Combating Seasickness

Do ship captains get seasick? I get that question all of the time. Yes, it can and does happen to some ship captains, but it affects passengers mostly. Most passengers respond by taking medicine. Medications and herbs can be purchased over the counter or prescribed by a doctor for sea sickness. I've often seen these medications used with mixed results at best. I personally have successfully managed to avoid ever getting seasick again. I just no longer go to sea! All joking aside, I was quite immune to it toward the end of my career as a professional mariner. So, if you want to build up a resistance to it, there is hope for you. I found that physical adjustments work best of all. They work better, because they help eliminate the causes of motion sickness rather than just treating the symptoms. Having said that, let's examine what sea sickness is and some of the ways to combat it so that you can go to sea in comfort as well. What exactly is sea sickness or motion sickness? Your inner ear, which happens to be located deep inside your head, is the main motion sensor for your body. There are three semicircular canals there that have fluid (endolymph)1 in them. That fluid seeks it's own level just like water does. There are small hair cell sensors inside those inner ear canals that tell your brain where the fluid level is. Your eyes and other senses also contribute to help maintain your equilibrium. Your eyes can certainly convince your brain that you are level, because the structure of the ship may be their only reference. Unfortunately, the structure of the ship may not be really acting in a very level way at the time. This can be in direct conflict with what the fluid in your inner ear is telling your brain. That conflict of sensory inputs is what causes dizziness and nausea which is sea sickness. What do most people do when they're sick? They take medicine, of course!

The most popular way for people to avoid sea sickness is to take medications and/or herbal remedies. They come in pills, patches, and even nose sprays2. They might work as a long term fix for you, but they were only temporary remedies for me. They were only effective for me up and to the point where my body had built up a resistance to them. Some I couldn't take at all, because they would inhibit my ability to function properly. In my opinion, it's better to be seasick and alert than it is to operate a vessel in an impaired manner. This may not be so much of an issue for passengers, but anyone can get hurt or killed at sea if they're too heavily drugged. In the olden days the sailing master might prescribe castor oil3 for his passengers. Modern day sea sickness medications mostly consist of antihistamines, but new drugs are constantly being developed. The herb ginger has also been found to be helpful. It helps relax the stomach, intestinal tract, and the central nervous system4. It is important to note that these remedies must be taken ahead of time. If you're already seasick, it's probably too late to medicate. It might even make matters worse. Always follow the directions that come with the meds.

I found a way to eventually become immune to sea sickness without taking any medications. The secret to this success depends on the conditioning of the crew member or passenger involved. It needs to take the form of a gradual long term exposure to vessel motions. This may not be the most practical method for the occasional passenger, but there is a lesson to be learned in it. If it takes years for a professional mariner to build up a resistance to sea sickness, then why on earth would someone that has never been on the water book a long sea voyage? Instead of going on an all-day fishing excursion on a tiny sport fishing boat on the ocean, you might want to try a half-day fishing trip on a calm bay first. Once you get used to that, then you can try a half-day one on the ocean and so forth. If you've never been on cruise liner, try a cruise with a shorter itinerary first. Then try a longer one with multiple layovers at various ports. Once you get your “sea legs”, then you can try to cross the ocean. I said that this method worked for me, but I did not necessarily mean that it's going to work for all people.

Obviously, different people are going to have different resistance levels to motion sickness. Some people will never overcome their intolerance of sea sickness like the young marine biologist I once had on board. I was captaining an 85 foot research vessel, and we set out for the ocean with a new complement of scientists on board. There was one very excited marine biologist on board that had just graduated. She had an extreme intolerance of motion sickness, but she had falsified her health forms to hide this rather pertinent fact. She was attempting a three day ocean research voyage with us as we left the dock.

We didn't even make it out of the calm waters of the bay before she started to get violently ill. Then her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed in a heap on the deck. At this point I turned the ship around and started heading back to our dock at flank speed. I made all of the necessary urgent (pan) radio calls and cell phone calls. After this was done, a report from a crew member stated that she had started to go into convulsions. Since she had collapsed on the ichthyology deck just aft of the pilot house, the crew brought her in with me. They placed her down on the padded bench seat in the pilot house as I swung the now planing research vessel into the main channel leading back to our dock. Just after that a scientist yelled that she had stopped breathing. I ordered a crew member to take the wheel and told him to just keep the ship between the two river banks. I ran over to her and examined her breathing rate. She indeed had stopped breathing, so I immediately started rescue breathing on her. I then carefully checked for a pulse. There was a shallow heartbeat, but it was definitely there. As the rescue breathing continued, I periodically checked for a pulse. After about two minutes her heart stopped beating.

My adrenaline immediately kicked in. I don't remember just exactly how I did it, but I somehow grabbed her entire body with just one hand while cradling her head and neck with the other. I picked her up from the padded seat and threw her body down on the hard steel deck. I then began Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) on her limp and silent body. Just before we got the the dock, another CPR certified crew member took over so that I could dock the ship. I swung the ship around hard and fast toward the dock. It was a hot landing that enabled the deck crew to get a bow line over ASAP. With only a single bow line attached, the rudder hard over, and the engines ahead, the ship was pressed into the side of the pier. Just as I had done that, I noticed several crew members and scientists carrying her limp body out of the pilot house. They lifted her up over their heads in order to weave her through all of the specialized deck equipment. It looked like some sort of macabre conga line. As soon as they got her next to the pier, two big burly firemen reached down. Each one grabbed an armpit, and up she went along the face of that pier like a rag doll on bungee cords- swoosh! The professional first responders had her now, and they wasted no time working on her right on that pier. They saved her life that day, but I later learned that she quit her career as a marine biologist. I was sorry to hear that. I felt that there were many other aspects of that job that she could have pursued beside going to sea, but that was her choice. Sometimes we don't have a choice how our bodies are going to react to sea sickness. The human body can be a complicated thing, but there are some ways to take better control of it.

