NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Joshua Slocum's navigational methods
From: Jared Sherman
Date: 2005 Apr 16, 20:58 -0400
From: Jared Sherman
Date: 2005 Apr 16, 20:58 -0400
A commentary on the General Slocum disaster (NYC very early 1900's) remarked that at that time, swimming was foreign to the lower/middle classes, at least in the city, with something like only 10-20% of the general population having any idea of how to swim. I've heard sources say that before that it was preferred that sailors did not know how to swim, since it meant they could not desert, and they would do everything to keep the ship afloat since they woyld drown if it went down.