Last voyage for Costa Concordia cruise ship

The quote is from NOAA Office of Coast Survey. I just copied it and agree with it.

 

Noah should know. He was THE original cruise liner captain.
Getting along in years isn't he?

 

I saw a report that a spokesperson for Costa said that on previous voyages their ships had sailed close to the island with Costa's knowledge and/or agreement but that on this occasion the captain did not have permission. I don't have a reference available but I'm sure what Costa management knew and had agreed to, either explicitly or implicitly, will be the subject of legal investigation.

 

An interesting question. Presumably the ship took on enough water that combined with the shape of the bottom caused it to roll 90 degrees. Then it must have taken on more water and settled deeper but rolled upright somewhat due to the shape of the bottom.

 

But surely it's also relevant that even if they had given permission in the past, they never should have, since it entailed the skipper operating outside the bounds of error and prudence, as pointed out above (because of errors in charts, accuracy of gps etc), especially on a boat with over 4000 people on it. As has now demonstrably been shown. Thus Costa is guilty, even if what they claim is true. The fact that they did not give permission on this occasion is irrelevant; it's what they did in the past, not what they didn't do on this occasion, that indicts them.

 

Article on the Guardian website reports on Shettino's statements at yesterday's hearing where he claimed he was in the lifeboat because he tripped and fell in. It also says:

The captain did however admit responsibility for crashing the ship into rocks which tore a hole in the Costa Concordia, forcing him to ground the vessel.

"I made a mistake on the approach," he said.

"I was navigating by sight because I knew the depths well and I had done this manoeuvre three or four times. But this time I ordered the turn too late and I ended up in water that was too shallow. I don't know why it happened. I was a victim of my instincts."

Schettino confirmed he sailed close to the island of Giglio to salute a retired captain, Mario Palombo, and was on the phone to Palombo at the time.

Schettino said he was not afraid of a drugs test: "I don't do drugs and I had not drunk." By grounding the vessel close to the shore after it struck rock he believes he saved the lives of many passengers.

 

While offices increasingly try to micro-manage their vessels via modern communications, the law is more ancient. Ultimate responsibility and theorectical authority, is with captain. (originally typed "lies with captain", but don't want to appear I excuse his lies)

During episodes in my career, I operated OSVs. Oilfield vessels. At times, TOOL PUSHER on an oil rig asked insistantly I tie up in bad weather to offload something. I'd explain be happy to the minute it was safe to do so.
"Give it a try, captain"
So I'd bluff! "If you will sign a document accepting all responsibility for any damage to rig or vessel and injury to personel, I'll try it."
Always, they responded, "Well, No captain! If you don't think it's safe?"
Ah! Have their attention now.
Of course it's a bluff. I can't delegate the responsibility no matter who signs what. As a psycological tactic, it funcioned. If they'd agreed, I have had to resort to obstinancy!

 

GPS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The reason why highlanders can park their 4X4s and take to the sea is because of GPS, EDICs AIS, EPIRB, MRCC, SOLAS and every safety acronym you can think of that allows ease of operation under taxpayer protection.

Gone are the days of....ACTS OF GOD...we now live in a world of permanent operator error.

I miss the days of... dem dat died were the lucky ones.........

 

Michael,
I wonder if Shettino is thinking..."dem dat died were the lucky ones".........

 

Id imagine that there is presently a hot fire burning under his ***

 

Tonight at Beer O clock I sat with two commercial ferry captains. 1000 passenger ferries. They think that 3, 4, 5000 passenger ships are inherently unsafe. They would never be able to use their skill and authority to evacuate that many tourists.

 

What terrible luck as he apparently tripped and fell into a taxi the very same night!

 

They may indeed be correct. I know that scantlings can't scale with over all size when making models. But I use scaling as an argument to impress the point of the fragility or more often the enormous momentum of ships.

If you made a 10 ft long scale model of the Costa Concordia including exact dimensional scaled thickness of shell plating, how thick would the models skin be? Less than Kleenex?

 

ROFLMAO

 

Its people management, crowd control in an emergency that worried my fellow captains. not the ability of marine engineers to design a seaworthy ship