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The story 'deep water ' is an excerpt from 'Of men and mountains' by William O Douglas. 

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The story 'deep water ' is an excerpt from 'Of men and mountains' by William O Douglas. 

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The story tells us how the writer overcame his fear of water and learned swimming with sheer determination and will power.

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When the author was three /four years old  his father took him to a beach in California. The mighty waves knocked him down and fright engulfed him.

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A few years later, he decides to learn swimming (ten or eleven years old). He selects the YMCA pool in Yakima for this purpose.

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*The Yakima river was treacherous( mother reminding him of  people drowning there)
*The pool was safe
It was only 2 or 3 feet deep at the shallow end and 9 feet deep at the other, the drop was gradual.

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It revived unpleasant memories and stirred childish fears. But he never succumbed to them. He paddled with his water wings and tried  learning by aping the other boys.

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When he was beginning to feel at ease in the water

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When he was beginning to feel at ease in the water

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One day when William reached the pool , no one was there and so he  sat on the edge waiting for other boys to arrive.

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It had not been long since  he had been sitting by the pool when an eighteen year old big bruiser picked him up and tossed him into the nine feet deep end of the YMCA pool. He hit the water surface in a sitting position. He swallowed water and went at once to the bottom.

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While sinking down  he made a PLAN that he would make a big jump when his feet hit the bottom and then he would paddle to the edge of the pool.

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When he reached the bottom, he jumped upward with all his strength. He came up but very slowly.

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He tried to catch hold of something like a rope but grasped only at water. He tried to shout but no sound came out.

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He flailed at the surface of water. He tried to bring his legs up, but they hung as dead weights, paralysed and rigid.

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A great force was pulling him under. He screamed but only the water heard him. And he started to go down to the bottom of the pool. He lost all his breath.

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His lungs ached, head throbbed and he became dizzy. He was paralysed under water-stiff, rigid with fear. Even the screams in his throat were frozen.

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Only his heart, and the pounding in his head made him realise that he was alive.

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Then he jumped again with all his strength. But that jump made no difference. He looked for ropes, ladders, water wings but he could find nothing but water.

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Stark terror took an even deeper hold on him. He shook and trembled with fright. His arms and legs couldn't move. He tried to call for help but nothing happened.

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Then he started down a third time. He sucked for air and got water. Then all the effort ceased.

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He relaxed. His legs felt limp and and a blackness swept over his brain. It wiped out fear. He felt quiet and peaceful. He was too tired to jump and he felt that he was going to sleep.

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He crossed to oblivion and the curtain of the life fell.

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Next, when he woke up he was lying beside the pool surrounded by the boy who threw him and some others.

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Hours later, he walked home, weak and trembling. This incident had such a shocking impact that even the slightest exertion made him sick. He never went back to the pool.

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Years later, he came to know the water of Cascades and wanted to get to them, but whenever he tried wading or bathing in these rivers, the terror and fear would take possession of him.

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Years rolled by yet this handicap stayed with him, it ruined all his fishing, canoeing and boating trips.

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He tried many ways yet failed. One October, he decided to get an instructor and learn swimming. He went to a pool and practiced five days a week, an hour each day.

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The instructor had put a belt around him. The belt was attached to a rope which went through a pulley that ran on an overhead cable. Instructor held on one end of the rope.

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Slowly and steadily, the narrator started overcoming his fear, his instructor taught him to breathe underwater and finally the narrator became a swimmer.

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The narrator was not satisfied, what if there was no one with him? Thus, he went to the pool alone and tried swimming. Tiny parts of the old terror came back but his confidence drived it away. This went on till July.

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Still the narrator was not satisfied, he went to Lake Wentworth in New Hampshire, dived off a dock and swam two miles across the lake to an island. He admits that the terror did return but only once when he reached the middle of the lake.

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Yet the narrator had his own doubts, he went up the Tieton to Cornad meadows, and camped by the side of Warm Lake. Next month, he dived into the lake and swam forth and back. He shouted with joy as he overcame his fear for once and all.

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The experience was very pivotal for him. Only those who have known that terror and conquered it can understand its meaning. He had experienced the sensation of dying as well as the fear it can produce. And this made his strong will to live.

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He felt relieved to walk the trails and climb the peaks to brush aside the fear

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Adwaitha I.S
Keerthana Krishnakumar
Krishnaprabha J
Meera Raju