Costa Concordia

Here's one for the "horizontal hotel" crowd.

The Costa Concordia ran aground in Italy and capsized (fortunately in shallow water). Latest reports indicate 6 dead, many missing.

*

Now that gives running aground a whole new meaning.* I usually just back up and continue on my merry way.

Have you noticed the boulders stuck in the hull?

There was no "abandon" ship drill.* Everytime I've cruised (maybe 20 times), there was a drill before the ship left the dock at the start of the cruise.

The Costa Concordia is/was the cruise line's flagship so probably had a very senior captain.





-- Edited by markpierce on Saturday 14th of January 2012 10:26:54 AM

Also your picture is of the port side of the boat and the starboard side is less than 200 yards from the shore line.* Makes you wonder what chart they were looking at and why would they be so close to shore?

"The cruise liner's captain, Paolillo said, then tried to steer his ship toward shallow waters, near Giglio's small port, to make evacuation by lifeboat easier. But after the ship started listing badly, lifeboat evacuation was no longer feasible, Paolillo said."

markpierce wrote:
"The cruise liner's captain, Paolillo said, then tried to steer his ship toward shallow waters, near Giglio's small port, to make evacuation by lifeboat easier. But after the ship started listing badly, lifeboat evacuation was no longer feasible, Paolillo said."

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*There was no steering to be done.* By the looks of the picture that boat didn't go 20 yards before coming to a dead halt.* She was in shallow water it seems.* That's what they call it when the bottom hits your boat.* When that boat was up right that rock was ten to fifteen*feet higher than the bottom of the keel if not more.* Someone on that bridge*screwed up big time.

CNN reports Captain has been arrested

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/14/world/europe/italy-cruise-deaths/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

One should read the accounts.* The ship hit an underwater pillar that was 100 yards further offshore than shown in the chart.* (Allegedly)

Seems this ship runs the same cruise every week, to/from same ports, islands, etc... all of a sudden there is a massive rock outcropping that wasn't there before...? Seems like someone tried taking a shortcut...
Very sad that people lost their lives, in what should of been a survivable allision.

For whatever reason, the ship was 2.5 miles from its normal track.

The term "captain" is not always synonymous with "knows what he's doing." In 1983, Captain Bill Fittro took the Washington Sate Ferry Elwha on a detour into tiny Grindstone Harbor on Orcas Island to give a lady friend who was visiting in the wheelhouse a look at her house. The captain had made the San Juan Islands run a zillion times but he blew it this time. The Elwha slammed into a reef, stuck there, and incurred a quarter million dollars damage. The captain resigned, his manager was fired for trying to cover up how the accident happened, and the reef was officially named Elwha Rock.

Marin wrote:
The term "captain" is not always synonymous with "knows what he's doing."

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Indeed Marin, never a truer word said.* This incident puts me in mind of the following inexplicable loss of the Rusian cruise liner the Mikhail Lermontov, which even with a harbour pilot on board who knew Cook Straight like the back of his hand, took a hazardous course inside the Cape Jackson lighthouse, as they left Queen Charlotte sound on the northern end of New Zealand's South Island, when leaving Picton heading for Milford Sound, and heading west through the straight.* The unofficial theory which seems the only likely one is that the pilot allowed himself to be pressured by the Russian Captain to take a large liner through this "shortcut" to save some time, (how often is that the cause of a disaster..?)* Unsurprisingly they caught the one rock pillars of the reef the lighthouse was there to warn of, and, rather like this latest incident, the rescue was chaotic in the way the Russian crew behaved, but fortunately the locals ignored their reassurances that they did not need help, which incredibly was their initial response...once the original mayday, no doubt sent by someone more junior and unhindered by the politcs of it all...was responded to.* The rescue ships and smaller boats kept going in anyway, thank goodness.* Only one life was lost.* After everyone was off, the ship drifted into a nearby cove and finally sank.** At the official enquiry the poor pilot was apparently made the fall guy - again political reasons I suspect.* The following sites make for some interesting reading.* I will be very keen to hear the details regarding this latest disaster if and when they ever come out.

*http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/lermontov.htm

http://www.cruisebruise.com/Archives/Ship_Sinkings/Mikhail_Lermontov_Sinks_February_16_1986.html


-- Edited by Peter B on Sunday 15th of January 2012 04:32:11 AM

charles wrote:In one report the captain said that the rock was hit and he BEACHED the ship to prevent a sinking. NOTE a report from the captain's attorney.

