FORT RUCKER, Ala. (August 23, 2013) - The new captain jumped from the deck, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the couple swimming between their anchored Sportfisher and the shore. "I think he thinks you're drowning," the husband said to his wife. They were splashing each other and she had screamed, but now they were just standing on the sand bar in neck-deep water. "We're fine, what is he doing?" she asked, a little annoyed. "We're fine!" the husband yelled, waving him off, but the captain kept swimming hard. "Move!" the captain barked as he hurried past the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not 10 feet away, their 9-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, "Daddy!"

How did this captain know - from 50 feet away - what the father couldn't recognize from just 10? Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help most people expect. The captain was trained by experts to recognize drowning and had years of experience. The father, on the other hand, learned what drowning looks like by watching television. If you spend time on or near the water (hint, that's all of us) then you should make sure you and your crew know what to look for when people enter the water. Until she cried a tearful, "Daddy," the girl hadn't made a sound.

As a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn't surprised at all by this story. Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing and yelling that dramatic conditioning (read: television) prepares us to look for is rarely seen in real life.

The Instinctive Drowning Response - named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D. - is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it does not look like most people would expect. There is very little splashing, no waving and no yelling or calls for help of any kind. To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: It is the No. 2 cause of accidental death in children ages 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents). What's more, of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In some of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it was happening. Drowning does not look like drowning.

Pia, in an article in the fall 2006 issue of the Coast Guard's On Scene magazine, described the Instinctive Drowning Response like this:






However, this doesn't mean that a person who is yelling for help and thrashing isn't in real trouble. They are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the Instinctive Drowning Response, aquatic distress doesn't last long. But unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue by grabbing lifelines, throw rings, etc.


• Head low in the water, mouth at water level
• Head tilted back with mouth open
• Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
• Eyes closed
• Hair over forehead or eyes
• Not using legs, vertical
• Hyperventilating or gasping
• Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
• Trying to roll over on their back
• Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder

So if a crewmember falls overboard and everything looks OK, don't be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don't look like they're drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure is to ask them, "Are you all right?" If they can answer at all, they are probably OK. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them to safety. And parents, children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you need to get to them and find out why.

Editor's note: Mario Vittone retired from the U.S. Coast Guard after 22 years in maritime operations. He now directs the maritime division at VLinc Corporation.