Costa Concordia captain saved some?

[qtlikeme]

I agree with you 100%!

 

We have photo evidence that a good majority of our fellow passengers immediately joined us at the muster station (without being told anything) within 10 minutes of the Concordia hitting the rocks!! We left the theater within a minute of the blackout which happened very soon after the impact. We went straight to our cabin which was in darkness and found our life jackets and coats and that was all that we brought with us to the muster station. There were staff in the hall way who asked us what our station letter was and he said "A" and we were directed by the staff member which side of the ship that was on. We figure that we stood at the muster station with many other passengers for over an hour before we (the passengers) made the decision to board the life boats as we could see other life boats being launched! We saved ourselves and did not trust that "the situation was under control" as the overhead announcement was saying!

[Vampire Parrot]

Captainmcd said:

The only question I have is how did the ship get turned around 180 degrees from its initial heading? The AIS data seems to show a rapid turn to starboard when at a speed of around 2 knots before her final grounding.

 

Given that it was three aft compartments that flooded, the stern would be significantly deeper than the bow, drawing perhaps 10 or 12 metres The bow may have come up as the ship is as always, behaving as a lever, drawing maybe 6 metres instead of 8. The stern would then have acted as a sea anchor, so the ship's bow could have been spun around by the wind and current.

 

Purely a guess...

 

VP

[Keel Haul]

I, too have been on a number of cruises where no muster was taken at the abandon ship drill, and on freighters and even one passenger vessel I commanded we needed to account for every passenger and crew member on board. However this is not the industry standard, and perhaps it should be. In addition to itineraries that permit more than one port of embarkation, that may too be an issue. A number of posters have expressed sympathy for the Captain stating that he was in shock, but I don't think that is an acceptable excuse. During my career I have been involved with a number of incidents that could have made the six o'clock news, but did not thanks to training and drills. You should expect more from a Captain. Finally I have seen that there are some companies that shop around for a class society. Most will enforce IMO standards, but some are more compliant than others in their audits and enforcement of standards.

Capt your comments please and any one else who cares to read it.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16823955

[captainmcd]

Keel Haul, There seems to be a culture of cover-up with Italian maritime authorities. The flag states that I have sailed with are quick to investigate and report findings to IMO, good or bad. I can not understand this.

[captainmcd]

I’ve learned a lot from the inputs made by maritime professional who have made contributions to this forum. Where do we go from here? While it’s too early to make precise judgments, what lessons-learned (re-learned) might we take from this tragedy?

The obvious might not be obvious to those of us who cruise frequently or spent a military career at sea flying off ships. A well informed cruising public benefits both the industry and safety. This incident will become “old news” quickly.

· What questions should we ask,

· What demands, if any, should we make of the industry,

· Should we insist on change especially concerning ships, which embark passengers in our homeports,

· How do we move forward in a positive way, or

· Should we just consider this incident an aberration and forget about it?

 

I agree that musters must be complied with more strictly. Also that they must be conducted prior to sailing from any port where passengers are embarked. On another thread I read some suggestions, most of them not workable, but I think that passengers dependent on wheel chairs should be accommodated in cabins on the embarkation deck. The lack of communication is puzzling to me, aside from a disfunctional captain. For the past 100 years we have had standardized signals for abandon ship and lowering of lifeboats which require whistle and general alarm signals that are recognized by ALL crew members.

[Cuizer2]

Here is an article from a working cruise director on a different line ...

 

http://shiphappensonline.wordpress.com/

[sweby]

The toxicology report was negative.

 

Because they didn't do it until it was too late. However not sure even if it had been positive that this would have affected what he did that led to the accident in the first place.

[sweby]

I am not a marine engineer so I don't know if the ship would have capsized or sunk if the captain had anchored in deeper water. I am sure if he had alerted the Coast Guard (instead of lying when they contacted the ship) and sounded the call to call everyone to muster stations as soon as they knew how serious it was, more lives would have been saved. If he had anchored before the ship developed a severe list they would have been able to lower all the lifeboats.

 

We have now heard that around an hour (or a bit less) after the collision the other captain who was hitching a ride took over command. If that is so, he could be the one who needs to be thanked for bringing the ship into shallow water when they had virtually no power. They relied on their thrusters, the wind and the force of the water to take them to shore.

 

This captain who hitched a ride home (was his name Bario?), the deputy mayor, the doctor and the purser stayed on board until 5.30am organising the evacuation. They all deserve an Award.:)

 

I didn't know that another captain had taken over. What do you know about this other captain. Was Schettino (or whatever his name was) relieved of his command, and was he 'sent off' by this other captain. I am confused now.

[Milaandra]

Because they didn't do it until it was too late. However not sure even if it had been positive that this would have affected what he did that led to the accident in the first place.

 

Supposedly they did a hair test, which I had never heard of until now. I looked it up, and it's pretty interesting.