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*I'm having trouble understanding this.* If they hit the rock off shore how it it that the picture that is on line has said rock still into the hull and the size of the hole looks to have been made by the rock that is sticking out of it?* It looks like it hit the rock just a 1/4 mile off shore and it sunk right there.

The story line seems to be just that, a story as to explain how the boat got that close to shore.* Love to see the tracks on the chartplotter on board.

I always look at these situations and try to learn something.* Aside from avoiding the rocks, how would I handle a grounding once it had happened? Reportedly when the abandon ship order came many folks ended up jumping into the water, or hanging suspended in the life boats, unable to reach the water. If the ship was already on the bottom, or hard aground, would there be less chance of loss of life by ordering everyone off the ship, or would it be better to let the passengers work their way to the high side to wait for rescue while remaining dry?* Clearly, as the ship listed, it was very difficult to launch the lifeboats on either side.* Would it be possible in the heat of the moment to estimate the odds of the ship going completely under?* Most likely there would be no way, but if you knew the depth of the water one might guess she would not sink.*

So, were the passengers better off getting off the ship by jumping in the water?* I doubt it, but then again, I'm at home sitting in my comfy chair, not in the wheelhouse facing the worst day of my life.* I guess the take away for me is to always be thinking "What if?"* What would my next move be?* How could I minimize the possible loss of life?* As a professional mariner, it's a fear I live with every time I climb up to the wheelhouse, but it's a healthy fear that keeps me alert at all times.*It's far too easy to make a simple mistake that could end in disaster. ....................Arctic Traveller

Trawler training at www.arctictraveller.com

*

Arctic Traveller wrote:
I always look at these situations and try to learn something.* Aside from avoiding the rocks, how would I handle a grounding once it had happened? Reportedly when the abandon ship order came many folks ended up jumping into the water, or hanging suspended in the life boats, unable to reach the water. If the ship was already on the bottom, or hard aground, would there be less chance of loss of life by ordering everyone off the ship, or would it be better to let the passengers work their way to the high side to wait for rescue while remaining dry?* Clearly, as the ship listed, it was very difficult to launch the lifeboats on either side.* Would it be possible in the heat of the moment to estimate the odds of the ship going completely under?* Most likely there would be no way, but if you knew the depth of the water one might guess she would not sink.*

So, were the passengers better off getting off the ship by jumping in the waterI doubt it, but then again, I'm at home sitting in my comfy chair, not in the wheelhouse facing the worst day of my life.* I guess the take away for me is to always be thinking "What if?"* What would my next move be?* How could I minimize the possible loss of life?* As a professional mariner, it's a fear I live with every time I climb up to the wheelhouse, but it's a healthy fear that keeps me alert at all times.*It's far too easy to make a simple mistake that could end in disaster. ....................Arctic Traveller

Trawler training at www.arctictraveller.com

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*

Having around 3000 hours in single engine helicopters from the Arctic to the Antarctic and a LOT of open water/rough terrain in between...I'm very in tune with what I have to do in the next 30 seconds to survive a serious emergency.

Not too many seconds go by when I'm cruising the intracoastal when I'm not thinking of where's the closest beach/sandbar to hit if I need to or where's the closest point of civilization I could get to for a serious medical issue.


-- Edited by psneeld on Sunday 15th of January 2012 12:59:49 PM

By law, a harbor pilot cannot give "commands" to the ship, they serve only as an adviser to the ship's captain. A captain can over ride any instruction given by the pilot, except for one place in the earth - Panama Canal. Pilots there DO have legal command of the vessel.
So in the Russian ship case above, even if the pilot advised the Captain to not take the shortcut, the Captain was within his rights to take the shortcut (although it was clearly irresponsible).

Looks like it hit the rock it is inpaled on:

"GIGLIO, Italy The captain of the cruise ship that capsized aground near an Italian island, killing at least five people, may have caused the accident by taking the ship too close to the islands rocky shore, the owner of the vessel said on Sunday, as rescue workers extracted three survivors and two bodies from the wreck."

