Hello everyone, I am writing a nautical fiction novel, and in the plot, the protagonist is swept off a boat by a large wave during a severe storm and falls into the water, which is extremely rough and wavy. My question is, what kind of injuries would one sustain from being tossed about in very rough water during a severe, hurricane-strength storm? I have done some research and the best I can come up with is injury reports related to those who were struck by large waves at the beach, which is considerably different from dealing with poor conditions in the middle of a very large body of water. For reference, the wave height in my story is around 18 to 25 feet. Also, the character is wearing a life vest, if that is helpful to know.
How cold is the water? I used to watch The Deadliest Catch, and if somebody fell overboard they had like a few minutes (three maybe?) to pull them back out of the water before hypothermia set in. Very shortly after that there was no saving them, even if they got pulled out still alive. If their core temperature dropped too low they couldn't be saved. Not an injury, but good to know. Basically, make sure it happens in warm enough water so you don't have that to worry about, or no other injuries matter. But then there was also that thing in The Abyss, where if someone drowns in cold enough water they can still be resurrected some time afterwards, like the cold really slowed down their life functions or something. You'd have to look into that one, I don't know the science behind it, but Cameron was a nut about undersea diving and he knew all the science. The pink goo they filled their lungs with was real stuff they'd actually use for really deep dives. I suspect there's a narrow band of temperature where it might sustain life functions before it just freezes you to death very quickly. But this is all conjecture.
It would depend on a few things. What else is in the water? Wreckage of whatever vessel he was in? Flotsam and jetsam (stuff floating around in the water)? Anything like that could get banged against him repeatedly. And if he's bleeding it could easily draw sharks. He could inhale a lot of water. Just some general possibilities.
Water temperature is around 47 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius), which will kill quickly, and the character is in the water for an indeterminate amount of time before the badly damaged lifeboat from the ship is swept his way, which is used as a raft of sorts. The idea is that the character is barely conscious and near death when rescue comes as a result of hypothermia.
There's not much else in the water save for the lifeboat that is eventually swept towards the character, but the aforementioned waves are large and significant. There are no sharks because it is in Lake Superior. Water inhalation is definitely something to consider. I should also point out that the character suffers frostbite on the extremities.
Well... I mean... they could have aspiration pneumonia from inhaling water (but that would happen later). They might have any number of strains possibly even a fracture if the water was violent enough or even a concussion from taking an impact to the head by a piece of debris or something that came off the boat. I know the force of white water from waves breaking on land have been able to cause serious injury to a person if hit the wrong (or right) way, including paralyzing a person by injuring their spinal cord or even death.
I hope he's got a whistle!! Hypothermia can kill very fast so you may want to determine how far away/long it takes the rescue team to find him because hypothermia can kill someone in less than an hour.
20 foot swells in a lake? I hope we are talking about one of the Great Lakes or something similar. If you’re talking the average lake house and water ski lake or reservoir that is not realistic.
It is indeed, specifically Lake Superior, I thought that the Great Lakes was implied but perhaps I'll put in my post.
Aspiration pneumonia is a good one, I had actually planned for the character to fall ill not long after his rescue, this will be perfect. It's good to know that waves of that strength can cause blunt force injuries of that severity, I was unsure. I'll keep it in mind. I think I may give the character a shoulder dislocation with broken collarbones (perhaps whiplash as well?).
You can do almost anything. Water fucks shit up. You won't need much explanation or detail as to what happened or why.
It makes sense to me logically but not intuitively. I can see someone getting messed up from flotsam or the waves crashing them into something, but harder to imagine someone getting seriously hurt from nothing other than the waves crashing them into the water. I'm not saying don't do it, but what I do suggest is if this incident happens later in the book, perhaps foreshadow it a little? "You see ol' McAllister over there? Freak wage swept him off the trawler. Said 'e ne'er 'it nuttin', but when 'e pulled 'im out, he ne'er moved again." I'm being a bit silly, but I hope you see the point that if you introduce the problem earlier it may help the reader suspend disbelief when it happens to your protagonist.
I found this interesting thread: Jumping off of a cliff into water - survival tips - The Great Outdoors Stack Exchange A 20 foot swell will have an incredibly large amount of force... but not that much pressure. Enough to batter a person to unconsciousness quickly, but enough to cause trauma? I could squint and see it if the angles are right. I agree with others the situation is largely plausible and doesn't need to be over thought, I just think some foreshadowing and enough detail to believe the specific injury will go a long ways.
Regarding the "foreshadowing" thing, the story is set up in such a way that it begins with the immediate aftermath of the character's rescue, so we learn about the injuries fairly early on, in addition to being hospitalized soon after, where we get a better understanding of the extent of the injuries.
Okay, I was a coastguard officer back in the day and, based purely on my own experience, your main worries once you've gone over the side are ingesting or aspirating water and hypothermia. However, being hit by a large quantity of water while standing on a vessel is a very dangerous business, as one is fairly likely to be slammed against the structure of the vessel, equipment and fittings before going overboard. As you might imagine, being sandwiched between a hefty steel bulkhead and a lump of water that might weigh hundred of tonnes is not conducive to good health. Your character could be looking at anything from minor bruising picked up as he dinked off a railing to immediately fatal crush injuries and all points in between. We had one chap on a ship who was hit by a wave during a storm and dashed against a shipping container. He didn't go overboard, but he was killed more or less instantly.
Hi, He won't have frostbite - the water's not freezing. Chilblains maybe. Otherwise coughing and choking and maybe pneumonia as others have said and of course drowning. I wouldn't worry too much about physical trauma unless he smashed into the boat on the way over. If you're in a wave and so is a piece of debris, you both end up sort of moving together mostly so the impacts are relatively smaller than if you're in air and there's gravity and rapid contrary movement involved. Cheers, Greg.
