Changes

It has been noted that Meagher was an excellent swimmer as he was raised close to water. Regardless of his aquatic skills, a very ill man who recovered consciousness only when hitting cold water ̶ ̶ which would have exacerbated any cardiac event̶ ̶ ̶ he would not have been able to navigate the waters of the river. Johnny Doran, who was the pilot of the steamship that traversed the river regularly, noted that he did not jump in to help as it “‘would not only have been useless but almost certain death, as the river there was about twelve feet deep, and with a current rushing at a rate of nine miles an hour.’”<ref>Doran, quoted in Wylie, 318.</ref>It can therefore be deduced that if a healthy Doran was certain he could not survive in the river, a sick man suffering from DTs and its associated complications would certainly perish.