If you dig "aircrew stories" into:
http://www.ejectionsite.com/
You will find an impressive one done at night (take about your worst nightmare) from a A-7 in 1969.
A sudden blast of brilliant light blinded me-the seat's rocket motor had fired following a built-in sequencing delay. In an instant, I was out of the cockpit and clear of the seat, though still submersed in the cold, dark water of the Pacific.
....
I couldn't breath. The water had forced the oxygen mask down around my chin and the emergency oxygen bottle in the seat pan was useless. for the first time, panic set-in and I became totally disorientated-I couldn't tell up from down. It was as if I had been shot out of a high-powered cannon into a pool of jet-black ink