"Man Overboard"

The following is a true story about what could have happened on board a cruise ship to an unsupervised minor child. When I first saw her, the little five or six years old girl, was hanging over the ship’s railing balancing herself on her abdomen, with half her body over the sea and her legs hanging behind her over the deck. She was looking down at the sea with her two friends of about the same age; but they weren't risking their necks on the railing.  It was early evening and the sunlight was dying fast when I came up on deck and saw them and immediately appreciated the danger. So I said to the little girl in a calm but authoritative voice,“get down from there right now!” Fortunately, she obeyed my command and slipped back down to the deck. Then she and her friends ran off back inside the ship before I could say anything more. There was a deck chair pulled right up to the railing that she had stood on to boost herself onto the railing. I stood there at the same railing, freaking out a little about what just happened.  This was on deck four (4) of the ship (where the lifeboats are) which is about three stories above the sea if this were a building. Also the ship was cruising at a speed of at least 20 knots.

I did not need to imagine just how fast the ship would have left a man overboard behind. The day before this happened, I had been speculating about this very thing!   I even ran an experiment by looking down at a certain area of the sea, and kept my eyes on the spot while counting off the seconds it would take for that spot to drop out of sight behind the ship. I came up with about sixteen seconds at the rate of travel our ship was cruising. So back to what could have happened to the little girl; here is the ultimate question. What would I have done had she fallen overboard? I could think of several things latter that I could have done but while it was happening, there was no time to think and no way to raise the alarm“man overboard!”

There were no life rafts in the area, no phones, no alarm bells and no other adults, there was just me. Looking out at the big sea and the darkness I knew that probably we both would have drowned had I jumped in. My good sense told me that there was no sense in both of us dying was there? But my heart wouldn't let it go at that; I had to think about,“what if she were my own child, would I still hesitate to jump -would I be afraid to?”  Of course I would be afraid, but yet I know what I would have done although it pains me to say it. I would have screamed at the other children to tell somebody what happened then, I would have gone over the side after her. I would then be in the water holding that child and together, we would watch the big ship rapidly pulling away from us. Before long, we would see the big ship’s lights dwindling into the night and we'd be left totally on our own to die in the vast dark sea. By then, I would say to my wife that I left behind on the ship, although she couldn't hear me,“Goodbye my dear wife; but this little child in the water with me needs me more right now." Also, "I love you; please tell our children I was thinking of them when I jumped in to try and save this child."

Of course, I would also be praying hard for God to have mercy on our souls and to please turn that big ship around. By the way, the little girl is white while I am black, but that was never any consideration. She was one of the little ones that Jesus would save too and that's all that matters to me. But there might still have been another ending to the story; had we both gone into the water. A happy ending in which the other children somehow raised the alarm in time. Then after being rescued, I could give the little girl back to her parents safe and alive. Then I would fall exhausted into my own dear wife's loving arms but safe, happy and rejoicing.