Costa Concordia

[vic mcclymont]

Channel 5 is broadcasting its investigations into what happened.
The first episode was last night second tonight, well worth a viewing.
The Chief of Police was reporting his side of the story, he stated that he was on the cliff top overlooking the stricken vessel when the captain of the ship asked him "how long have these ciffs been there"?
Took over an hour to raise the general alarm, by then it was to late to lower many of the lifeboats.
The captain did not report initially to the authorities that the ship was taking on water.
Well worth a viewing.
Vic

[Keith Tindell]

Have got it on record Vic, will wait for second part tonight, then watch both parts, and skipping the adverts, kt

[happy daze john in oz]

Could be a case of he read the wrong charts or should have gone to Specsavers.

But it was a terrible disaster and one has to wonder just what he was thinking at the time.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Could be a case of he read the wrong charts or should have gone to Specsavers.

But it was a terrible disaster and one has to wonder just what he was thinking at the time.

You spelt that wrong John, not thinking --- drinking
Des

[j.sabourn]

I thought the Costa Concordia was signed sealed and delivered at the enquiry The initial proceedings that was the cause of this stupid accident have already been inserted into its slot in history. The story put out by the makers of the documentary can only be doing it for others pleasure to watch and to make money for the Producer. All very well in our society. Questions about what the masters thoughts are only he can say , but judging by photos taken of him doesn’t show him with much feeling at all. However photos the media put out do not all tell a true story and can be picked at random to show different facial expressions. Myself and I think most seafarers if had been judged in default would be distraught , any master of a ship there is nothing worse than losing people be it crew or passengers , and to loose a ship on top of it would drive a lot to feelings of suicide. The few stories I have read about this person the media have done a hatchet job on him already , and are now coming back for a second go. I don’t know the man personally so have no feelings about him. But in addition to this do have feelings about the media and how they can twist a story to their own ends. Hatchet jobs are their speciality .ones on the way for the chop at present are members of the Royal Family which I wouldn’t even bother reading as know most of it is crap.
Good disasters are always good material at Xmas time, this time of year there are usually a few more that happen as well. Cheers JS

[corrientes]

I thought the Costa Concordia was signed sealed and delivered at the enquiry The initial proceedings that was the cause of this stupid accident have already been inserted into its slot in history. The story put out by the makers of the documentary can only be doing it for others pleasure to watch and to make money for the Producer. All very well in our society. Questions about what the masters thoughts are only he can say , but judging by photos taken of him doesn’t show him with much feeling at all. However photos the media put out do not all tell a true story and can be picked at random to show different facial expressions. Myself and I think most seafarers if had been judged in default would be distraught , any master of a ship there is nothing worse than losing people be it crew or passengers , and to loose a ship on top of it would drive a lot to feelings of suicide. The few stories I have read about this person the media have done a hatchet job on him already , and are now coming back for a second go. I don’t know the man personally so have no feelings about him. But in addition to this do have feelings about the media and how they can twist a story to their own ends. Hatchet jobs are their speciality .ones on the way for the chop at present are members of the Royal Family which I wouldn’t even bother reading as know most of it is crap.
Good disasters are always good material at Xmas time, this time of year there are usually a few more that happen as well. Cheers JS

Spot on!!

[vic mcclymont]

