Page 39 - (DK) Danger! Open with Extreme Caution!

Iceberg ahead! Shiver me timbers!
When the “unsinkable” Unless you’re in the balmy
ship Titanic hit a large iceberg on Caribbean, chances are you’ll be in
cold water. Icy seas will quickly numb
April 14, 1912, it sank in a few hours,
killing 1,523 people. Icebergs are floating the bones of even the hardiest sailor.
masses of ice, 90 percent of which is Even in water of 50ºF (10ºC), you cannot
hidden beneath the sea’s surface. So survive more than three hours without
even small icebergs are more menacing a wetsuit or by huddling up
to other crew members.
than they look—floating just above
the water’s surface, they can be
very hard to spot in fog.

Stormy times
In 1947, Norwegian
adventurer Thor Heyerdahl
set sail across the
Pacific on a balsa-wood
raft, called Kon-Tiki,
using only ocean
currents and the wind.
When a violent storm
flooded the raft, his crew
survived on rainwater and
flying fish that landed
on deck.

Into the abyss
The deeper you venture into the depths Water
of the sea, the more the pressure builds,
so submarines are built as strong as shortage
tanks so as not to be crushed. In 2005,
As any sailor worth his salt
the Russian submarine Priz was rescued after will tell you, oceans are deserts.
getting caught in fishnets 620 ft (190 m) Drinking salty seawater just makes
below the surface. With a dwindling oxygen you thirstier and sick. In 2004, a current
supply, the crew was lucky not to die swept Vietnamese fisherman Bui Duc
from carbon-dioxide poisoning, which
Phuc 62 miles (100 km) from shore.
was the fate of 900 men aboard After drifting for days, he drank his
Thetis when it sank in 1939.
own urine to stay alive. Chewing fish
eyes or drinking turtle blood are
other options. Yo, ho, ho!

THE CRUEL SEA 39
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