Cruise Captain Says He 'Tripped' Into Lifeboat...

Cruise Captain Says He 'Tripped' Into Lifeboat, Couldn't Get Out

snip - The captain of the Italian cruise ship gave a slapstick explanation of how he ended up safely in a lifeboat instead of going down with his ship, saying he tripped and fell into the boat as it was being lowered into the sea, Italian media reported today.

"I had no intention of escaping," Francesco Schettino, 52, said during his first court hearing Tuesday, according to Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper.

"I was helping some passengers put the life boat to sea. At a certain point the mechanism for lowering it, blocked. We had to force it. Suddenly the system unblocked itself and I tripped and I found myself inside the life boat with a number of passengers."

go read the transcript of his conversation with the coast guard, who, when ordered him back onto the ship, said "but it's dark"...

::goes to wikipedia the transcript...::

But you can't wiki today!!!

!!!

I know!!

But seriously, can you blame the guy for saving his own behind? Sometimes survival instinct just kicks in...

isn't this similar to how Deek gets in her Mazda each night after bar close?

The guy is Captain of the ship, and his responsibility was to stay with the vessel and make sure his passengers and cruise we OK. He bailed early and should face charges for it.

In a translation released by Reuters, Gregorio De Falco, the port captain at Livorno, is heard ordering Schettino - who said he was in a lifeboat - back to the Costa Concordia:


Coast Guard: "Listen Schettino, there are people trapped on board. Now you need to go on your life boat, under the bow of the ship on the side. There is a ladder. You need to climb up the ladder and board the ship. Get on board and report to me how many people there are. Is that clear?. . . . "

Schettino: "At this moment the ship is tilted."

Coast Guard: "I understand. Listen, there are people who are coming down the ladder on the bow. Go back in the opposite direction, get back on the ship, and tell me how many people there are and what they have on board. . . . Tell me if there are children, women and what type of help they need. And you tell me the number of each of these categories. Is that clear? . . . Listen Schettino, perhaps you have saved yourself from the sea but I will make you look very bad. I will make you pay for this. Dammit, go back on board!"

Schettino: "Please . . . "

Coast Guard: "There is no please about it. Go back on board. Assure me you are going back on board!"

Schettino: "I am in the life boat, under the ship, I haven't gone anywhere, I'm here."

Coast Guard: "What are you doing?"

Schettino: "I am coordinating . . . "

Coast Guard: "What are you coordinating there? Go on board! Coordinate the rescue from on board! Are you refusing?"

Schettino: "No, I am not refusing."

Coast Guard: "Tell me the reason why you are not going back on board."

Schettino: "There is another life boat ... "

Coast Guard: "You go back on board! That is an order! There is nothing else for you to consider. You have sounded the 'abandon ship.' Now I am giving the orders. Go back on board. Is that clear? Don't you hear me?"

Schettino: "I am going on board."

Coast Guard: "Go! Call me immediately when you are on board. My rescue people are in front of the bow."



The Coast Guard said Schettino defied their entreaties to return to his ship as the chaotic evacuation of some 4,200 people was in progress.

Corriere della Sera also reports that the crew mutinied, ordering passengers into lifeboats before the captain issued an abandon ship order.

Near...
Far...
Wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more...
You open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

AG? Little Buddy?

What did you do to the random lyrics thread??????

I didn't do anything to it!

I hope he's convicted of manslaughter. His actions were not those of a ship captain.

Did the other seamen stay?

(assistant captain or whatever he is called, etc)

I don't disagree. What I meant was that when it comes to life and death situations, I'm not surprised self-interest won out over his responsiblity to the crew and passengers.

No, his second in command was with him on land "coordinating the efforts from there". Sheesh

It would appear the ship's staff was inadequately trained and didn't adequately test their Business Continuity Plan. Also, they suffered from the worst possible thing in a crisis, a failure of leadership.

This Captain should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, in my opinion. He took a solemn oath and had a duty to protect those passengers. His conduct was shameful and cowardly, and people died because of it.

Just read a report about one of the deceased. He was a violinist. Helped several children get their life jackets on, then went back to get his violin (not his best idea). Even the band was on board helping people - but the captain and his 2nd were in a life boat complaining because it was dark!!

would those people have still died if he stayed on the ship? from what I've read, the ones who died were on the side of the ship that was almost immediately put under water, and they had almost no time to escape. I don't know if the captain stayed or not would have made a difference.

Now, the fact that he was off course and failed to heed warning alarms concerning the course is a bigger issue to me...

I saw the "the talk" in a waiting room this afternoon. They said he was entertaiing a female guest in his cabin when the ship started to tilt. He was ordering the chef to bring his guest her dessert. The chef asked the captain why they weren't evacuating and the captain continued to yell at him for not bringing dessert.

This was daytime TV, so consider the source.

I can't imagine the effort it must take to get 4,200 people in lifeboats within 30 minutes.

Or the ability of the biggest cruiseliner in the world to safely get 8,700 people into lifeboats within 30 minutes.

Actually having a life-boat drill with the passengers helps a lot. It helps more if they pay attention.

It also helps when the captain stays on course.

True.

The local news stations have been interviewing local ships captains around here, and whether or not those people would still have died is not the point. Captains are (allegedly) trained on what to do in a crisis and part of the captain's oath or committment is to stay with the vessel.

is breaking his oath or committment something he can legally be charged with?

In the Concordia case, the laws of Italy also apply. Schettino may face charges including manslaughter, shipwreck and abandoning a ship when passengers were still on board, chief prosecutor Francesco Verusio said. Abandoning ship is a maritime crime that has been on the books for centuries in Spain, Greece and Italy, according to Alessandra Batassa, a lawyer in Rome, although many other countries have long abandoned it.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/17/travel/cruise-ship-passenger-safety/?hpt=hp_mid

Abandoning a ship in danger is a violation of maritime law.

well, i take that as a yes...who knew...

It was reported that the ship had not conducted a lifeboat drill at the beginning of the cruise. I've been on 5 cruises and every one of them had a mandatory drill within a few hours of leaving port. There are also reports that the ship had other safety or maintenance issues in the last year or so. I think Costa Cruises (owned by Carnival) is in some deep you-know-what.

Wasn't this the second incident with this company, too?

It's all just so sad since it could have been avoided.

Well then!

I've been on two; one was a Carnival ship to the Virgin Islands and we did the mandatory drill. The second one was an MSC ship (out of Italy, shocker) and there was no drill completed.

Going on my 6th in 3 weeks. All previous cruises have done the mandatory drill. No one really pays attention though to excited to set sail I guess.

Jen - are you really setting sail if on a cruise ship? after all, unless you're on a windjammer cruise, there is no sail.

I just heard on the news this a.m. that he ordered his dinner for he and a companion, 45 minutes AFTER the ship hit the reeef...

I so want to try a windjammer cruise.

He was very hungry and it took him 45 minutes to plan his trip into the lifeboat.

Fixed

Eventually it will be reported that when the ship began to list and dishes and food slid off the tables, all that pasta and sauce covered the decks makinging them slippery. As the list became more severe, the captain lost his balance on the slippery deck and that is how he landed in the lifeboat.

...and it was dark too

It was space aliens.

Barefoot Windjammer cruises were the best. More fun than a regular cruise by far.

Unfortunately, the family that ran the company fell into turmoil and they ceased operations some years ago.

There is another, more upscale sailing vessel cruise company called Star Clippers.

No, not a windjammer cruise. Sorry for the use of the idiom...




Is that better?

well, I'd like to talk to you about the lack of proper punctuation

Pass…

I have more important things in life to worry about than your critique of my puncuation and use of idioms on these threads.

Thanks!