# Captain leaves cruise ship and it's passengers to sink



## Tez3 (Jan 18, 2012)

On Friday night the cruise ship left it's port on the coast of Italy and sailed it's normal route up the coast. However it hit a rock which holed it and it started sinking, the captian by all accounts got off the ship, went ashore and took a taxi away. The ship was left to the 2 i/c to call abandoned ship. There's a tape recording of an angry coastguard officer ordering the captain back to the ship and actually having to threaten him to make him go back. 11 are dead more missing, 2 American I believe and others of different nationalities. The latest is that the search parties were suspended a little while ago as the ship is slipping again, making it dangerous for them. The captain has been arrested and charged with manslaughter, at one point he said the ship hit rocks that shouldn't be there, he was however so close to the coast that it seemed inevitable he would hit something, he was wanting to wave and 'salute' friends on the island where he hit the rock. Never ever will I go on a cruise ship anywhere!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16598232

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/17/costa-concordia-questions-maritime-law?newsfeed=true


This is all over the news as it's such a tragic and unbelievable story.


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## MJS (Jan 18, 2012)

The Capt. is a jackass!  This is something straight out of the Titanic, and I'm sure this in some way, will impact the cruise industry.  I'd be willing to bet that people who were thinking about going on one, will have second thoughts.  Me....I've been on 4 or 5, my wife a few more.  We'll continue to take them.   I mean, I look at it this way....we could get into our car and get into a crash.  We could fly and crash.  We could slip and fall in the shower.  We could choke the next time we eat something.  If we thought about all the bad things, we'd never leave the house and just sit in a chair 24/7...lol.  This seems like an isolated incident.  I mean, how many other incidents like this have we heard of lately?  I can't think of any.  What made this guy act like he did, to cause the crash, is beyond me.


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## Tez3 (Jan 18, 2012)

MJS said:


> The Capt. is a jackass! This is something straight out of the Titanic, and I'm sure this in some way, will impact the cruise industry. I'd be willing to bet that people who were thinking about going on one, will have second thoughts. Me....I've been on 4 or 5, my wife a few more. We'll continue to take them.  I mean, I look at it this way....we could get into our car and get into a crash. We could fly and crash. We could slip and fall in the shower. We could choke the next time we eat something. If we thought about all the bad things, we'd never leave the house and just sit in a chair 24/7...lol. This seems like an isolated incident. I mean, how many other incidents like this have we heard of lately? I can't think of any. What made this guy act like he did, to cause the crash, is beyond me.




Well actually there's quite a few incidents with cruise ships... 
http://www.cruiseshipdeaths.com/
http://www.cruiselawnews.com/


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## Big Don (Jan 18, 2012)

Cowardice just isn't looked down upon as much as it should be.


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## granfire (Jan 18, 2012)

MJS said:


> The Capt. is a jackass!  This is something straight out of the Titanic, and I'm sure this in some way, will impact the cruise industry.  I'd be willing to bet that people who were thinking about going on one, will have second thoughts.  Me....I've been on 4 or 5, my wife a few more.  We'll continue to take them.   I mean, I look at it this way....we could get into our car and get into a crash.  We could fly and crash.  We could slip and fall in the shower.  We could choke the next time we eat something.  If we thought about all the bad things, we'd never leave the house and just sit in a chair 24/7...lol.  This seems like an isolated incident.  I mean, how many other incidents like this have we heard of lately?  I can't think of any.  What made this guy act like he did, to cause the crash, is beyond me.




LOL, I think you are much more likely to catch a cruise ship mystery bug than having to put on your life jackets...


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## ballen0351 (Jan 18, 2012)

They looked like some HUGE rocks the ship hit. You would think in todays modern age ships would have forwards looking radar or sonar and spot big things like that well before they hit them. I mean cars can parallel park themselves now days a boat cant figure out how not to hit a mountain under water.


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## CanuckMA (Jan 18, 2012)

Ships don't run with active sonar because of the damage it does to the underwater wildlife. Guy was 3nm off course. Off the computer programmed course. He deliberately took the ship off course. That was not an accident, it was deliberate.


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## Tez3 (Jan 18, 2012)

ballen0351 said:


> They looked like some HUGE rocks the ship hit. You would think in todays modern age ships would have forwards looking radar or sonar and spot big things like that well before they hit them. I mean cars can parallel park themselves now days a boat cant figure out how not to hit a mountain under water.



The captain had come on the inside of the island instead of the outside because he wanted to wave at friends. It was indeed a deliberate act and nothing to do with the ship as such. It was human error, well less of an error more of a deliberate act of stupidity for which he's being charged with manslaughter.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...s-showboating-admits-cruise-firm-6290685.html


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## MJS (Jan 18, 2012)

Tez3 said:


> Well actually there's quite a few incidents with cruise ships...
> http://www.cruiseshipdeaths.com/
> http://www.cruiselawnews.com/



Well, I was talking about incidents along the same lines as in this case.  IMO, someone getting drunk, ie: not being able to conduct themselves in a professional manner, and falling over, isn't really the cruise lines fault, its the person who wasn't responsible and drank too much.  OTOH, I'm sure it could be said that the cruise lines didn't do enough to protect the person.  True, and perhaps the cruise lines shouldn't let people get plastered.


