“80% of the deaths that occur on boats are caused by the person drowning. Sometimes there were life jackets, but they were not wearing them,” says Henry Céspedes, a Coast Guard officer, in an interview with Univision New York.
Explain what all boats must have a life jacket of adequate size and in good condition for each person on board.
What if someone doesn’t know how to swim? “If people don’t know how to swim, then they should wear a life jacket and consider it like when you get into a car and put on your seat belt,” says Céspedes.
In addition, the official clarifies that life jackets are different according to the activity: if you do water sports there are different requirements than those used during a walk.
Recommendations for going on a boat ride
- Always wear life jackets. “80% of the deaths that occur on boats are caused by the person drowning. Sometimes there were life jackets, but they were not wearing them,” says Henry Céspedes, a Coast Guard officer.
- Make a navigation plan. Before leaving on the boat, the person should always write down important information, including the type of boat, who will be on it, and where they are going. The plan should be left in the hands of friends or family.
- Avoid alcohol at all costs. You should always sail sober. Whoever is in command of the ship must be at least 24 hours without ingesting a drop of alcohol. It is not the same to drink on land than in the water.
- Make sure charter boats are properly licensed. Always ask the captain to show his license and boat documents before signing a contract of use.
- Check all your equipment before you go sailing. Be prudent and review the safety equipment, check that they are in good condition. Very important the operation of the fire extinguisher.
- Take enough water and hydrating drinks. It can dehydrate quickly if it is in a boat in full sun for several hours.
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The RMS Titanic was the largest passenger ship of its time. She was considered ‘unsinkable’ by her makers and the news of her first voyage, between Southampton, United Kingdom, and New York, created public expectations on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Credit: AP
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The Titanic at the Southampton docks, days before it set out on its first and last voyage. The huge ocean liner was loaded with 2,224 passengers, a group of wealthy people occupied the first-class areas built with extravagant luxury pieces and the rest traveled in the less ostentatious parts of the ship, some with dreams of finding a new life in the US.
Credit: Wikicommons
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The ship was built in two years by Harland and Wolff, a Northern Ireland company. Before leaving the shipyard, the Titanic had already become a legend. “The largest mobile object ever created,” said the press at the time about its 270-meter-long, 53-meter-high structure and a weight of almost 50,000 tons, capable of navigating at a maximum speed of 22.5 knots, some 25 miles per hour.
Credit: Robert John Welch/Harland & Wolff/Library of Congress
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The first-class area designed in unprecedented luxury was a novelty in 1912. The ship’s pools, libraries, restaurants, and opulent cabins attracted some of Europe’s wealthiest people. In the image the reading room of the ocean liner.
Credit: Corbis Images
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This colorized photograph shows the gym area in the first class of the Titanic. At the end of the 1910s, the British shipping company White Star set out to have the most powerful and extravagant ocean liners, and in April 1912, after months of publicity, rumors, news and expectations in Europe and America, the Titanic was ready.
Credit: Wikicommons
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The Titanic left Southampton, southwest of London, on April 10, 1912. It was captained by Edward Smith, an experienced White Star sailor who had previously piloted the Titanic-like ship Olympic. Before heading west to New York she stopped in Cherbourg, France and Cobh, Ireland, where the last passengers boarded.
Credit: AP
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The first four days of the voyage had passed uneventfully until, at midnight on April 14, an iceberg could not be avoided by the crew and the friction between steel and ice caused a fatal rupture of the hull. The image shows the huge ship sinking while lifeboats carry a few lucky ones.
Credit: API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
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The blow was almost imperceptible to the passengers and the emergency, in which not many passengers believed, was not declared immediately. Some of the 20 lifeboats, insufficient for everyone, left incomplete.
Credit: National Archives and Records Ad
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At 2 a.m. the last lifeboat left and more than 1,500 desperate people were still on the boat. A few minutes later the Titanic broke in half and finished sinking, leaving the passengers in freezing water that would kill them with hypothermia. In the photograph, a group of survivors when they were rescued by the Carpathia ship, the first to approach the area of the accident.
Credit: George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images
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The expression ‘women and children first’ was followed during the rescue and most of the deceased were men, including the captain and one of the ship’s designers. In this photograph of a family that made the tragic journey are 7-year-old Eva Hart (center) and her mother Ester, who survived. Her father, Benjamin (left), has passed away.
Credit: AP
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The sinking of the Titanic became a story of world interest and its remains were searched for decades at the bottom of the Atlantic. Finally in 1986, almost 80 years after the accident, unmanned submarines found the wreckage of the ship.
Credit: AP
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The incredible stories of the survivors of the collapse of a technological prodigy in frozen water made the Titanic a legend of mass culture and created one of the most watched movies in history. 107 years of technological advances have fueled the dream that one day the ship could be brought to the surface, an unprecedented undertaking that would be excessively expensive. In the photo the bow of the ship, taken by an unmanned submarine in 2004.
Credit: NOAA
2023-05-31 21:29:00
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