Entertainment For Lively Minds
"Sir, sir, the big boys made me do it."
This must be the most ridiculous excuse for an act of brazen cowardice ever concocted:
The cruise liner captain accused of abandoning ship after he struck rocks off the Tuscan coast last Friday has reportedly claimed he was unable to lead the evacuation because he slipped and tripped into a lifeboat while helping passengers leave the stricken vessel.
During a three-hour hearing on Tuesday, captain Francesco Schettino said it was an accident that he left the Costa Concordia, according to La Repubblica [...]
"I tripped and I ended up in one of the boats. That's how I found myself in the lifeboat," said Schettino. "Suspended there, I was unable to lower the boat into the sea, because the space was blocked by other boats in the water."
The Guardian's take on the story (from which the above quotation is taken) is here.
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I was just reading about this
The transcript of the coastguard's exchange with the captain is pretty lively. And he comes off as having behaved with appalling cowardice for one of his rank and responsibility. Of course, it's easy to make snap judgements - but if I had been involved in the disaster or had lost someone, I would be wanting to ask that captain some pretty searching questions...
De Falco: "I don't know. I have heard of one. You are the one who has to tell me how many there are. Christ!"
Schettino: "But do you realise it is dark and here we can't see anything …"
De Falco: "And so what? You want to go home, Schettino? It is dark and you want to go home? Get on that prow of the boat using the pilot ladder and tell me what can be done, how many people there are and what their needs are. Now!"
I'm trying very hard
not to quote all the old Italian/cowardice jokes as someone will take the hump, but he's gone a long way to proving the old stereotype hasn't he?
I'm glad
that I wasn't the only one to be reminded of tanks with only one gear etc.
and
flags
old joke apologies
This is an unjustified attack on fine Italian tanks. They actually had six gears ... but five were in reverse.
The forward gear being for when they were attacked from behind.
Aw come on guys!!!
Another popular WW2 refrain is if the Germans had won the war we'd all be speaking German. Well the fact is more than 50% of the English language is derived from Latin - and that's because a bunch of Italians conquered the known world including Chariotstrip One. (Although they didn't bother with the useless bits like Scotland and Ireland, natch).
I think it is only fair to point out...
I think it is only fair to point out that the members of the rescue services &, in particular the Italian navy divers are doing very good work in seriously dangerous & unpleasant conditions.
Hence
my reluctance to dive in, if you'll pardon the pun.
The work they're doing could certainly feature on the worst job thread on this site. I certainly couldn't do it.
So what does the coastguard operator prove?
I assume he's Itlaian too. He's obviously very angry at the captain's apparent cowardice and lack of professionalism.
One vain and craven idiot. Several hundred brave and dedicated rescue workers. Which "proves" the stereotypes?
De falco
Was brilliant though. Proper heroic stuff I thought: not accepting any mealy- mouthedness.
I do wonder if I'd have been a coward a hero in the situation..
I sincerely hope I never get a chance to find out....
This isn't about cowardice...
... it seems to be about incompetence; a useless boss trying to wriggle out of all responsibility. A captain is responsible for a ship and it's passengers, this guy appears to have failed on every level possible.
I've no idea about captaining ships
But give me a split second and I'll try to come up with a very strong opinion on the subject.
Or alternatively.....
The coastguard refused to listen to a single word the captain said. There is nothing in the transcript about him refusing to go on board. There is plenty about why it wasn't practical for him to do so, primarily as the lifeboat he was in was blocked in by other lifeboats. He also appeared to question why his time would be better spent stocktaking dead bodies* as the coastguard appeared to ask him to do...he was asked to find out how many bodies were in the sea when it was pitch dark...but all these points were shouted down.
Seems to me the coastguard and the company are very quick to pin everything onto the captain. He may be totally incompetant and deserving of the prosecution that's heading his way. Whether he deserves the added barbs of cowardice that the media are quick to ascribe him is debatable in my book....
*this follows a bugbear of mine that all the media want to know immediately after any accident or disaster is how many dead bodies there are, and whether any of them are Brits. This diverts rescue operations to stocktake bodies for the press officer.....
Shame he's no longer with us...
