Another example of a cowardly captain....

[sr5242]

http://www.cruiseshipdeaths.com/Cruise_Ship_Deaths/Jonathan_Hamilton.html

[AWorldCruise4Me]

It's amazing that the job of cruise ship captain seems to attract these cowards. Quotes pulled from your link:

 

"The first lifeboat launched had 20 people in it. Of the 20, only four were passengers, none of them women or children. The other 16 were comprised of the captain and 15 crew members. The next two lifeboats also were full of crew."

...

"Panama refused to take action against the captain and his crew."

 

Obviously from posts on this board and comments on current articles there are people that cannot handle emergencies and would push and shove in front of less abled to get on a life boat. But I would think these types of persons would self select out of making their career as a cruise ship captain.

[Toni's Mom]

When the Oceanos sank off the coast of South Africa in 1991 (fortunately, all were rescued) the captain was one of the first off - he SAID it was to "organize the rescue" and that it didn't matter when he left.

[wf083145]

It seems that using an example from 46 years ago and before the SOLAS laws existed doesn't really prove a point.

 

Having said that, however, it seems that the Costa captain has exhibited poor judgment and similar showboating before. So why is he still a captain? Forgetting about the responsibility to passangers and crew, it seems unbelievable that Costa would entrust an asset like this to this man.

 

About a year after it was launched we took a cruise on the Costa Victoria and a 2nd about 2 years later. 2 things we saw was extreme disorganization in comparison to other ships and that announcements were delivered 5 times in various languages (Italian, Spanish, German, French and English). We joked that if the ship struct an iceberg (not too likely in the Caribbean) by the time they announced an abandon ship in English we would be under water. In retrospect, not too funny.

[AWorldCruise4Me]

Toni's mom,

 

Watch this documentary on the sinking. You will be appalled!

 

There are six videos in total. The captain tried to get away with the crew on the lifeboats but the entertainment director and another lady grabbed his life vest straps and held him back. He then tried to sneak off on the life boats that they (the entertainment staff) were loading with women and children but they caught him. All the officers were gone by that time except the captain. When they started the helicopter rescue the captain jumped to the front of the line and since he knew how to use the apparatus strapped himself in and gave the signal to raise up. Off he went before the hundreds of waiting passengers and the heroic entertainment staff that was managing the rescue. An untrained passenger and the guitarist had to be taught to load the passengers into the straps and get them off the ship by a navy seal who had arrived on the helicopter. The cowardly captain who was trained could have made a big difference but did nothing but use every opportunity to escape.

[Milaandra]

The crew were the first off the Andrea Doria, too.

[AWorldCruise4Me]

It seems that using an example from 46 years ago and before the SOLAS laws existed doesn't really prove a point.

 

 

According to the article the SOLAS laws were created from this incident.

"The Yarmouth Castle disaster led to the creation of the Safety of Life at Sea law (SOLAS) in 1966. This law brought new maritime safety rules, requiring fire drills, safety inspections and structural changes to new ships, that exclude wood products from structural composition. "

 

I think the point is all the safety laws in the world don't make up for a cowardly captain who runs away and doesn't manage the evacuation.

[cdamion]

When the Oceanos sank off the coast of South Africa in 1991 (fortunately' date=' all were rescued) the captain was one of the first off - he SAID it was to "organize the rescue" and that it didn't matter when he left.[/quote']

 

He PACKED before they even indicated anything was wrong.

[onejeepster]

Thanks for the link.

 

Amazing to watch and see who the real hero's were.

 

 

 

 

what

Toni's mom,

 

Watch this documentary on the sinking. You will be appalled!

 

There are six videos in total. The captain tried to get away with the crew on the lifeboats but the entertainment director and another lady grabbed his life vest straps and held him back. He then tried to sneak off on the life boats that they (the entertainment staff) were loading with women and children but they caught him. All the officers were gone by that time except the captain. When they started the helicopter rescue the captain jumped to the front of the line and since he knew how to use the apparatus strapped himself in and gave the signal to raise up. Off he went before the hundreds of waiting passengers and the heroic entertainment staff that was managing the rescue. An untrained passenger and the guitarist had to be taught to load the passengers into the straps and get them off the ship by a navy seal who had arrived on the helicopter. The cowardly captain who was trained could have made a big difference but did nothing but use every opportunity to escape.

[ShipsAreTheBest]

The crew were the first off the Andrea Doria, too.

 

Not quite true. Not condoning what went on here, but on the Doria, while some crew cowardly left early (and don't forget, you do need some crew in the lifeboats to help the passengers), Captain Calamai of the Doria was the last one off. He had to be persuaded to leave. He remained on board hoping to save the ship.

[AWorldCruise4Me]

Not quite true. Not condoning what went on here, but on the Doria, while some crew cowardly left early (and don't forget, you do need some crew in the lifeboats to help the passengers), Captain Calamai of the Doria was the last one off. He had to be persuaded to leave. He remained on board hoping to save the ship.

 

Both of you are right. The captain stayed but the crew took off in the life boats. I was reading about it after the previous post as I hadn't heard of this before. The article in Wikipedia said:

 

"Much to the dismay of MS Stockholm mariners, the first three lifeboats from Andrea Doria to arrive contained mostly Italian Andrea Doria crew (waiters and stewards) rather than passengers.[8]"

...

"Given that the crew had already abandoned ship in the first lifeboats, panic took over, and thus began some of the injuries gained within the evacuation."

...

"Fights were reported between Swedish crew and new arrivals when the first three lifeboats contained only Andrea Doria crew who had abandoned their passengers."

...

"After all the survivors had been transplanted onto various rescue ships bound for New York, Andrea Doria's remaining crew began to disembark—forced to abandon the ship. By 9:00 AM. even Captain Calamai was in a rescue boat."

[KathyPet]

Every cruise ship has a assigned "safety Officer". No reports on where he was during all of this.