I think the clear message to come out of both this incident, and the one I referred to above is, if the unthinkable seems to have happened, it will not unhappen, no matter how much you might want it to go away by pretending it is not happening. In fact on the phone videos shown on the news, several passengers are overheard saying exactly that, "this can't be happening, this is not happening"... Now it is understandable a passenger might say that, but the captain should not, yet in both these cases the immediate reaction seems to have been to deny anything was wrong, and thereby shortening the time the passengers had to retrieve life vests and report to their muster station, which is by law on the back of each cabin door, even if they had not had an abandon ship drill, which sadly does seem to have been the case. So...if s**t happens, accept it and then do all the right things and swallow ones pride seems to be the order of the day. More time would have allowed more lifeboats to be launched before the list prevented them. Views show even liferafts were left dangling by the time some were deployed. Also, a general mayday earlier would have summoned more shore-based help. In the case I mentioned of the Russian ship I cited, the captain actually cancelled the Mayday, but a passing LPG tanker captain ignored this retraction, as he could tell there was stuff happening, and going in anyway probably saved numerous lives.
However Arctic Traveller makes a very good point. Quick referral to the depth would surely have confirmed complete sinking was not going to happen, so advising passengers to go to the high side before decks became too steep would also have made good sense, especially as by then it was getting dark. That is...stay with the boat if possible but prepare to depart if forced. The whole thing was a fiasco, so even if the captain did not actually have the con at the time it hit, he is still ultimately responsible for what happened following the grounding.

Seems the captain decided to run a narrow channel lined with rocks. So how'd that work out for ya?

http://www.seanews.com.tr/article/ACCIDENTS/74284/Costa-Concordia-accident-navigational-error/

Interesting read. Too bad it was a translation from Turkish, as much is lost in the translation. It would seem the ship had passed through that narrow passage and signalled, by siren or horns, to the people on shore, to the delight of the mayor, in August 2011 and one much earlier occasion. The present Captain may have been going through, in an attempt to honour a new "tradition" for his first time. Didn't work out well.

Last I heard the captain is behind bars, charged with leaving the ship early, and negligent homicide or their equivalent of it. The Costa line CEO is blaming the whole thing on human error by the captain.
Steve W

Arctic Traveller wrote:
.If the ship was already on the bottom, or hard aground, would there be less chance of loss of life by ordering everyone off the ship, or would it be better to let the passengers work their way to the high side to wait for rescue while remaining dry?*

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*Looking at the angle the ship settled at, the thought of a couple of thousand passengers clinging to the*port rail on a 45 degree angle conjures up the scene out of the movie Titanic where the frantic passengers climbed higher and higher to get away from the water, till they couldn't hold on any longer.

Surely these large cruise operators must/should have contingency plans for events such as this. It's a logistical exercise,how best to evacuate 3,000 people from a ship listing say 30 degrees.Will the lifeboats deploy etc.

As has been said when the sh**t hits the fan, you rather hope that's when the training kicks in.


-- Edited by Andy G on Monday 16th of January 2012 05:17:16 PM

As has been said when the sh**t hits the fan, you rather hope that's when the training kicks in.

Much of the 1000 "crew" is from old soviet captive states , they are paid to cook and clean , not work as trained seamen.

No idea what that ship cost, but you would have thought that the owners would spend some money on the HR side of the business, protecting their investment, and the customers as well.

Now watch out for PR & spin doctors. 'It's not our fault it's that fool at the helm.'

At the risk of sounding cynical, I'd expect the "Ambulance Chasers Hot Line" commercials on this one are already undergoing final edit. This is not to make jest of the people and families who have lost their lives or have been severely traumatized by this tragedy. All I can say is thanks to heaven it happened this way, cuz the ships keep getting bigger and bigger, and how long could it have gone without getting the answers to the questions that needed to be asked? I've been on cruises in the Med., Caribbean, Mexico, etc., and I've always wondered if the entire crew could even communicate with one another in an emergency. There were days when the trucker was the "hero of the road". Could it be that the reverence and respect for the mighty Ship's Captain is loosing ballast from the expectations of driven owners, investors, bottom-line marketeers and Exxon Valdez type incidents? I think today's Captains may have the same vulnerable A/B ratios as their ships.


-- Edited by healhustler on Tuesday 17th of January 2012 10:05:53 AM

Andy G wrote:
No idea what that ship cost, ...*

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*$450 million

More on Costa Concordia today

*

<a>http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/17/costa-concordia-coastguard-captain-return</a>

I saw a discussion of the matter today, it seems there is a clause in the fine print of the ticket agreement where liability of the cruise line is limited by the "Athens Convention" the trems are very unfavorable to the passenger. Apparently this clause is included in the ticket agreement of most if not all cruise lines. A comment on it " "The Athens Convention is an international convention which limits the liability of cruise lines to the $71400 figure," for more look it up online.
Steve W

Look on your ticket before flying .similar limits (different Accord) apply ,

otherwise no Air Bus would ever get insurance, and the fleet would be melted down.

"The Athens Convention is an international convention which limits the liability of cruise lines to the $71400 figure"

Interesting to see if that stands up if criminal liability is proved.