...Kenneth Connor would be a shoo-in for the movie...
http://cdn3.blinkboxmedia.com/i/actor/000/000/482/actor/v=66/w=160;h=220...
Blame
In 1989 ninety-six football supporters lost their lives in a crush at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield. The tabloid press, in their haste to give their readers a scapegoat, blamed the supporters of Liverpool FC for the tragedy. An independent enquiry later absolved them, but the damage had been done.
This is why I take no notice of knee-jerk tabloid reactions.
But hey! Don't let me stop you mocking these yellow-bellied eyeties.
Erm, hang on...
...if your post was aimed at my original, Spartacus (and I accept that it may not have been), can I just make it clear that I wasn't mocking an entire nation as you suggest: just the pathetic excuse that a captain of a ship came up with to explain why he was in a lifeboat and not overseeing operations as his vessel was sinking.
If he's exonerated of all blame I will happily come back here and post an apology. At present he seems to be doing a particularly fine job of damning himself with his own words.
I've been on a Costa Ship
Their cruises seem slightly cheaper than those offered by some of the UK based organisations. When we sailed with them it was a similar proportion of Brits on board compared to other nationalities.
Being a multi lingual ship it took forever to make an announcement. Even introducing a song on stage had to be done in several languages.
The safety drill went on for ages. As this ship had just set sail, I'm not clear if this drill had taken place. (The law says that they have to have one within 24 hours of sailing)
Without resorting to stereotype I think it would be fair to say that different European nationalities have different customs when it comes to orderly queuing. I recall it was a bit of a fight to line up for a bloody Pizza. I can only imagine how manic it must have been to try and get on a life boat. Any instructions given over the PA would have to have been spread over Italian, French, German. Spanish and English.
It must have been a nightmare. Whilst the captain is being hung out to dry by his employers (probably with good reason) somebody somewhere must have put in a really good shift to keep the (still tragic) casualty rate down to the level it appears to be .
I'll certainly be cruising again one day, but I had already decided never again on a Costa ship!
Italians & Queuing
Can I try to dispel the myth of Italians and queuing? I lived in Italy for 12 years and I found them to be no better or worse than we are when it comes to queues. I'm not disputing your experience on the ship, but day to day life in Italy does not involve mad scrambles at counters and checkout tills.
Hawkfall, my friend,
I'm quite surprised to read this. Granted, I live in the south of Italy (a very different country to the north). Here, while many public places have introduced ticket-system queuing, every morning I still have to fight my way off the train in a mad scramble, battling against the throng who get on at my stop. It's insane. The reason post offices, banks etc. started with ticket-system queuing (about ten years ago) is cos it used to be thus everywhere. Italy has so many fantastic things going for it. Politeness and respect for other people, however, are not on that list, in my experience. At least not here in the south.
Fair enough
As they used to say on Winner Takes All, "we have a difference of opinion" (or was it Gambit? I always got them mixed up).
I was in the centre of Italy, and I found the queues to be more or less respected, but as you point out, Italy changes a lot from region to region. I would pull you up though on their lack of politeness and respect for other people: I think that's a bit unfair.
I don't want to paint Italy as a paradise. It isn't and not all the stereotypes are untrue; I learned to drive in Italy, an experience that took years off of my life and that I wouldn't recommend to anyone.
It was Winner Takes All
"We have a difference of opinion here, Geoffrey". I remember it well.
I honestly think that in England the majority of people have a sense of polite consideration for others. Whereas in Italy it's the minority. This, I believe, is due to the fact that Italian is so family-centred. Italian loyalties start with the family, then the town, then the country. Strangers just don't come into the equation. At the same time, however, it must be said that this strong sense of family is also responsible for many of the positive aspects of Italy.
(BTW, the notion of Italians being in any way "cowards" is just a silly and totally unjustified stereotype.)
Not a national stereotype as such
But I had to check twice to see that the man's name wasn't Berlusconi.
Seems like a metaphor for the whole of Italy right now, doesn't it. And the new Royal Yacht might be ours.
I'm depressed now.
