Content

• Steps
• Advice
• Warning

While most people have never been shipwrecked, those traveling by sea are still likely to experience this. Aside from the fatal danger of shipwrecks, there are still plenty of dangers after you luckily survived the shipwreck. Those potential dangers include staying in water for a long time, encountering sharks and many other mishaps. However, by manipulating properly, cooperating with others, and taking some steps to seek help, your chances of surviving a shipwreck will greatly increase. With effort and luck, you will survive this stressful ordeal.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: Reasonable maneuvers

1. 

   Keep calm. Perhaps the most important thing to survive in a shipwreck is to stay calm. This was even more important in the first panic moments of an accident at sea. If you don't stay calm, you will put yourself in more dangerous situations.
   • If you feel scared, remind yourself to relax and take a deep breath.
   • Think carefully before you act. Don't just rush to the lifeboat, or jump into the water as soon as danger happens. Consider all the options.

2. 

   
   
   Find a floating tool. Since your ship is sinking, the primary goal ahead is to find floating equipment. Without the floating device, you probably won't be able to survive in the water for too long. The tools include:
   • Life vest
   • Sturdy life jackets
   • Life raft.

3. 

   
   
   Jump off the train if you are in danger. If you have to jump off the train, be sure to wear shoes. Look below before jumping to make sure you don't fall on other people or objects. Place one arm on the abdomen. Then, grip the other elbow tightly. Use your other hand to squeeze your nose. In the end, try to jump as far as possible. When falling, cross your legs and try to get your feet into the water first.

4. 

   
   
   Stay away from the train, if it's a big train. Large ships often create strong swirling forces and suck things down when they sink. Therefore, the bigger the ship, the further away you will have to travel as it sinks. This is important because large boats can pull you into the water even with life jackets.
   • Use frog swimming style to swim away from the ship.
   • Step hard.
   • If you are not good at swimming, just stay calm, stay in the water, and slowly turn the water to move away from the sinking ship.

5. 

   Find something that will help you float in the water. If you don't have a lifeboat, a lifeboat, or something to help you float, take a look around the sunken ship for any debris you can cling to. You can use some of the following objects:
   • Door.
   • Fragments of the ship are still floating.
   • Unused lifeboat or lifeboat.

6. 

   Check to see if you are injured. Once you are at a safe distance from the train, you should quickly re-examine your body for damage. This is important because you may need first aid. Notice the following:
   • You are bleeding. If there is bleeding and the wound is serious, you will need a device to stop the bleeding. This is important because the loss of blood causes a rapid pulse of blood, leading to a loss of body temperature.
   • Broken arm or leg. A broken arm or leg can severely impair swimming ability. If you break an arm or leg, you need to seek immediate assistance from someone around you.
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Part 2 of 3: Collaborate with others

1. 

   Help others. After having examined your body and found a way to keep yourself afloat, see if you can help other survivors. Other survivors could be in serious danger and need help right away.
   • Support those who are in shock. Talk to them, let them know everything is going to be all right, and have friends by your side helping them.
   • Caring for people with brain concussion.

2. 

   Divide the work for each person in the group. Once settled, you need to talk to everyone on the team and divide the work. Survivors on your team may have the knowledge, expertise, or plan to increase their chances of surviving and being saved.
   • Live together. Your chances of surviving and being rescued will increase if your team is well organized and always together.

3. 

   Find necessities. After you and the other survivors have found a way to float on the water, you will next divide your work and look for necessities. In the end, the more essentials you find and make the best use of their functions, the longer you can survive until you are rescued. Let's focus on finding:
   • Clean water. Preserve and divide as much as possible.
   • Food
   • Light-emitting equipment or other objects can signal for help.
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Part 3 of 3: Surviving in water

1. 

   Avoid losing body temperature. Besides drowning, hypothermia is the biggest threat to your life after a shipwreck. Because exposure to cold water will decrease body temperature. If your body temperature drops too low, your body loses its functions and you die.
   • If you are in the water with a floating device but not a lifeboat, you need to hold your knees close to your chest. This will help keep your body warm.
   • If you're with other people in the country or on a lifeboat, approach them and give them a hug.
   • Still wearing clothes. Even when wet, clothes will help maintain your body temperature.

2. 

   Watch out for sharks. Besides hypothermia and drowning, one of the greatest dangers at sea is the shark. Sharks are extremely dangerous near shipwrecks because they are attracted to the blood of wounded people and by fish school around floating objects.
   • Avoid splashing water. This will reduce the attention given to yourself and your team.
   • If someone has an open wound, do your best to stop the bleeding. Blood will lure fish and sharks even from a long distance.

3. 

   Find land. Once you are quite safe and stable in the water, you will move on to finding land. If you don't look for land, your chances of survival will decrease each day as the necessities are slowly dwindling. There are many ways to help you find land:
   • Estimates your position based on a previously known position. You can do this using charts, maps or stars.
   • Look for signs of land in the presence of birds, driftwood, or trash. If you see birds, check the direction in which they are coming and going.
   • Try to visualize a land position along the horizon. Depending on your distance, this might be difficult but it's still worth trying.

4. 

   Make drinking water. If you feel thirsty and have a few essentials, you can make drinking water. Take a piece of tarpaulin and spread it on a raft or float. Use it to collect rainwater. Besides, if there is no rain, you can catch the condensed rainwater in the morning.
   • Do not drink seawater. Seawater will dehydrate you. Instead, turn seawater into drinking water.

5. 

   Broadcast signal for help. Whether you're on a train, floating on water, or on land, try to signal for help as often as possible. Without signal, the rescuers will not know your location and the other survivors of the shipwreck. Some ways to transmit signals are as follows:
   • Shoot the glowing gun. Depending on how many light ammo you have, you will need to save to use it when you see a ship or plane in close proximity.
   • Mirror. Use mirrors to reflect light on the lifeboat.
   • Fire. If on land, make a fire to attract the attention of the rescue team.
   • Making signs or some other pattern on the beach. For example, put the word "SOS" with coconut or driftwood.
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Advice

• If you haven't learned to swim before taking the train, it's better to start.
• Vessels as large as cruise ships may sink in hours or days; for a quick rescue, it is best to stay on board unless instructed to do the opposite by the crew.
• Always wear life jackets at the moment of shipwreck and wear long sleeves and pants to help keep you warm.

Warning

• If water gets into the boat quickly, do not inflate the life jacket until you get out. If not, you will float to the water and get stuck.