4 
SURVIVAL, ON LAND AND SEA 
dark glasses. If you get away with the first of these items on 
your person, it may save your life. If you have your emergency 
kit bag it may save other lives as well. Experience in the Pacific 
has indicated the desirability of men wearing their shoes when 
they abandon ship. Shoes are a great disadvantage when swim- 
ming without life jackets but their lack is painfully felt once 
you are ashore in a wilderness. This is also true if you are 
rescued by a naval vessel in a tropical area. The deck plates be- 
come so heated by the sun’s rays that a man cannot walk on 
them with bare feet. 
In abandoning ship wait until the ship comes to a stop; try 
to get away in a lifeboat, and jump only when it is impossible to 
go down a hose, line, cargo net, or ladder. Remember to put on 
your gloves and go down hand-over-hand. Don’t slide and burn 
your hands ! You’ll need them later. If it is necessary to jump 
get rid of your helmet, fold your arms tight across your life 
jacket, and, selecting a clear area below, jump with legs ex- 
tended and feet together. 
If you have a cork life jacket, throw it over first and jump 
after it. Don’t wear it when you jump or it may knock you out. 
If you have a pneumatic rubber jacket and are a good swimmer, 
jump in before you inflate it and swim as far away from the ship 
as seems safe before you do. If you are wearing a kapok life 
jacket, be sure the lower drawstring is drawn tight and tied 
securely before you jump. 
If you have to go overboard without lowering a boat or raft 
(in anything but a fiat calm) go over the weather or windward 
side. The reason for not going over the lee side is that any 
wind will drive a drifting ship down on you. Take care not to 
be washed back aboard if a sea is running. To avoid this leave 
