Prevention of childhood drowning on a Greek island in the 19th century: literal testimonies by two native writers

Abstract

Background: To present literal texts of two native writers about drowning during childhood, along witha successful simple preventive measure implemented by the community of a small Greek island.

Materials and methods: Review of the older Greek literal production as well as of the contemporary literatureon childhood drowning and related preventive measures.

Results: Alexander Papadiamandis (1851–1911) from the island of Skiathos is a writer, who described,with intellectual language, the microcosm of his place of birth, which he always remembered with nostalgia.Alexander Moraitidis (1850–1929), his cousin, also from the same island, used a different style to describelife events in the small society. Both refer to tragic intentional and unintentional drowning events in wellsand the sea, which took place in their times or before and survived as local legends in their narrations.Both describe effective initiatives undertaken by families themselves to prevent childhood drowning byhiring, during the summer months, a guardian with a specific duty to closely supervise the children andenforce guidelines for swimming in the sea. Papadiamantis goes one step further to describe the dismalconsequences when the rules were not respected.

Conclusions: The literal testimonies of two Greek islander writers present the range of childhood drowningoccurring on the island and a primitive yet effective community initiative for accident and drowningprevention pertaining to better supervision by an ad hoc employed guardian; this sets the example of thesocial responsibility ethos on the part of local communities to safeguard children from drowning that couldserve as a good practice even in modern times.