[Superleggera]

Its been 4 days since the one of the biggest cruisers worth millions (or Billion) dollars is sinking in one of the coast near Italy. Coincidentally, this happened 100 years after the titanic Tragedy. I am wondering how can this happen to a modern and sophisticated ship like Costa Concordia (Built in 2006). Wont there by any warnings/stop mechanisms built in the ship? Its really sad to see such a beautiful machine lying in such state.
“THE captain of the Costa Concordia was accused overnight of driving the 290m cruise liner like a Ferrari.”
Prosecutors allege that he (Captain) was trying to show off by sailing past the Tuscan island of Giglio, where his head waiter lived, when he ran the ship aground just 150m offshore. It was also said that he left the Ship before rescuing every one and the coast guards forced him to go back to the Ship.
Requesting the seamen of this forum to comment on this, what could be the probable reason? Can a Captain ignore such warnings and go very close to the shore?

[kippu]

if you hear the phone audio between the coast guard and him , you will understand that the captain was one scared person and all reports say that he did go near the shore and thats why it capsized , so its all due to the human error of the captain

[deky]

Ive been in two instances on a ship

1. Where my cruise ship caught fire and finally sank in the middle of the sea. All passengers had to be rescued and luckily everyone survived.

2. Where my cruise ship hit a reef but unlike Concordia did not sink.

My take on the accident is that it has to be a human error. I have seen on the bridge and I am pretty sure that modern ships are equipped with state of the art safety measures. I was on the F&B side of the cruise liners I worked on so this statement of mine has to be validated by the masters we have here in the forum.

But the thing is that what will a safety device do if a human chooses to ignore it? On a ship, especially on a cruise liner there are too many distractions for the crew, deck side or hotel side alike.

The master of the ship on most of the cruise liner's is supposed to entertain guests, wine with them, dine with them and more. He is supposed to be as flamboyant as he can. Well not officially but thats how things run on a cruise.

So showing off sometimes happens at the cost of the vessel itself. To site an example we had a Norwegian Captain while my cruise used to sail the Norwegian Fjords. This Captain of ours "supposedly" knew the fjords inside out and he often used to take a detour and take the ship through narrow fjords to sail past his home town.

The passengers used to love it and the ship used to get very good rating because of the captain. The company did not mind till the Captain was raking in the Moolah for them. Nothing untoward happened so all was well.

If I am not mistaken, all the ships have latest charts available to them showing the deapth of the ocean, reefs, rocks etc etc. Also Mediterranean is such a busy route for cruise liners and other ocean going vessels that their path is also well plotted much before they actually sail.

So untill and unless you deviate from your alloted route such accidents are impossible.

This is how I understood the accident!!

Regards

[mayankjha1806]

This is not something that is similar to Titanic tragedy, although its a tragedy nevertheless as lifes were lost, and its always sad to see folks loosing their family members because of some moron doing some cheap thrills.

In this case the Captain of the ship did not knew how many passengers were there on the ship, was doing some cheap show off to folks of his island, escaped from the ship before worrying about the passengers on the ship, until he was ordered to go back to ship and rescue passengers.

[sgiitk]

Thank God that only 1 of the 200+ Indian on board passed away. I must say that 200+ Indians also reflects the prosperity on India.

[Superleggera]

Deky, is it possible to have moving rocks inside deep sea? - Meaning some under water pressure moved a big rock to this place and it was not present in Captian's Chart?. He is a veteran and I guess this may not be the first time he is taking the cruise liner thru this deviated route

[suzuki san]

Hi Guys,

I am a master at sea and sail mainly on tankers.

First of all, let's not jump to conclusions here.

With the complex machinery and electronics on new passenger ships, although unlikely due to back up systems, it is possible that there was a machinery or steering gear or navigation equipment failure.

However, needless to say, human error cannot be ruled out.

Personally, I felt that the Master's explanation that he had hit an uncharted reef was a bit far fetched (though not impossible) especially in this day and age of digital charts and corrections and more so in European waters.

Superleggera, Yes! There are loads (sometimes too many!!) of alarms/ warnings / stop mechanisms as you put it but these can be cancelled/over ridden.

Kippu, I would really like to hear the conversation between the Master and the coast guard. Could you please upload the link???

Superleggera has mentioned that he read that the Captain was driving the ship like a Ferrari yet the Mumbai Mirror or Mid day reported that he was drinking in the bar - with a beautiful woman on his arm - at the time of the accident. How could he be in two places at the same time?

Most passenger ship's have (or used to have AFAIK) two Masters. One normal Master who is in charge of the safe navigation and day to day affairs of the ship and a "Staff Captain" who is in charge of the passengers and their welfare and entertainment. No one has clarified as to which of the Master's was drinking in the bar?????

It is very easy for the media to make up and print dramatic articles for the newspapers without checking their facts and figures because most of their readers are not aware of the workings of a ship.

Nearly all vessels these days are fitted with a Voyage Data Recorder - which is basically the same as a "Black Box" on an aircraft. This has probably already been retrieved and will be analysed by experts. Let's wait for their verdict before pointing any fingers.

If indeed the Master was, as mentioned below, going close to shore to show off to his friends or whatever then, rest assured, he will be found out and will have the book thrown at him.

Regards,
SS

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Thank God that only 1 of the 200+ Indian on board passed away. I must say that 200+ Indians also reflects the prosperity on India.

Not deserted passengers: Indian crew of Costa
Unfortunately sir, you are mistaken.

203 people, of which 1 passenger. Shows exactly the other way around.

IF out of 1000 staff, we comprise 200 - shows us more as cheap labor, 2nd after the 296 filipinos.