I watched both episodes of the programme, initially I thought they are doing an axe job on the Captain, but I don't think so.
There seems to be disagreements over the course he claims he was ordered by the company to sail close to the Island an allegation they deny.
The female passenger he had on board in my mind is a smokescreen and a diversion from what actually happened.
The Captain arrived on the bridge and saw that the ship was heading for the rocks - what were the O.O.W doing, this act has never been fully investigated.
Cottechino (spelling) tried to save the ship he took control, ordering course changes, which according to voice recordings the Helmsman failed to execute or did not understand again, where were the O.O.W?
His mistakes:-
Failed to fully inform Coast Guard of the complete situation.
Failed to lower lifeboats to disembarkation level, after he was informed that the ship was taking on water, three water tight compartments breached.
Failed to sound General Alarm, until one hour after the ship struck the rocks.
C.G. could not contact Officers of the Bridge, allegations that they were cutting a deal with owners rather than show interest in what was happening.
The Helmsman, The Hotel Director and the Captain were the only ones prosecuted, which gives credence to the allegations that the other Officers cut a deal to save their skins.
When the new course was plotted did the Navigator inform anyone of the danger of partially submerged rocks?
Why did the O.O.W not spot the danger in the ships path?
In my opinion the Captain has been made the fall guy, yes he made mistakes but he had subordinates that should have informed him of any danger and these guys are in my opinion more culpable than the Captain.
Vic

[Keith Tindell]

Pretty much agree with that Vic , the main OOW went in for plea bargaining as well, which was a get out of jail, literally. The main thing that downed the skipper was he left the ship, claiming he *fell* into the lifeboat, kt

[Ivan Cloherty]

We had an in-depth discussion about this at the time of the occurence and shortly afterwards, and those of us who have had face to face dealings with the Press, know that they can alter the facts by cherry picking words to suit their own agenda. I cannot comment on the programme, as have not yet seen it, it has been recorded, but committments preclude me from watching it at present. I have watched other so called documentaries which bear no resemblance to a court of inquiries report. Some so called maritime experts called upon to give their considered opinion have never been to sea, they were historians getting their experience from books, and even some maritime experts who had been to sea seemed to have betrayed their profession for the sake of falling in with the prejudged result of the documentary.

Lets face it the CC event was a debacle whichever way you look at it, but had the Master not returned to shore after first striking it and deliberately put the vessel on the rocks then a lot more than 32 people would have died, as trying to evacuate over 4000 souls from a sinking ship out at sea would probably, or more likely invariably have seen a lot more fatalities.

As for jumping into the sea, how many of us have hung onto a bridge wing door when the vessel rolls through 15 - 25 degrees to stop us sliding down a wet steel deck and being tossed over the bridge wing bulwarks which at best are just over waist/chest level high, once you've started that momentum through the law of physics there is not much you can do to stop it. Not defending the man, just painting a picture that a lands person cannot envisage nor understand, you have to have worn the shoes.

[j.sabourn]

#9 Ivan I can only repeat what I said about another enquiry .we are conditioned to accept the courts findings which over a period of over 30 years and going through various stages of frustration have learned to live with. For the 30th.anniversary I made every endeavour to appear at the Documentary’s makers request as was supposed to be a tribute to those lost and to me would be a sign of disrespect if didn’t appear as they requested . told them any testimony I gave them was not to be altered and which they agreed to, may I also say my wife was going into hospital as I was flying the nest so to speak as tried cancelling the flight and which the travel agency would not return the $3000 , and on her insistence I went. I did two interviews one in Hull at the maritime museum and one close to Harrogate at their studios. Before being interviewed I signed a document that I would have no claim on any profits this documentary produced . We all parted good friends and I flew home . After a number of weeks they sold this documntary to Think it was BBC Scotland however whoever watched it will know . Shortly after I received a phone call from this media source asking would I come back and redo some of the testimony, all at their expense. I told them it would be a waste of time as I had no intention of changing anything I said. Brian Kong remarked when that documentary was shown for 90 minutes there seemed to be a lack of substance , I did not appear in it , I was scrubbed out of it which suited me, I watched it once and to me was not what it should have been , the whole thing could have been done in 20 minutes , and even then I would have been very sceptical of the results .This was not due to the Documentary makers , but the people who put it to air. I have no wish to cast aspersions on any of those who did appear in the show , but only hope they weren’t inveigled into saying other than they believed true. If BBC Scotland want to sue me they can go ahead and I may even enjoy seeing the original version of the tape they bought if they still have it that is. I am quite willing to take an oath on the Bible are they ?
Cheers JS