Cruise ship runs aground. Three dead.

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^Like they were with Amanda Knox

Here is a fact. That Brave Captain was off his ship in one of the first life boats to get under way.

ruveyn

Which is actually proper, contemporary maritime practice--the Master coordinates the evacuation from a safe location.

However, it now seems clear that after the Italian Coast Guard arrived, the Captain failed to obey their order to reboard the ship and coordinate rescue information. (Under Italian law the Coast Guard Commander on the scene is in command after the master of a vessel declares, "abandon ship.")

So let's condemn the captain for what he did wrong (refusing a legitimate order to return) and not for what he did right (coordinating the evacuation from a launch).

No sir! He was ordered by the Coast Guard commander to get back aboard the stricken ship and supervise the evacuation. The captain refused to do so, and now he is going to go to jail for dereliction of duty.

Here is the story from the Manchester Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ja ... ain-return

Captain Schettino will surely occupy a place in my very thin book of Italian Heroes. Not!

ruveyn

Try reading my full post, next time. Yet another example of people jumping to conclusions without taking in all of the information, first.

I hope the little girl Dyana Arlotti is still alive. Her dad took her on the cruise as a present.

It's disgusting that the captain abandoned his sinking ship, leaving all those people including children on board.

Maybe it's me, but I don't get this captain thing. It's not like he's got any kind of magical power. So what if he left? I'd leave too, wouldn't you? It's not like a Gilligan's Island boat where there is only one or two people who are staff who can supervise things. What exact power did he have that he took with him when he left that caused the horrible things that happened?

This is how it actually happened, guys.

I think that, on declaring "abandon ship", there were certain protocols which should have been followed that go way beyond the rather romantic notion that the cap'n always goes down with his ship, saluting while standing firm at the wheel, with a stiff upper lip etc.
The captain was expected to be doing his duties and coordinating an orderly evacuation etc. with the coastguard (who takes on topmost responsibility for dealing with the situation, as recently released telephone recordings show) - but it appears he did none of this.

The Captain, if he is competent, is suppose to organize the evacuation of his stricken ship and keep it from turning into a melee. By taking charge, he can direct passengers to life boats ready to go and the fact that someone is in charge can also prevent panicking.

This disgraceful man did none of the above. He betrayed his duty and his trust.

ruveyn

Our political science teacher took a shot at this today by saying that the President of Italy (yes there is one) had kind of saved Italy's sinking boat (in reference to Berlusconi and other troubles). <.<

LOL here is a parody calling him "the chicken of the sea".

http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c2#/vi ... coward.cnn

It happened almost on cue- in three months it will be the centenial of the Titanic sinking.

So if the captain had waited three months and had wrecked in deep water so the ship could sink all of the way and take more lives- it would have been the perfect centenial reenactment! So he almost nailed it!

In fact this cruise ship is actually bigger than the Titanic. Seven percent longer and about half again the tonnage. And the TItanic was Titanic.

The Costa Concordia was nowhere near an iceberg.

And it would not have been a reenactment. When the Titanic went down, Captain Smith went down with her. He didn't sneak his way on the first lifeboat. That is the main difference between English sea captains and Italian sea captains.

ruveyn

Some cook in Italy spoke to the media and told them that the captain (the chicken of the sea) ordered food as soon as he got off the life boat....what a louse!! His passangers were injured, hungry, wet, and many far away from home, and he hops on the first boat to go feed his face.

No captain Smith he is....this is in no way like the titanic.


Jojo

Nope; he seems to be more Ismay in portrayal.

By now you will have read that the crash was caused by his taking a too-close, unauthorized detour to impress everyone in a 'salute' to the island, NOT an electrical failure. Crew and video and audio show how they were saying it was a blackout, that's all, to the CG and passengers while they knew the water was coming in. So that is Worse on the captain. Meanwhile, by now 16 dead have been recovered and about as many are still missing.

I cannot get over the 1) delay of an hour 2) denial of situation to passengers 3) denial of situation to CG 4) refusal to put out mayday on top of the captain's fleeing and then refusing to go back on board when his orders and duty were in no way unclear (listened to the Italian audio many times). Jeepers, land and help were nearby! Aside from lifeboat issues, with proper notice and leadership, passengers could have paired up swimmers and nonswimmers all with their lifejackets and safely towed each other the short distance to shore in the time before the ship turned over and trapped all those poor people underwater whose bodies are still turning up in lifejackets at evacuation points!