I know a little bit about this
I used to work in the industry and around ten/twelve years ago spent a lot of time in Genoa at the HQ of Costa. I have met Pier Luigi Foschi, the Chief Executive, on a number of occasions and have been on Costa (and other) cruise ships and met their captains (although not this particular individual). I have also been on the bridge of a number of ships whilst at sea.
First off, Spartacus is absolutely right to plead caution at this stage - none of us were there, none of us can really know what happened at the time or in the immediate aftermath, or why people acted as they did.
However, based on what I have seen reported, I would say this.
Clearly the ship deviated from its 'normal' course on this occasion. Between the ports on its itinerary, cruise ships would normally stay within accepted shipping lines. However they may, in certain circumstances, change their route for a number of reasons - to avoid local weather patterns for instance, or to avoid other vessels, or even to avoid potential piracy situations. The detour towards the shoreline of this small island, although apparently done for more frivolous reasons, is not necessarily unusual nor would necessarily be frowned upon (and it would appear there is some precedent). However once such a detour has been decided upon (and I would expect it to have been discussed with HO first) it is absolutely incumbent upon the Captain to ensure it is done safely and with regard to local charts and conditions. Given this, how and why the Captain and his crew hit the rocks is still pure speculation - did they not know the rocks were there, were they off course, were they using inaccurate charts? We don't know.
Re lifeboat drill - I don't believe there was a drill before the accident, which surprises me as I would have expected there to be one before dinner on the first day at sea (notwithstanding the 24 hour rule mentioned by Martin above).
Re the captain's actions on the night - apparently he was on the bridge at the time, although it wouldn't have surprised me if he'd been away from the bridge schmoozing with passengers - half his job is in PR, and his crew should be more than capable of sailing the ship in his absence. Ultimate responsibility is still his. And regarding the timing of his leaving the ship - again, I hesitate to jump to conclusions but I would hope he had an absolutely cast iron, unassailable reason for not staying on the ship as long as was humanly possible. Whilst the idea that the captain must go down with his ship is a Hollywood myth, his place was there, to oversee the evacuation and to essentially act as a figurehead for both crew and passengers. EVEN if logic suggested he could perform his duties better on shore, he should have remained on the ship (in my view) until the last possible moment.
And it should not be forgotten in all this, what an exceptional feat it was in the circumstances to evacuate over 4,000 souls from a ship of that size and complexity, with half its lifeboats essentially out of commission, in the time they did and with so few casualties. There were far more heroes than villains on that ship, that night.
My mate Andy is a shipping lawyer.
He's been on this case since the first Smit tug got notice of trouble.. About an hour after the initial contact.
He's astonished, given the passenger manifest and the number of elderly and infirm therein, that the casualty figures are so low and he echoes Paul's comments.
Yes, it was a slow capsize. Yes, it capsized to landward. But, still. The evacuation systems worked to an astonishingly comprehensive degree.
We can enter into debate, however, about the sparsity of longditudinal bulkheads in modern ships. These stop water sloshing to one side and prevent capsizing. German WW2 ships had them. And were very difficult to sink. The complete lack of them on the car deck of the Herald Of Free Enterprise ensured a rapid capsize and catastrophic loss of life.
Cruise ships should, really, have them. Cruise ships shouldn't hit rocks these days but human error has to be factored into design.
Good post from Paul
best not to go judgement-jumping until the facts are in - i'll leave that to the tabs
The thing that struck me with all The Titanic comparisons...
...is that in 100 years "women and children first" has been replaced by "every man for himself" in the vids I have seen.
On a lighter note, I loved it that the last people rescued were Korean honeymooners discovered in their cabin. Hopefully they were oblivious to all the fuss going on outside their bedroom door.
Presumably the unfortunate Captain's
next posting will be to one of his company's most seriously land-locked coffee shops
Nice excuse but
Tripped and happened to land in a lifeboat reminds me of those stories from hospital casualty departments . You know the ones... "I was hoovering naked when I tripped and fell on a banana"
Nice excuse but still doesn't quite beat my favourite: Father Ted Crilly's "the money was only resting in my account"
Joke
A ship carrying three American ex-presidents was sinking. "Women and children first" cried Jimmy Carter. "F*ck the women" snarled Nixon, barging for the lifeboats. "Have we got time?" said Bill Clinton....