There are also some physical things that you can do do avoid motion sickness or reduce it considerably. Some people wear beaded elastic wrist bands. The Neiguan or Pericardium-6 inner arm locations have been proven to reduce motion sickness by either applying acupressure, acupuncture, or mild electric shock4 to them. There are even ways to position yourself on board a vessel that might improve your situation. Some of those have definitely worked for me in the past. Moving yourself to a spot on the vessel with the least movement helps a great deal. That spot is usually located between two-thirds and three-quarters of the way aft or back from the stem or very front of the vessel. The center-line or amidships is where you want to be as well. Then you want to be outside if it's safe. This is where you can try to keep your head level and focus your eyes on a land mass or the horizon. This will help eliminate the basic causes of motion sickness. You can even get some fresh air there and try to clear your mind. These last two pointers are highly underrated, because sea sickness happens to be highly contagious!

Are you trying to tell me that sea sickness is some sort of microbe that I can catch? No, that's not what I meant. It's affect on a human being's senses and psyche can be just as contagious in every sense of the word. Just like yawning has been scientifically proven to be contagious, smelling vomit and seeing others sick is even more so. I've experienced that contagion first hand.

I was captaining a 90 foot training vessel when we hit a nasty storm about 200 nautical miles off shore. The ocean swells were topping well over 25 feet with high winds adding a lot of spray to the situation. Our vessel was rolling, heaving, and pitching despite my best attempts at adjusting our heading and speed. One crew member at the chart table swiveled around on his stool, stood up, and threw up in the middle of the pilot house. His vomit had the most nauseating odor which soon overcame our helmsman. With one hand on the ship's wheel he stooped over and grabbed a waste can. He then vomited half in the can and half on his arm and hand. I called for a five gallon bucket and a crew member with a swab (that's a mop). By the time the bucket and swab arrived, everyone was sliding back and forth on a layer of vomit which reeked more and more with each rolling slosh. Everyone on watch in the pilot house soon became seasick too- except for me. After 33 years on the ocean I had gotten pretty used to seeing people losing their lunch while riding out some pretty nasty storms. That's a good testament to the gradual resistance theory, but I was more concerned with a report about others being sick and leaning over the deck rail.

That can be a very dangerous situation for my crew. I immediately made a shipboard announcement that all crew members on deck must wear a work life-vest and go to the rails in pairs. One person could lend a hand holding on to the other sick one. I still wanted to see for myself how that was going, so I had another officer take over the conn. As I opened the pilot house hatch to leave, another crew member was coming in to start his watch. I startled him. He stopped, looked up at me with a quizzical look on his face, and then opened his mouth. A stream of vomit poured out of his mouth right onto the center of my chest.

It was a solid full stream of vomit like something a garden hose would put out. I remember that it was quite warm as it hit my chest and splattered on my face, up my nose, and in my mouth. He then look up at me and said, “Sorry Captain Marc”. I looked at him and said that I understood. I then unceremoniously left the pilot house, grabbed the rail, and threw up as hard as as much as I could. I kept throwing up until I started the dry-heaves. I then unclipped my name tag with trembling hands and ripped my khaki uniform shirt right off myself. The buttons popped here and there as I threw the shirt overboard. I then did the same thing with my undershirt. I then walked dejectedly back to my cabin freezing cold, soaked with saltwater spray, and with the unpleasant knowledge that in no uncertain terms my sea sickness resistance streak had been utterly and completely broken. It clearly showed that being in an environment with other seasick people can and will eventually produce even more victims.

Sea sickness can affect anyone. Under the right conditions, even ship captains can get sea sick with sensory input conflicts. Medications, herbs, and pressure points can be used to treat the symptoms. For avid boaters a gradual resistance to motion sickness can be built up over time. I never saw my sea sickness relapse as a direct refute to my gradual resistance theory. I liken it to a royal straight flush beating out a full house in poker. Normally a full house is a pretty good hand to have. It's just that getting sprayed in the chest and face with noxious vomit in rough seas trumped my resistance. It was the royal straight flush of sea sickness. Remember, it's best to counteract the causes of motion sickness by repositioning your body, head, and eyes. Moving away from other victims, quickly cleaning up vomit, and getting fresh air to breathe will all help balance out your senses. Nothing will work for hyper-sensitives like that hapless marine biologist that wanted to go to sea. People like that should stay away from all types of vessels including the Jungle Adventure boat ride at Disneyland.

by Captain Marc Deglinnocenti

OldArmada@Gmail.com

On a More Personal Note:

I used to be bored in my CPR re-certification classes. I would go through the motions just to get my new CPR card. After that research voyage, I took my CPR classes much more seriously.
The crew member that threw up on me apologized several times. No one wants to get sick and vomit on other people, especially on their captains. Instead of screaming at him and belittling him in front of his peers like I've seen a few other instructors do, I was calm and understanding. He never quit his training program. He was one of the few that went on to have his own maritime career. He is now a captain for a large tug boat company.