Posted on 01/14/2012 9:54:27 PM PST by GATOR NAVY
Upon departure from the port of a Giglio, an island off the northwestern coast of Italy, the cruise ship Costa Concordia struck a reef, tearing a 50 meter-long gash in her hull. Reports indicate the ship’s captain, Commander Paolillo, attempted to steer the ship toward shallower waters to enable an easier lifeboat evacuation. A reported 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew were onboard when she grounded.
UPDATE: The captain of the cruise ship COSTA CONCORDIA has been arrested by Italian police as an investigation into Friday night’s grounding is launched. Officials said Saturday that captain of appears to have taken the vessel very close to the shore for reasons that are still unknown.
Weather at the time of the incident was calm with waves were under 3 ft. There is word that the ship had made an emergency stop in Marseille on January 8th but those reports have not been confirmed.
Here’s the ship’s track via MarineTraffic.com:
Link to NGA chart 53135
Ping. I’m a regular reader of gCaptain. I know you linked this on the other thread but I thought the track info deserved its own thread.
This is just so strange.
I read on an English version of a Rome newspaper that the Captain has been arrested.
The accounts from the passengers are interesting.
In one newspaper there was a reference to the engines being interrupted by resonance harmonics. What the heck is that in reference to engines.
That’s a huge mess to clean up.
Very interesting link.
The videos are REALLY interesting, the charts are too but I have know idea how to read them. (very well anyway)
Thanks anyway.
If you have specific questions on the charts I can try to answer them.
Thanks
Im going to say it could it be terrorism ?
He went for it ..... and learned it was not well charted, because no significant vessels sail thru it!!!!!
I have personal experience with this one (not my ship but one I was working with), absolutely believable.
None of these make sense except the one with the big red X, which is where the ship foundered. It’s prow is pointed straight at the harbor just to the south, as is evident from news photos which show the harbor entrance lighthouse in the foreground.
The only sensible interpretation is that the ship was making for the port and ran hard aground at the spot where it lies. Consider the news reports where passengers reported the shock of the grounding as the first indication of trouble, followed by dissembling and inaction by the crew.
These tracks aren’t speculation. They are screen shots of the ship’s actual track from MarineTraffic.com. as reported by the ship’s AIS (Automatic Information System). The ship went through that narrow passage (for whatever reason), hit the rocks and then made for the port when the extent of the damage was realized. This required a 180° turn to the south, the ship’s final heading when it sank.
I don’t believe it. You’re saying it acquired this great gash, then sojourned well past the harbor to the north, executed a 180, then got itself hung up on rocks remarkably similar to the ones that caused the gash earlier.
There has to be plenty of physical evidence, one way or the other. They did arrest him.
That ship should have side thrusters on each side of the bow and stern where it can do 180s and 360’s in ports. The Captain could have stopped engines, whipped the ship around with the thrusters and reversed course or he could have just reversed engines full astern and backed up on the same path he had been on in order to be on the safe side until he got a true fix on his position instead of risking a unknown path.
Or did the ship not make her turn to the north as scheduled, and nearly ran into the island, then 'shot the slot' between those offshore rocks? That allegedly occurred in that long space between the last (blue track) position mark on the WNW heading, and the next off Punta del Lazzaretto, well to the NW of the port?
Where did those Facebook course postings come from, and how reliable are they?
Sky News reported that the ship was 4 miles off coarse.
Captain abandonded ship at approx 23:30 but passengers were still being rescued at approx 3:30
Now they hear sounds coming from the number 3 deck
“That’s a huge mess to clean up.”
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You have the only sensible post on this thread, hahaha.
Everyone else is using he said/she said info and trying to look like marine experts while knowing nothing.
There is little to speculate on till the ship’s data
recorders are analyzed, and recorded testimony of crew and passengers is revealed.
I imagine with a little time, much more will be learned.
Remember, this is an Italian flagged ship: Captain didn't abandon ship; he was personally escorting a lovely lady to safety, every step of the way to the hotel. *<];-)
Any live newsfeeds online?
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