Some may be staff who are technical guys, but the examples are waiters & security guards.

The day Swiss hotels in Geneva show Indian channels is the day our financial might is recognized (yes, they play chinese channels in the lobby as per @sidin).

EDIT: Considering planes have had EGPWS (enhanced ground proximity warning systems) for decades, its unimaginable that there was no backup sonar type system to find obstacles in a ship costing 2000cr!!

[deetjohn]

A good interactive graphics timeline on what happened.

Concordia: How the disaster unfolded - Telegraph

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Superleggera

Prosecutors allege that he (Captain) was trying to show off by sailing past the Tuscan island of Giglio, where his head waiter lived, when he ran the ship aground just 150m offshore.

I read somewhere that a waitress facebook'ed her friend and told her "We'll be passing by your island in 10 minutes. Watch out for us"

@ Suzuki San, here you go:

Source : Dailymail.co.uk

[lambuhere1]

Close up pictures in here

Cruise Ship Costa Concordia Grounding Photos

Scary size of the rock

[pypkmsrikanth]

Captain & the Second in Command have left the ship even before the rescue oprerations have been completed. The heights of irresponsibility is the captain asking coast guard how many bodies are on board. I suppose they have just proved the old saying "Only rats flee the sinking ship"

[Superleggera]

Originally Posted by GTO

I read somewhere that a waitress facebook'ed her friend and told her "We'll be passing by your island in 10 minutes. Watch out for us"

@ Suzuki San, here you go:

Source : Dailymail.co.uk

Attachment 873461

Shocking. The closest I can relate him is to an IT Project Manager

[kippu]

the transcript does not give half the story , this is much better

Costa Concordia coast guard tape: Get back on board Captain Schettino! - YouTube

[deky]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

In this case the Captain of the ship did not knew how many passengers were there on the ship, was doing some cheap show off to folks of his island, escaped from the ship before worrying about the passengers on the ship, until he was ordered to go back to ship and rescue passengers.

If everything that has come out in the media is true, even partly true, then the Captain should be hanged for manslaughter. I mean if he really didnt know the passenger manifest, thats height's of irresponsibility and to add to that, as per the coast gaurd recordings, he was off the ship before the passengers were rescued is a disgrace

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Thank God that only 1 of the 200+ Indian on board passed away. I must say that 200+ Indians also reflects the prosperity on India.

I would think mostly were crew

Originally Posted by Superleggera

Deky, is it possible to have moving rocks inside deep sea? - Meaning some under water pressure moved a big rock to this place and it was not present in Captian's Chart?. He is a veteran and I guess this may not be the first time he is taking the cruise liner thru this deviated route

The reef that this vessel hit even has a name, so has to be on a chart. It was just miscalculation. Could be the strong currents, strong winds, whatever, but I dont think the chart would not have this reef mentioned.

That makes me ask another question. because this was a detour and not a regular passage, did they even have the chart for this area?

Originally Posted by suzuki san

Most passenger ship's have (or used to have AFAIK) two Masters. One normal Master who is in charge of the safe navigation and day to day affairs of the ship and a "Staff Captain" who is in charge of the passengers and their welfare and entertainment. No one has clarified as to which of the Master's was drinking in the bar?????

In the cruise company I sailed for we used to have a Master who was incharge of the over ship including safe navigation. Also he was the man who was supposed to carry out all the entertainment, functions and responsibilities towards the guests.

Under him was the Staff Captain, who was incharge of the day to day activities of the ship, mostly Deck side. If a crew (hotel side) had any problem, he would go to the staff captain and not to the captain.

I have another question. What about the water tight doors? Arent they supposed to save the ship from flooding in instances like this?

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Not deserted passengers: Indian crew of Costa
Unfortunately sir, you are mistaken.

203 people, of which 1 passenger. Shows exactly the other way around.

IF out of 1000 staff, we comprise 200 - shows us more as cheap labor, 2nd after the 296 filipinos.

Hitanshu, waiters and cabin stewards/ess is the best paid job on a cruise liner. Its in no way cheap labour. Though these guys work very hard but they are more than suitably compensated with the kind of money they earn at the end of the month.

Most of the waiters earn more than any officer in the hotel side would earn. In some cases, in super luxury cruises a waiter also may end up earning more than the Captain.

There are European waiters in a restaurant as well, but Asians are preferred because they do a much better job than their European counterparts, hence you will find more of us and Filipinos in the restaurant

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

Captain & the Second in Command have left the ship even before the rescue oprerations have been completed. The heights of irresponsibility is the captain asking coast guard how many bodies are on board. I suppose they have just proved the old saying "Only rats flee the sinking ship"

Every time I think of this incident I am reminded of my ship that sank. I think we can consider ourselves very lucky that our Captain and other officers were the last ones to leave the ship.

Quoting from my own travelogue about how the captain was the last one to get off

The engine of the boat was on but we still did not start to pull away. The ship was looking like a scary monster slowly falling on us, we had to move away fast or we would soon start to be sucked in the water rushing in the ship. I suddenly realized that the wait was for the Captain, he still had not come down the ship. No one knew where he went after informing us to evacuate the ship within 10 minutes. Had he decided to go down with the ships like in old times? We had no time left, we started to pull the boat away from the ship coming on to us, suddenly we saw the captain climbing down the monkey ladder and we were relieved. Later we came to know that he had gone to the radio room to send a signal that the ship is Not Under Control, just incase if the ship doesn’t sink fully.

In any situation I believe you need someone at the helm or it will be utter chaos. Especially when the passengers on this ship had just boarded and had not done the mandatory security drill that tells them their muster stations and life boats/rafts