Posted on 01/13/2012 6:37:29 PM PST by Perdogg
A cruise ship with up to 4,000 people on board ran aground on the island of Giglio, off the Tuscan coast, on Friday night, and UK media reported that at least two people died.
The Telegraph said some passengers jumped from the steeply listing Costa Concordia and swam a short distance to the island. A photo in the Telegraph showed the brightly lit ship teetering just outside a harbor wall.
Sky News quoted coast guard officials as saying two people died.
(Excerpt) Read more at overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com ...
A major screw-up for sure. And I can only imagine the locals not being ready for 5,000 people right there right now.
RCCL sold our product for six years (a tour) along with NCL, Holland, PCL, and Carnival. Our place of business was built over the water about 100' from the bow of ship's tied up at berth 3 here in our small Southeastern Alaskan town.
Back around 1991 or 92 I was the chief engineer (the mechanic) on a 112’ dual paddle sternwheeler boat the Tahoe Queen at lake Taho, CA.
It was registered for 500 passengers, and I can say that made it a bit crowded, and it ran year round even through the minimal lake ice along the shore, it had to be a pretty bad storm to cancel cruises and I was on all of them.
During the severe drought then the lake level had dropped and the company dredged a 1500’ channel for this flat bottom boat to approach the marina, the boat is of course slab sided and three decks high and winds at 80mph caught it broadside and she ran aground, we had a shuttle boat that I pretty much built that successfully ferried everyone to shore, I spent the night making sure the big box beam steel “spuds” at each corner of the boat were lowered into the bottom to keep it in placed and I flooded the ballast tanks to make it sink in the silt.
Come morning after the wind died somewhat we used of all things a diesel towtruck to haul it out and after I pumped the ballast tanks dry, then she slid right out of the groove she made all night long.
True story. I could write a book about the two years I worked on that boat. And yes passengers do panic.
I’ve been on a cruise ship before. They are HUGH! With plenty of food and alcohol being served 24/7. The crew is very friendly also so I am sure to tip well. In this case, it appears that ship itself tipped.
I am a sailor, back in the 80’s there was a race from US to UK that encounter a fierce force 10 storm. A large number of sailors left badly hurt fellow sailors in the sailboat while they manned the life boat. 43 or so people died, all in the life boats, no one, even unconscious or badly injured that stayed with the boat died. If the boat is afloat, don’t leave it. google fastnet, Oh Ted Turner won the race, ted is a pretty good sailor even if he is an A hole.
So you jump off? presumably on the low side, so if it rolled it would roll on you.
hmmmm, panic or someone yelled cannonball
A range light would be a good idea, I think you are correct, they steered on the wrong light.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57359134/reports-cruise-ship-aground-off-italy-6-dead/
“The coast guard official, speaking from the port captain’s office in the Tuscan port of Livorno, said the vessel “hit an obstacle” — it wasn’t clear if it might have hit a rocky reef in the waters off Giglio — “ripping a gash 50 meters (165 feet) across” on the left side of the ship, and started taking on water.
The cruise liner’s captain, Paolillo said, then tried to steer his ship toward shallow waters, near Giglio’s small port, to make evacuation by lifeboat easier.”
It wasn’t trying to enter the port. I guess it’s still possible it was a navigation error - and there are still uncharted rocks, even in the Med, even in this day and age.
Don't they still play 'The bear went over the mountain' over the 1MC anymore? I mean, when it's time to go?
/johnny
Good Grief, this is just ridiculous and terrifying for all. This Line is soon to lose their LOL insurance policy.
Exactly right, I was on a cruise to Alaska and we were at Glacier Bay. The Captain had the big cruise ship turn a 360* turn in place! 3 TIMES so all the people everywhere on board the ship could view the Glaciers where ever they were!
It was Awesome!
well i am talking sailboats so that is kinda different, but as a rule I’d say the big floating boat is a better bet then the little rubber boat, particularly in weather.
depends on the waves, but one that big? never.
This is what I love about FR.
I'm big on terra firma.
The more firma, the less terra.
/johnny
The ship is way to big for that harbor. That would be a tender port even they had been scheduled to stop there. I wonder if they weren’t already having trouble when they ran aground.
As I mentioned that isn’t where they ran aground - they tore a long Titanic-like hole in the ship, and the Captain then deliberately sailed towards the harbor and ran her aground. Actually may have saved the ship and all the passengers.
165 foot gash, which is close to 20% of the length of the ship.
Ah, well, that makes sense then. A gash that big in a ship of that size is almost unthinkable. They hit something at speed. No doubt he probably did subsequently save the ship and many lives by running her aground. Speaking of Titanic, that dash to a nearby island was the move Britannic tried unsuccessfully to make.
However, I have been in certain ports where the harbor pilot was consistently a problem.
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