Survival tale 1 - Non-Swimming Me Survives a Dip in the Sea

It can now be told- I was a sailor who did not know how to swim!

People don’t believe me when I tell them this. How could anyone get through NDA and join the Navy without knowing how to swim. Well, here is the story, all too true.

I was never fond of swimming but as it was mandatory for passing out from the NDA, I had to learn. By the sixth term, I could throw my arms and legs around attempting to do the breaststroke for a couple of metres. When I got to that stage, the PT Instructor told me that I must learn to dive as that was part of the test. So I plucked up courage, held my breath and plunged into the pool. The moment my head touched water, my head started throbbing with the most intense pain ever. I scrambled out of the pool and hurried back to my cabin. I slept through the day and night before the pain disappeared.

The next week, I returned to the pool to continue my lessons. I dived and once again, as soon as my head touched water, the same shooting pain returned. Another restless 24 hours before the pain subsided.

Now I was really scared. Time was running out and I was afraid of entering the pool. Anyway, after a few days, I forced myself to go back to the pool. I told the PTI that I was reporting for my test. He consulted the official checksheet and told me that I had already cleared the test! I could not believe my ears and asked him to recheck and saw the sheet for myself. Providentially, it showed that I had indeed passed the test! I thanked the PTI and made a fast exit from there never to return!

Fortunately, all my ships held firm and I was never required to swim! There was one occasion though which was a close shave. As cadets on Tir, we were at anchor in the Andamans and were being given lessons on handling the Captain’s fast motorboat (FMB) by then Lt HML Saxena, commonly known as Bhaisahib on account of his younger brother, Madan, also being in the Navy.  I was the sternsheetman when Bhaisahib took the boat alongside a whaler secured to the port lower boom. This resulted in the whaler being dragged towards the ship so that when he cast off, the whaler boat rope, unseen by me, came across my body and toppled me into the sea.

My colleagues saw this and with some of them knowing I did not know how to swim, started shouting but Bhaisahib being well forward did not realize what had happened and continued to accelerate. By the time he became aware of the incident and turned back, I could not be seen.

So far as I was concerned, it all happened so fast I had no time to think! I felt my body go down and down for a while and then felt myself bobbing up. The moment my head was out of water, I saw the whaler and grabbed at the gunwale. I hoisted myself onto the boat and sat down shaking the water off my body and uniform.

Meanwhile, there was panic on the FMB as everyone thought I would drown. Only when they came very close to the whaler did they see me and let out a big roar. The FMB came alongside and my colleagues pulled me on board. They hugged me and thanked God I was safe. As the thought of drowning had never occurred to me, I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about!

I am often asked if I ever felt scared on a ship not knowing how to swim. Frankly, the thought of drowning never entered my mind as I always had faith in my ships staying afloat!