“Poor Fuddy - the only one that managed to drown.”
Of all the people aboard the aircraft, Fuddy’s physical condition was probably the worst risk for surviving conditions of hypothermia and exhaustion in those rough seas. The water temperature was something like 77-78.1F. If Fuddy’s core body temperature was reduced to 90F, which is mild hypothermia to 86F or less, which is severe hypothermia, then the trauma of the crash combined with the hypothermia could have caused her respiratory rate, heart rate, hypoglycemia to crash and result in unconciousness and/or some form of fatal cardiac or renal failure.
It was about a half-hour before rescue crews got there, and by that time Fuddy had drifted 200 yards from the others, according to one report, so she had let go of Yamamoto’s hand and become unresponsive quite some time before the 30 minute wait for help was done. Yamamoto was holding her hand trying to calm her down immediately, which suggests that she was having some kind of trouble that he alone knew about, among all those aboard, by the time she hit the water. She wouldn’t have had time for hypothermia to make any difference before she exhibited symptoms.
Was Fuddy hypoglycemic? Has that been reported somewhere, or is this an example of the kind of body functions you say could be affected by 77-78-degree water?