Drinking Sea Water

[PaulYukochan]

If you are stuck at sea, and have no drinking water, and are on the brink of death, will drinking sea water actually prolong you life and be of benefit

[andy hughes]

Drinking sea water is of no benefit long term because the absorption of the salt will simply increase the dehydration in the body, and death will occur that much sooner. If you think about it, in theory no-one drifting at sea should die within days because the body can survive for several weeks on water alone, but it has to be fresh water. As 'The Rhyme Of The Ancient Mariner' confirmed - "Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink ..."

[magpie]

I suppose theoretically, you could use scraps of cloth or similar to filter the seawater and thereby reduce the salt content of the water, enough to avoid total dehydration.

[TheHitMaker]

A trick used by the special services if caught in arid regions or at sea is to use your sock to filter your urine and use that to drink. Not pleasant, but will keep you alive longer than seawater.

[rekstout]

You can;t use cloth to filter seawater because it is salt in solution not suspension. There is a device called an osmotic pumop which is now supplied as a standard piece of kit on modern liferafts which will pump seawater through a membrane to remove salt. Most survivors of being cast adrift have gathered fresh water by either catching rainwater or eating raw fish/seabirds.

[FTVS]

Drink your own URINE! filtered through a DIRTY SOCK. i won't say I'd rather die but it would pretty blinkin close! i suspect only the special services are up to doing this.

[xyzzyplugh]

Actually fresh urine is supposedly sterile, so would you even need to filter it?