Costa Concordia Sinking

[Ixiah]

Has anyone else been keeping up with this? A recent recording has come out that has the captain abandoning ship while people were on board and had to be literally ordered to get back on board.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/17/port-authority-to-cruise-ship-captain-get-on-board-damn-it/

Edit: While the captain agreed to return to the ship at the end of the recording he never did so.

[SubGod22]

Didn't know all of that. Wonder how much trouble he'll end up being in when it's all said and done...

[Maggie]

I have a little bit and I read the transcript of the exchange between the Captain and the Port Authority employee. Disgraceful is nice way of putting it. The Captain of a ship is responsible for the well being of his crew and passengers – he is also responsible for the conduct of his crew.

If you don’t want that responsibility don’t sit in the chair. I don’t know what the legal ramifications of all this is under Italian law but in a different time it appears this fellow would have been horsewhipped or worse. Frankly, I prefer the latter.

[Capitol Shock II]

You obviously couldn't trust this guy if you were with him in a coleman canoe at the car wash.

[Ixiah]

Captain now claims he "tripped" into a lifeboat. If it wasn't for the fact people died in this fiasco it would be comical.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57361085/report-captain-claims-he-tripped-into-lifeboat/?tag=cbsContent;cbsCarousel

[Kung Wu]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and make a bold prediction I haven't heard anywhere else that MIGHT explain all of this: The captain was drinking at the time, possibly drunk.

I have no idea if true, but if so it would explain a lot of this. I also doubt we'll ever know if that was the case.

[Maggie]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and make a bold prediction I haven't heard anywhere else that MIGHT explain all of this: The captain was drinking at the time, possibly drunk.

I have no idea if true, but if so it would explain a lot of this. I also doubt we'll ever know if that was the case.

While it would explain a few things, I am not sure, based on what I have read, that is the case.

Seems to me he made a bad decision and made things much worse after everything went wrong.

[Kung Wu]

Could be, but his decisions are so poor that they are almost beyond belief. Either he was drunk, or just completely froze up in the face of fear. I don't see any other explanation.

[Ixiah]

Well, he was drinking.

Filipino cook Rogelio Barista said the pair sipped drinks in the restaurant and had dessert almost 30 minutes after the collision.

In fact the junior officers appear to have taken things into their own hands in getting the people off.

Junior officers on the Concordia eventually led a mutiny to get passengers to safety.Coastguard staff at the scene reported lifeboats in the water before Schettino, from Naples, gave the order.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2012/01/18/costa-concordia-captain-made-chefs-cook-him-meal-as-ship-went-down-115875-23705289/

[Wu du Nord]

I'm on ferries several times a year. Always a bit nervous about it (especially when the sea is frozen over), but it's a relatively cheap and glorious way to travel from place to place.

I enjoyed this.

http://www.anorak.co.uk/308783/news/belfast-telegraph-and-guardian-compete-for-biggest-costa-concordia-photo-fail.html/

And that, folks, is why newspaper editors should coordinate with their advertising departments.

Good times.

[MoValley John]

I'm on ferries several times a year.

This surprises none of us.

[SubGod22]

This surprises none of us.

Well played

[Wu du Nord]

This surprises none of us.

Well played

Ha-ha! Gay sex! Probably frothy. Definitely in the butt.

Gee thanks, Batman and Robin. You guys sure are swell.

Wait, you guys aren't...? Nevermind.

Sweet irony. ;-)

[Ixiah]

The captain was telling the port authorities 30 minutes after the accident that they only suffered a blackout.

ROME - A new audiotape emerged Thursday of the first contact between Livorno port officials and the Costa Concordia — and an unidentified crew member is heard insisting that his cruise ship only had a blackout a full 30 minutes after it had rammed into a reef. The Associated Press identified the crew member as Capt. Francesco Schettino, who was jailed after he left the ship before everyone was safely evacuated.

Now they are worried about the fuel in the thing leaking out.

Captain Schettino also deliberately took the ship off its designated course.

the captain has acknowledged carrying out what he called a "tourist navigation" that brought the ship closer to Giglio

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57361889/cruise-ship-to-port-its-just-a-blackout/?tag=cbsContent;cbsCarousel

The reason appears to be to do a "fly by" as a favor.

The cruise line operator has said Schettino strayed from the ship's authorized course into waters too close to the perilous reef. The navigational version of a "fly by" was apparently a favor to the chief waiter who is from Giglio and whose parents live on the island, local media reported.

Half an hour before disaster struck, the waiter's sister posted an entry on her Facebook page saying she had been told the ship was "going to pass really close" and sending "a big hello to my brother."

http://ricksgarden.blogspot.com/2012/01/answer-as-to-why-costa-concordia-was-so.html

[Kung Wu]

Capt'n Shittano: "Letsh drive thish ship next to the shore. It'll be great publishity! Waiter! Another round!"