions in the inverse ratio of their
simplicity, they will smile to hear that the life-preserver which
I have so highly extolled, is no more than a _hat_ and _pocket
handerchief_;[5] so that every man has, at all times, about his
person an apparatus which may be the means of saving the life of his
fellow creature.
[5] A large silk handkerchief is the best for the occasion.
With these simple means any man who can swim may safely venture into
the water, with the certainty of rescuing a drowning person. All the
preparation, which need not occupy ten seconds, is this: Spread the
handkerchief out on the ground, and place the hat upon it in the
centre, with the crown upwards, in the ordinary position of wearing;
then gather up the four corners of the handerchief over the crown
of the hat, giving it a few twists for the greater convenience of
grasping with the hand. The hat must then be inverted, (the crown
downwards.) In this position, it is confidently asserted, any person
may safely enter the water, as the cavity of the hat contains, a
much greater quantity of air than is requisite to sustain any man. I
found that the hat with which I tried the experiment, would almost
support me and another person clinging to me, neither of us making
the least effort to float by any motion of the hands and feet. The
mode I should adopt, however, in using the life-preserver, would be
to give up the handkerchief to the person whose life was in danger,
and immediately to disengage myself from him. He would soon discover
that he was buoyed up, and would recover his presence of mind; but,
whether he did or not, it would be of little consequence, as long
as he retained his grasp of the handkerchief. Whilst he was thus
supported, nothing could be more easy than to push him to the shore
with one hand, swimming with the other.