Mario Vittone

Mario Vittone is a retired U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer, maritime safety expert, and investigative journalist with 22 years of combined service in the Navy and Coast Guard. He graduated from Helicopter Rescue Swimmer School in 1994 and flew two tours at Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and one tour at Air Station New Orleans, qualifying on both the HH-60 Jayhawk and HH-65 Dolphin. In November 1994, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross for rescuing a family of four — including a four-month-old infant — from the sailing vessel Marine Flower II during Hurricane Gordon, 400 miles off the coast of North Carolina. He was named Coast Guard Enlisted Person of the Year for 2006. Vittone spent his final four years (2009-2013) as a vessel inspector and maritime accident investigator in Norfolk, Virginia, drawing on that experience for his eight-part investigative series on the sinking of the tall ship Bounty during Hurricane Sandy. He received the Alex Haley Award for Journalism in 2009. His 2010 article "Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning," explaining how the instinctive drowning response makes real drowning nearly invisible to bystanders, has reached more than 40 million readers, been translated into 14 languages, and republished in over 250 newspapers and magazines including Slate. Vittone's maritime safety writing has appeared in Yachting, Soundings Online, SaltWater Sportsman, PassageMaker, Reader's Digest, and The Washington Post. He wrote 42 Lifelines safety columns for Soundings Online. He serves on the board of the National Drowning Prevention Alliance and the Joshua Collingsworth Memorial Foundation.


Sunday, March 3, 2013
Images from Bounty
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Images from Bounty

In July of 2008, a photographer named Robert Demar took a two-day trip aboard Bounty from Port Angeles, WA to Port Albernie, B.C.; taking over 2,000

March 3, 2013
Total Views: 152

Friday, March 1, 2013
HMS Bounty Sinking USCG Photo
Incidents

Bounty Hearing Day 1: Chief Mate Testifies

Editor’s Note: This is part 1 of Mario Vittone’s 8-part series from the U.S. Coast Guard’s formal hearing into the October 29, 2012

March 1, 2013
Total Views: 846

Monday, February 25, 2013
Bounty Hearings
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The Whole Truth – Bounty Hearings – Day 8

What happened to Bounty on the morning of October 29th, 2012? Finding out what went wrong and why, when things happened or didn’t, and who said what to

February 25, 2013
Total Views: 520

Friday, February 22, 2013
The 17th Passenger – Bounty Hearings – Day 7
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The 17th Passenger – Bounty Hearings – Day 7

At the start of each day of the hearings, Commander Kevin Carroll does the same thing: he reads a statement.  He tells all in attendance, “The purpose

February 22, 2013
Total Views: 515

Wednesday, February 20, 2013
The Cost of Waiting – Bounty Hearings – Day 6
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The Cost of Waiting – Bounty Hearings – Day 6

Tangled in rigging, he was dragged under the water again.  This time he wasn’t coming up. With no chance to get a breath and struggling to free himself,

February 20, 2013
Total Views: 501

Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Sins of Omission – Bounty Hearings – Day 5
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Sins of Omission – Bounty Hearings – Day 5

Sometimes bad things happen. We do something that we shouldn’t and that leads to tragedy. Do the right thing at the wrong time or the wrong thing anytime

February 19, 2013
Total Views: 347

Saturday, February 16, 2013
Daniel Cleveland
Blog

The Illusion of Experience – Bounty Hearings – Day 4

Tall ship sailors are so easy to like. When you meet them, within minutes, you know you are meeting someone who is doing exactly what they love. They are

February 16, 2013
Total Views: 543

Friday, February 15, 2013
Testimony Highlights Complexity in Case – Bounty Hearings – Day 3
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Testimony Highlights Complexity in Case – Bounty Hearings – Day 3

When solving a mystery, an investigator looks for evidence. On the third day of testimony at the joint Coast Guard/NTSB hearings in Portsmouth, Virginia, I was

February 15, 2013
Total Views: 381

Thursday, February 14, 2013
Rotted Frames on Bounty – Bounty Hearings – Day 2
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Rotted Frames on Bounty – Bounty Hearings – Day 2

The witness, Todd Kosakowski, looked at Coast Guard’s evidence # CG-41:  a series of 29 photographs he had taken of Bounty during its most recent yard

February 14, 2013
Total Views: 490

Monday, October 29, 2012
Hurricane Survival – No Place for Absolutes
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Hurricane Survival – No Place for Absolutes

By Mario Vittone As I write this, the Coast Guard is still searching for two sailors missing from the the tall ship Bounty; the ship itself lies on the

October 29, 2012
Total Views: 154

Wednesday, February 8, 2012
406 EPIRBS are Digital, Right?
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406 EPIRBS are Digital, Right?

A little, Sort Of. Back on February 1st 2009, though boat owners and ship riders didn’t hear it, there were celebrations all over the rescue world as the

February 8, 2012
Total Views: 173

Sunday, December 11, 2011
Life Ring
Uncategorized

Emergencies at Sea – Practicing What Can’t be Practiced

Standing on the bridge wing of a container ship years ago, a captain was telling me all about the Williamson Turn and how effective it was at putting his

December 11, 2011
Total Views: 131

Thursday, November 10, 2011
The Truth About Cold Water Recovery
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The Truth About Cold Water Recovery

Sitting in the chief’s office of Coast Guard Station Fairport Harbor in Mentor, Ohio, I’m reading the legal release that I have to sign if I want

November 10, 2011
Total Views: 1424

Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Marine Flares – More Than Meets the Eye
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Marine Flares – More Than Meets the Eye

Imagine, if you can, the confluence of events that would have to take place to leave you with marine flares being your primary method of signaling distress.

August 10, 2010
Total Views: 1068

Friday, July 9, 2010
Uncategorized

Speaking of Drowning

The reaction to an article posted here on gCaptain and again here on my site has been just this side of overwhelming.  I’d like to thank everyone who

July 9, 2010
Total Views: 66