Blood gushing from a pig's artery is so rich and red, it looks almost purple. That's just what the surgeons slicing into it wanted to see: a bubbling, hemorrhaging flow that, if left unchecked, would kill the patient quickly.

That's how 90 percent of injured soldiers who don't make it to the hospital die, and that's what kills as many as 50 percent of civilians who suffer a deep cut but do not reach medical assistance in time. People can quickly, and quite simply, lose too much blood to survive. The surgeons needed to recreate a bad knife wound – say, the type that might occur in a galley during a nasty squall – so that they could figure out a way to stop the bleeding in this one pig and, perhaps, save thousands of boaters' lives.

The scene played out on a video shown at the Medicine for Mariners and Safety at Sea Conference held at The Bitter End Yacht Club in January, where doctors gathered for a week of intensive lectures on how to treat a variety of boat-related wounds and ailments. Mad Mariner attended the conference and the result is Marine Medicine, a 12-part weekly series on how to address some of the most common – and life threatening – problems that can occur at sea – like how to stop a wound that is bleeding badly.

And so all eyes in the room were bolted to the screen when, with light blue surgical gloves firmly snapped around their wrists, the doctors pressed the pig's wound open with their fingers and waited as the blood gurgled and pooled from the open artery.

A VISCERAL LESSON

They applied no pressure, which is the first line of defense for any bad bleed. Nor did they elevate the injured limb or attempt a tourniquet, both of which can make sense in such situations. The reason they let the bleed worsen is that they assumed, for the sake of the experiment, that there would be time for only one potentially lifesaving action – one that a boater with no training might be able to replicate in the panicked moments after human blood spills onto a teak deck.

About 45 seconds into the experiment, one doctor tore open a packet of QuickClot powder and dumped it into the wound, much as you might dump a packet of Crystal Light into a pitcher of water to make lemonade. His fingers packed the powder deep into the bleeding cavity, a skill easily mastered by any 3-year-old who has smushed a handful of beach sand into a plastic bucket.

Within seconds, the hemorrhage stopped. The ugly wound remained, and in a human would require immediate transportation to an emergency room, but the chance of a "bleed out" en route was eliminated.

"The military was using this extensively for things like injuries by improvised explosive devices," said Dr. Eric Johnson, director of emergency services for Teton Valley Hospital in Idaho, past president of the Wilderness Medical Society, NAUI diving instructor, and former Mount Everest base camp physician.

This is not a tool for basic scrapes and cuts, but instead for deep puncture wounds where QuickClot will make contact with an artery or vein. "The problem with this QuickClot powder is that they found it has an exothermic reaction to 140 degrees Fahrenheit," Johnson said. "It actually causes burns. The heat effects are amazing. But sometimes, you say to hell with the burns and save the life."

MEDICATED GAUZE

Luckily, if you're a boater, you don't have to make that decision, Johnson added quickly. QuickClot has since come out with a gauze version of the powder that eliminates the burning side effect. It's called QuickClot Combat Gauze, and it's the number-one choice of the U.S. military to stop bleeding that cannot be controlled by applying pressure, elevation or a tourniquet.

The gauze works the same way as the powder in the video: You simply pack it into a deep puncture wound and let it do its job until you can get to an emergency room. Side effects are possible and studies are still being done to determine long-term safety. Other products are also continuing to be tested, including gauze and granular material made under the brand name Celox.

"Celox is easy to get, but I find that the most data right now from in-the-field testing is for the QuickClot gauze," Johnson said. "I'd feel okay carrying both if I was going on a long sail, but we have the most data about the QuickClot gauze. It's easy to put into a medical kit, it doesn't take up a lot of room, and it's not expensive. Neither is Celox, actually."

BROKEN BONES

What if the problem is a broken bone instead of a deep gouge? Again, Johnson recommends a low-cost, highly effective device that takes up little space in an onboard medical kit, adds minimal weight to the boat, and can be used by amateurs. It's called the Sam Splint.

The Sam Splint was developed by orthopedic surgeon Sam Scheinberg, who learned as a trauma surgeon during the Vietnam War that bulky splints made of wire, cardboard, and easy-to-pop air chambers can do more harm than good. One day, while chewing a piece of gum, he mindlessly began twisting its metal foil wrapper around his finger. That was his "aha!" moment.

The result is the Sam Splint, a flexible aluminum alloy sheet 3 feet long by 4.5 inches wide that is sandwiched between two layers of closed-cell foam for comfort. In a matter of seconds, it can be bent or twisted into a neck brace, a wrist brace, an ankle brace or any other kind of splint you need. It weighs about as much as a bag of potato chips and stows rolled into a ball about the size of a grapefruit.

"This is what I carry with me wherever I go," Johnson says. "I take it in my sea kayak. It can get wet, and it can be reused. It also can go through metal detectors at the airport, and it doesn't need to be removed in order to get an X-ray once you get to hospital."

Each Sam Splint comes with a detailed user's guide for splinting everything from fingers to knees, as well as a "quick guide" that offers step-by-step visual instructions for bending the splint into the most frequently required shapes for common injuries. Every shape is based on three basic "curves" of the splint, each of which takes no longer to learn than tying a clove hitch to secure a fender.

"The QuickClot Combat Gauze, the Sam Splint – these are low-cost, easy-to-use options that can make a great deal of sense for boaters," Johnson said. "It's easy when we're cool, calm, and comfortable to do simple things like put pressure on a wound. But when the you-know-what hits the fan, devices like these take care of the immediate problem and give you time to breathe and think."