Last night, I had the privilege of hearing Ed Harrell speak to a community class at our church. Mr. Harrell is one of the 300 or so survivors of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in August 1945. He spent several days in the water, surviving shark attacks, kapok life vests that became waterlogged & simply sank, 100 degree temperatures & scorching sun, delirium (in others), and no food or water (until he found some half-rotten potatoes), before being rescued by a Consolidated PBY. Eighty-plus men were in the water in his group; after 4 days, there were 17 left when he & a buddy struck out with 5 others clinging to a makeshift raft, on which they wrung out & dried extra life vests.

I’ve said all that to get to this: In his speech, he mentioned that several of the initial survivors drank sea water—some even tried to filter out the salt by straining it through cloth (which obviously didn’t work). He indicated that drinking seawater made the men crazy—using his hands to indicate they were off their rocker—and they succumbed quickly after that.

Doug, Chris, & those many others of you with far more knowledge & experience than me: What happened? And why? What effect does seawater have on the body?

(I know not to do it, but would like to understand more.)

David