Costa Concordia SINKING

[Milaandra]

You are right, as a female I should be, but I am not. Others come to conclusions and we are all assuming. My apologies for doing the same AND most specifically NOT putting a smiling Icon or a Sarcastic wink st the end of my sentence(s)

 

I was being sarcastic,

 

Sorry! People can be so virulent, without the smilies it can be hard to tell!

 

She might have been sleeping with the captain, she might have been sleeping with another officer, or she might have been sleeping alone. It doesn't really matter. I just don't like when people assume that if someone is young, cute and female, they must be sleeping with someone, and that they are doing it for gain!

 

As for being on the bridge, isn't that something they do sometimes offer special guests?

[newbatgirl]

Regarding Costa muster drills, many Cruise Critic members have posted reviews on this site over the past few years, complaining that Costa did not do the drill until their second to last day or last day.

 

Reading some of these reviews, some of them from as recent as December is quite eerie. Many of the issues that arose in the evacuation are listed as complaints by CC members: safety drill timing, language issues, itinerary diversions, etc. Hindsight is 20/20 of course.

[dmwnc1959]

...but what is at issue on a cruise ship is that its positive stability is the lowest of any vessel, even lower than a RORO (roll on roll off car carrier). With that in mind, you have to accept the risk that your cruise ship when holed or being rolled by sea state has the least righting motion of any vessel and can capsize long before a smaller vessel.

 

Still, as illogical as it may be, I would much rather be on a ship the size of the Liberty of the Seas or Celebrity Eclipse than the Seabourn Pride in a storm. Can't remember the last time I read about one of the larger cruise ships capsizing in rough weather. I can remember seeing YouTube videos of the smaller cruise ships being tossed around like a toy in a bathtub.

[Uniall]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16620807

 

More testimony released where the Captain told the judge that he does not know why he did not turn his ship sooner as he was getting close to the Island. He was doing a salute to a former Captain on the Island.

 

He said he did this procedure 3-4 times in past, but, this time, he said he gave the command to turn away too late.

 

Still, he has helpers on the bridge and they could or appreciate everything about the approaching danger on the approach to the Island.

 

Anyway, the case is really over legally with this Captain. He is going to jail, as he has really nothing to rely upon as a defense.

 

You may be correct about his going to jail. Under Italian Law is he entitled to conjugal visitation 24/7 ? :rolleyes:

[Milaandra]

If they can't save the ship, they don't get paid.

 

When I was researching the "captain going down with the ship" thing, it seems that came from the rule that once a ship was completely abandoned, a salvage company had the right to recover it. As long as there was one crew member aboard, it still belonged to the owners. I thought that was interesting!

[reallyitsmema]

Still, as illogical as it may be, I would much rather be on a ship the size of the Liberty of the Seas or Celebrity Eclipse than the Seabourn Pride in a storm. Can't remember the last time I read about one of the larger cruise ships capsizing in rough weather. I can remember seeing YouTube videos of the smaller cruise ships being tossed around like a toy in a bathtub.

The thing about that cruise ship being tossed around, the ship had already been abandoned if you and I are talking about the same ship.

[Mercury]

Sorry! People can be so virulent, without the smilies it can be hard to tell!

 

She might have been sleeping with the captain, she might have been sleeping with another officer, or she might have been sleeping alone. It doesn't really matter. I just don't like when people assume that if someone is young, cute and female, they must be sleeping with someone, and that they are doing it for gain!

 

As for being on the bridge, isn't that something they do sometimes offer special guests?

 

I'm sorry, but I tend to agree with Joannie. Why would a young woman like that be a "special guest" of the captain/officers on the bridge? Or did I miss the reason for her to be a "special guest"?

 

I wonder if this is the same woman who was seen drinking/eating with the captain?

[IRL_Joanie]

I'm sorry, but I tend to agree with Joannie. Why would a young woman like that be a "special guest" of the captain/officers on the bridge? Or did I miss the reason for her to be a "special guest"?

 

I wonder if this is the same woman who was seen drinking/eating with the captain?

 

Yes, it is the same woman. That is why I made my original sarcastic remark. Also considering she was not listed (cannot rmember where I read or saw that info) as being on the ship.

 

Joanie

[frediver]

I find this EXTREMELY interesting.

Well yes & no.

That is deep water and the previous pass well avoided those rocks plainly marked on the charts. I would guess the diff. in course to be near 50-75 yds or meters. If you zoom in with google sat views you can get an idea of the bottom contours for that area, they match a graphic posted here. I would guess the underwater danger area could have been avoided by even a 10-15 meter further offshore course track.

IIRC the Le-Schole(?) has (had) about a 3-6 meter wide surface exposure and a visible underwater contour of 15-20 meters then a drop off to deep water. I just checked again using Sat. View. The contour is oblong but IMO following his intended/project course it he would only have needed to pass offshore of the rocks by 15-20 meters to be in deep water.

That is also why communication has become an issue, what is the Mainland, the island of Giglio the big rocks off shore, or the rocks the

ship actually hit? Communication would only be an issue if the bridge crew were different Nationalities and not fluent in the same language.

