Death after Shipwreck

Abstract

The probable cause of the heavy loss of life when the liner Lakonia was abandoned near Madeira has been investigated by questioning survivors and others concerned in the incident. Only approximately 11 of the 124 deaths could be accounted for by injury or by accidents in the Lakonia. All the pasengers had life-jackets, and the reports provide strong evidence that most of the other 113 deaths were caused by immersion hypothermia leading to helplessness and unconsciousness with drowning only a terminal event. Ten out of a group of 15 people who had survived immersion and were able to swim had swum about, eight of them aimlessly or in the belief that it would keep them warm. Most people who entered the water were wearing warm clothes, but some wore night-clothes or nothing at all. Five out of 18 had taken off outer clothing before entering the water. In view of experimental evidence that exercise normally accelerates the rate at which the body temperature falls during cold immersions lasting 20 minutes or more, and that warm clothing greatly retards body-cooling in the water, the findings suggest that loss of life at sea could be significantly reduced by advising those at risk to put on warm clothing before entering the water and to float still unless they can see land or rescue ships close enough to be reached by swimming. © 1965, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.