Capitano Schettino held a news conference today to endorse President Barack Obama's reelection, saying "Everybody deserves a second chance."
Posted on 10/14/2012 7:22:22 AM PDT by Uncle Chip
The disgraced captain of the Costa Concordia which ran into a rock and capsized off the Italian coast in January, killing up to 32 people, has sued for wrongful dismissal.
Italian Francesco Schettino was not only fired by Costa Cruises but is accused by prosecutors of causing the accident by sailing the luxury cruiser liner too close to shore.
He faces charges of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship and preliminary hearings will begin on Monday.
.................
The Naples-born captain has always acknowledged making mistakes once it became clear that the 144,400-tonne Costa Concordia was in trouble.
But he has said he was not the only one who should be blamed for the tragedy.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
This guy has been ducking responsibility since 2 seconds after grounding.
Kind of a metaphor for this election, isn’t it?
Captain Hazelwood wanted to keep his license, too, and what he did was, in terms of seamanship, a lot worse. At least Hazelwood stayed with the ship and did as good a job as possible of saving her after the wreck. Admittedly, no one died on Exxon Valdez.
The EU must be a real employment madhouse if this kind of appeal even gets a hearing.
What is it with Mediterranean seamen, anyway? Remember the Oceanus, a Greek crewed vessel that sank off the coast of South Africa? The Captain and officers were airlifted off the ship by helicopter without calling abandon ship. The evacuation was organized by the recreation director, a British woman.
There was a Greek cruise ship which ran aground off the coast of Cape Cod at night, without any injuries or danger of sinking. While they were awaiting tugs to pull them off, the Captain was interviewed by a local TV news crew. He attributed the grounding to a faulty navigational device, a cable from the GPS antenna was defective and the crew on the bridge were watching TV. The Coast Guard Captain of the Port of Boston on hearing this, had a Coast Guard “prize crew” seize the vessel, took off the all the ship’s officer and detained them in Boston for a hearing, and revoked their licenses in American waters, summarily. He had the ship taken to Boston, where the passengers were unloaded.
VA A BORDO!!!!!
If he pisses the wrong people off in Italy (which he seems to have a particularly unique talent in doing) he may find himself sleeping with the fishes - so to speak.
Il capitano e napolitano, eh? Adesso tutto exsplicato!
(Hey you, paisan! Getta back onna datta ship!)
;^)
The Italians have a word for this:
They must have gotten it from the Romans.
Capitano Schettino held a news conference today to endorse President Barack Obama's reelection, saying "Everybody deserves a second chance."
Any word on whom Captain Hazelwood intends to vote for?
“Captain Hazelwood wanted to keep his license, too, and what he did was, in terms of seamanship, a lot worse”
Wrong.
Hazelwood actually did nothing wrong. He was not even on the bridge when the Valdez ran aground. He was not drunk, he’d had a couple of drinks with dinner ashore. He had gone to bed and left the ship under the command of an officer who was supposed to qualified to run her. In a disaster of that magnitude there has to be a scapegoat. Hazelton, as captain of the ship, was the logical choice. Even though he did nothing wrong the responsibility for the disaster was ultimately his. He knew and accepted this.
Schettino killed 32 people showing off and trying to get laid then abandoned ship ahead of the passengers and crew he was responsible for. Schettinno is a cowardly, criminal POS and I hope he spends the rest of his life in prison.
Leaving the issue of Hazelwood’s dubious sobriety out of it, the issue of command responsibility comes to the fore. It is my understanding that the officer on the bridge was not qualified to navigate her (as he demonstrated) either in fact nor was he certified to do so. Regardless, it was Hazelwood’s responsibility to at all times have the ship in the hands of capable seamen, a responsibility he clearly failed.
The notions of irresponsibility and negligence only begin to describe Hazelwood’s action. Exxon Valdez was an accident that should never have happened, and required widespread lassitude and lackadaisical behavior on the part of just about every member of the crew. It is the captain’s responsibility to instill an attitude of diligence and attentiveness in his crew and dismiss those who will not conform.
Keep in mind, please that the standard for a sea captain being considered “intoxicated” is far lower than that for automobile drivers. Most people would be over the limit after two beers.
My God, anyone who understands the concept of command responsibility would never defend Hazelwood. Dead drunk, on the bridge he could have done a better job than the rookie he left on the bridge. Hazelwood was a capable seaman, but he failed to act responsibly and I doubt that this was the first time.
The next and inevitable question is one of who certified the mate?
I didn’t think you were defending the indefensible conduct of Capt. Hazelwood. The third mate was not certified to run the the “autopilot”, and it was his unfamiliarity with the automatic navigational system that was the proximate cause of the accident. Hazelwood left an unqualified, uncertified very junior officer to run the ship while he and the more senior officers slept it off. That was enough to pull his ticket, right there. Prince Williams Sound is not a particularly challenging or crowded harbor, which lulled everyone into a false sense of security. The Commander of the Coast Guard said his twelve year old nephew could have safely navigated it. Unfortunately, his nephew was not available that night.
Practically everything you wrote is wrong:
http://www.argee.net/Thrawn%20Rickle/Thrawn%20Rickle%2080.htm
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19990314&slug=2949434
Yeah, blame it on the cruise director. All those bing-bong PA announcements about the next Bingo game was probably too distracting to the captain.
-PJ
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