[dwaynesworld]

IMHO one stems from another- across history, and perhaps even in mundane dealings you will find the most egoistical, the most prone to preform reckless acts of bravado to be the most cowardly and first to flee. The acts of bravado itself usually comes from feeling they are lacking in another way. No matter what happened on Concordia, it isn't hard to see what the Captain's personality was 'lacking'.

 

well said and so true.

[nellydean]

before the crash.

 

"Schettino, in a dark uniform, was sat in front of a young woman," Angelo Fabbri told newspaper Il Secolo XIX. "She appeared young, initially we thought she could even be his daughter. A beautiful woman, 35 to 40, slim, shoulder length blonde hair, a black dress with bare arms. They were laughing, they were informal, it was very merry. "The wine?" he added. "There is no doubt they drank, at least a whole decanter, the last drops were poured into the commander's glass."

 

He is walking the plank! Pushed along by his wife!

[deckofficer]

Still, as illogical as it may be, I would much rather be on a ship the size of the Liberty of the Seas or Celebrity Eclipse than the Seabourn Pride in a storm. Can't remember the last time I read about one of the larger cruise ships capsizing in rough weather. I can remember seeing YouTube videos of the smaller cruise ships being tossed around like a toy in a bathtub.

 

I think you might have missed my point. At the US Maritime Academies stability is such an important subject that we have to take 2 semesters of stability classes. Our instructors would always use cruise ships as an example of the most tender in stability of any vessel out there. This is of course for passenger comfort. The entire topic of this thread is the danger to a cruise ship if holed by the sail-by stunts that cruise ship companies have condoned over the years. It raises interest in cruising and is a festive occasion for both the passengers and all on land as this large ship steams past at sea speed less than 500 meters off shore. Our instructors have always considered this a form of Russian Roulette, due to the fact that holing a cruise ship that already has the lowest positive stability of any vessel, will result in a capsize depending on the speed of water egress, that would out pace the ability to fully abandon the ship. I believe the outcome from this tragic event will be speed restrictions based on distance from shore and other navigational hazards. I'm sure this saddens cruise ship patrons, as it is visually exciting to be speeding past a quaint port in a large ship, but you have to consider that ship is the least stable of anything afloat.

[Charles4515]

Re-read the post. He was upset because uninformed recovery personnel placed the explosives on 'extreme structural steel', structural support steel, which may now cause the ship now to break in half because the structure of the ships hull is now weakened and compromised even greater. This could in turn cause an environmental disaster unless they are able to get all the fuel off the ship before something happens prematurely.

 

The holes are also to remove the fuel. To get the fuel out they have to make holes. They have to get the fuel out before they move the ship or cut it up in place if they can't move it.

[Milaandra]

Yes, it is the same woman. That is why I made my original sarcastic remark. Also considering she was not listed (cannot rmember where I read or saw that info) as being on the ship.

 

It's being reported now that Costa has confirmed she was a registered guest and has volunteered to provide her ticket number.

[Milaandra]

I'm sorry, but I tend to agree with Joannie. Why would a young woman like that be a "special guest" of the captain/officers on the bridge? Or did I miss the reason for her to be a "special guest"?

 

Like what? Pretty?

 

And if it had been an attractive young man who was the special guest? Would you assume the captain went both ways?

If it was an elderly woman would you assume he had a granny fetish?

[SomeBeach]

He is walking the plank! Pushed along by his wife!

 

Yesterday (I think) in a statement released to the press she was lovingly supporting him. Today he has a lot more 'splainin' to do. :rolleyes:

What a difference a day makes.

[OneOneNiner]

in my company, we would be fired for making any statements to the press, regardless how unhappy we were.

 

Yep!

 

and why on earth should a captain give emergency instructions in russian?

 

on previous occasions, in what language did he and the crew speak?

 

In emergency situations every conversation SHOULD be held in english and the captain should remind all his officers to do so when he declares the state of emergency! SHOULD...

[mktt]

It's being reported now that Costa has confirmed she was a registered guest and has volunteered to provide her ticket number.

 

Can you share a link that reports that?

 

The only link I found is this one and it says she was not staff (they show that she's listed as being a dancer on the Royal Star) and was not a passenger

 

 

http://www.ilsecoloxix.it/p/italia/2012/01/19/APjD3AiB-concordia_risolto_schettino.shtml

[dwaynesworld]

I honestly believe that if the Captain had issued the abandon ship order immediately, the situation may have gone a little (not a lot) better.

Question: could the captain start the abandon ship AND continue the turn around / beach close to shore manuever? obviously this guy is guilty of creating this tragedy but I'm just wondering if he faced an either/or: start loading the lifeboats OR beach close shore.

 

I'm no apologist for Shettino but I'm wondering if he thought beaching was better option than trying to load the boats in deeper water with the chance of sinking. thnx.

[ladymadeline]

I had the same questions, but after looking further, the information exists - just a bit more difficult to find. Here is MY interpretation of events.