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## Tez3 (Jan 18, 2012)

MJS said:


> Well, I was talking about incidents along the same lines as in this case. IMO, someone getting drunk, ie: not being able to conduct themselves in a professional manner, and falling over, isn't really the cruise lines fault, its the person who wasn't responsible and drank too much. OTOH, I'm sure it could be said that the cruise lines didn't do enough to protect the person. True, and perhaps the cruise lines shouldn't let people get plastered.



Well when it's the crew doing the drinking, the attacking, raping etc...... as well as crashing the ship.


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## MJS (Jan 18, 2012)

http://news.yahoo.com/cruise-captain-says-tripped-lifeboat-couldnt-153914621--abc-news.html

Sorry, but this is the biggest line of BS that I've seen yet!  Yeah buddy, I'm sure your dumb *** just happened to land in a lifeboat.  No, its more like you realized you ****ed up so instead of **GASP** actually *taking responsibility for your own actions* you run like a chicken and find the nearest lifeboat.


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## Dirty Dog (Jan 18, 2012)

Hey, it's ok. He didn't abandon the ship... he tripped and fell into a lifeboat.... 

http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_n...ard-costa-concordia-still-missing-family-says

He wouldn't lie, would he?????

If I'm ever on a cruise (not likely, since time on a boat is time better spent diving...) I'll just wear my SCUBA gear the entire time.


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## MJS (Jan 18, 2012)

Tez3 said:


> Well when it's the crew doing the drinking, the attacking, raping etc...... as well as crashing the ship.



True, but in the first link you posted, with the exception of the recent case, the majority look like it was all self inflicted stuff.  Now, as I said, for the intoxicated folks....well, it was the cruise line who served them, so sure, I'll put part blame on them, the other on the person who couldn't control their habit.


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## Dirty Dog (Jan 18, 2012)

MJS said:


> True, but in the first link you posted, with the exception of the recent case, the majority look like it was all self inflicted stuff.  Now, as I said, for the intoxicated folks....well, it was the cruise line who served them, so sure, I'll put part blame on them, the other on the person who couldn't control their habit.



I have to disagree with you on this. Personal responsibility. The consequences for your choices are yours and yours alone.

If you get drunk and crash into a phone pole, it's not the bartenders fault. It's not the car dealers fault. It's not the phone companies fault (how DARE they put a pole there???). It's your fault.

Same thing if you get drunk and fall off a cruise ship.


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## MJS (Jan 18, 2012)

Dirty Dog said:


> I have to disagree with you on this. Personal responsibility. The consequences for your choices are yours and yours alone.
> 
> If you get drunk and crash into a phone pole, it's not the bartenders fault. It's not the car dealers fault. It's not the phone companies fault (how DARE they put a pole there???). It's your fault.
> 
> Same thing if you get drunk and fall off a cruise ship.



You're correct!   However, there have been numerous cases in which the bar was sued for serving someone who was drunk.  I agree that it is personal responsibility, thus why I said what I did above, in bold.  But, IMO, if someone walks into a bar, and is obviously drunk, they should not be served.  I don't feel that the dollar is more valuable than life at that point.


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## Tez3 (Jan 19, 2012)

Only the first two links were about 'accidents' etc the next three were about ships sinking.

As for getting drunk, the law here makes it illegal to serve someone alcohol to someone you think might be drunk. 
As shown by this sink, cruise ships now have over 3000 people, the Italian ship was quite a small one too, that's a lot of people with any 'laws' as such to moderate their behaviour or to see them safely off a ship in trouble.


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## elder999 (Jan 19, 2012)

Tez3 said:


> Only the first two links were about 'accidents' etc the next three were about ships sinking.
> 
> As for getting drunk, the law here makes it illegal to serve someone alcohol to someone you think might be drunk.
> As shown by this sink, cruise ships now have over 3000 people, the Italian ship was quite a small one too, that's a lot of people with any 'laws' as such to moderate their behaviour or to see them safely off a ship in trouble.



Actually, Irene, at 292m in length, with the capability of accomodating closer to 5000 passengers, the Costa Concordia was fairly large, and part of that whole mega-ship trend in the cruise industry-though tehre *are* larger ships-in fact, while this is pretty clearly a human error (neglect/ignorance/*stupidity*) caused event, it's possible that the ship's size played some role in its heeling over so quickly.....


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## MJS (Jan 19, 2012)

http://news.yahoo.com/costa-concordia-vs-titanic-compare-225201237.html

Thought this was an interesting comparison.  Interestingly enough, one of the links Tez posted, lists the CC at 93,000 tons.  

I'm not disputing that there haven't been issues with ships.  I'm thankful that nothing has happened (and I pray it stays that way! LOL!) when my wife and I have sailed.   As for the size of the ships and where they're sailing...well, yes, of course, one would not...or should not, sail a boat into water that is not capable of accomodating the size of the ship.

As for the intoxication....I stand by what I said....the person drinking should maintain some control.  Of course, as I said, I think that the server should refrain from serving, if its obvious the customer has had too much.  But thats just my opinion.


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## Tez3 (Jan 19, 2012)

A former captain of the QE2 was on the news, it was his opinion that the ship was in such shallow water when it was holed that it listed straight away, there wasn't enough depth of water to keep it on an even keel, not even for a short time while the life boats were launched.


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