 

The Concordia was travelling NNW when its Captain decided to show off and get close to Islo de Giglio for his Matre D'Hotel. This has been done before, but much further away.

 

As it passes to the East of the Port on Giglio, it hits a submerged rock on its Port (left) side. The Captian realizes the errors of his ways, and in an actual sense of rational behavior tries to save the ship and its souls on board by making a U-Turn to the Port which was inland of the rock it hit. The purpose of this maneuver was to a) turn back towards the port (population for help) and b) stay in shallow water. This maneuver caused the water in the breached hull to shift from the port side (where it was hit) to the starboard, and along with the speed and centrifugal force of the turn caused the Concordia to tip towards it's starboard side. This is why the ship is shown really close to the shore, facing in the opposite direction from which it came, and the rock that it hit along with the huge gash is sticking out of the water.

 

Had the Captain attempted to have made a U-Turn to the Starboard, or out to sea, the ship could have sunk completeley.

 

Monday Quarterbacking, I would say the safest action would have been to stabilize and initiate evacuation immediately (better life raft utilization) - in deeper water (risky). After the passengers evacuated, then an effort (if possible) could have been made to save the ship.

 

This is the best possible explanation I've read so far. Thanks for posting this.

[PRgymnast]

I don't know if any of you are familiar with the webbot project, which was originally a financial forecast program but has become a sort of predictor of major worldwide events, including predicting 9/11.

 

They publish these reports every few months and the most recent one came out on December 4, 2011. There's a paragraph there that predicts this tragedy and reveals that a mystery blond woman would somehow be involved. :eek:

 

This is the excerpt from the report and keep in mind that the decks of Concordia were named after European countries. The words in brackets are the web hits and the other words are of the creator of the program.

 

Blondes on Boats

Further support for the [underwater] supporting sets for the [financial/banking system]

include imagery at the secondary level for [leaking (ships of state)] that will [run

aground] and [destroy (under their weight)] the [international (predatory) financial

structure]. While vaguely interesting and not at all noteworthy, these supporting sets do

include that a [blonde woman (attorney?)] will be a very [visible] temporal marker in the

near term future (December?) as the [last (of the) bright (lights)] of the [old markets

paradigm]. The data shows the [well dressed blonde woman] in a [visible] incident in a

[corridor (below decks?)] in the [traverse (pathways/halls?) of power] that will come to

[symbolize (to the populace)] the [corruption zenith]. In many respects this [blonde

woman (of failed power)] is the Maire Antoinette of our times, this current [age of

revolution]. Any person foolish enough to still have [faith and trust] in any [paper debt]

document will be able to date the [shattering of faith] to the [corridor confrontation] of

[blonde ambition] and [common cents]. That the data sets are associated with [boats],

and [leaking ships], and [ships running aground] should not be [over-looked].

[Loonbeam]

Actually, on an Italian flagged and owned boat one could make a case for italian being the language in question.

 

Yep!

 

 

 

In emergency situations every conversation SHOULD be held in english and the captain should remind all his officers to do so when he declares the state of emergency! SHOULD...

[Loonbeam]

I've found the same thing, the problem is as far as I can tell the IMO regulations are not really regulations, i.e. there is no requirement to comply nor penalty for non compliance.

 

This is different from SOLAS, which is a treaty and has some legal implications but I can't find anything in the 300 pages of text requiring a passenger muster drill...

 

This is what I've read :

 

"The International Maritime Organization, which regulates ship safety across the world, sets the rules on evacuating ships and providing drills for new passengers.

 

 

Here is what they sent me:

Regulation 19: Emergency training and drills.

 

• 1 This regulation applies to all ships.
  
• 2 Familiarity with safety installations and practice musters.
  
• 2.1 Every crew member with assigned emergency duties shall be familiar with these duties before the voyage begins.
  
• 2.2 On a ship engaged on a voyage where passengers are scheduled to be on board for more than 24h, musters of the passengers shall take place within 24h after their embarkation. Passengers shall be instructed in the use of the life jackets and the action to take in an emergency.
  

Effectively, the company has 24 hours to take you through a drill once you are on board. The Costa Concordia was only a few hours into its voyage. Some people arriving back at Heathrow started flashing their drill cards around. They had been scheduled for a rehearsal on Saturday afternoon, by which time the ship was lying on its side. "

 

 

 

Rather than copy and paste a huge chunk of text, if anyone wishes to read more, here is the link

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16599236

 

HTH!

[frediver]

I dont know: the ship was going to ship for sure.

Should it sink in deep water or shallow, I would vote for shallow water.

[Mercury]

Like what? Pretty?

 

And if it had been an attractive young man who was the special guest? Would you assume the captain went both ways?

If it was an elderly woman would you assume he had a granny fetish?

 

If it had been either of these, I would've assumed that the attractive young man was his son and the elderly woman was his mother. :rolleyes:

 

Don't actually know what you are getting at. For the most part, most of us have the same assumptions about her and they have nothing to do with her speaking Russian to help the Russian passengers with their evacuation.

 

What do you think she was there for? A "special guest" passenger on a Bridge Tour?