Stricken cruise liner captain DID abandon ship before passengers AND refused to go back when ordered

Daily Mail UK ^ | 1-17-12 | By Lee Moran and Nick Pisa

[Red Badger]

Francesco Schettino to appear before judge today

Arrested on suspicion of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship

Ignored order from coastguard to return to ship

'Offered to return to doomed cruise liner, but only to collect black box'

Junior officers led a 'mutiny' after he dithered in giving orders

Seventh person was found dead in shipwrecked vessel, rescuers say this morning

35 Britons on board reported safe and well, more than 60 people injured, 29 still missing

Reports Schettino was dining with passengers when the accident happened

The Costa Concordia's captain did abandon ship before hundreds of his passengers, it has emerged via a transcript of a conversation between him and the local coastguard.

Francesco Schettino, who will be questioned today by investigating magistrate Valeria Montesarchio, also lied to the Captain of the Port of Livorno's Coastguard when asked how many people were on board the sinking liner, Italian media reported today.

He initially replied '40', when there were actually hundreds still at risk, and when further questioned admitted he was not even there.

He then ignored an order to go back onto the sinking ship - with some reports suggesting he volunteered to return, but only to pick up the black box.

[Timber Rattler]

Captain Coward indeed. No Captain Smith is this one...

[Paladin2]

Sounds like a couple of men deserve a promotion.

[Red Badger]

Altruism?
That was not the point.
The point was there was an incompetent captain, and we were speculating that he may have gotten his position through ‘pull’ rather than ‘skill’................

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

lol

[Charles Martel]

'Offered to return to doomed cruise liner, but only to collect black box'

Sounds more like a bus driver than a sea captain. Keel-haul him! Should be easy - the keel is pretty close to the surface.

[GonzoGOP]

Altruism? That was not the point.+

Being captain doesn't mean you have to go down with your ship. But it does mean that you stay aboard until the passengers are away. It does mean that you remain calm and take command. And it means that you put people who know their job on watch when you are at dinner. This captain did none of those things.

If you look at their actual course vs the course they took it isn't even close. They were on the wrong side of the island, a look out the dining room window would have told the captain that something was badly wrong. Then when the ship stuck they waited an hour before sending the passengers to the muster stations. Had they sent them immediately when the engine room started to flood they could have lowered the boats while the ship was still relatively level. In doing so they would have avoided the panic caused when many of the boats could not be launched.

It is only fortunate that so few lives were lost. And that was not planning, just dumb luck and hard work on the part of the locals, who are outnumbered by the ships passengers and crew almost ten to one.

[Babashane]

Now that you mention it.........

[numberonepal]

“The Virtue of Selfishness” explained that rather clearly.

That'd be rational selfishness. Rand haters always leave that part out. In all her non-fiction works rational selfishness is the proper way to describe the philosophy. The point being if you don't help yourself first, how can you help anyone else. This cowardly captain showed irrational selfishness.

[BlazingArizona]

“Good thing he doesn’t work for a Chinese Cruise Line, he would have been shot already.”

Judging from the stock action, Carnival could be a Chinese cruise line before long.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Question: How did this guy ever attain the position of captain of a cruise ship?

[Red Badger]

Is gibbeting still allowed?.........

[gusty]

The captain of the ship must have attended the George Costanza School of Emergency Procedure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuP9YClyPRY

[Red Badger]

That was what we were speculating upon. He may be the brother-in-law of some high mucky muck........

[Red Badger]

Bus driver?

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***Stricken cruise liner captain DID abandon ship before passengers AND refused to go back when ordered***

something similar happened quite few years ago. A cruise ship started to sink and the Captain and crew immediately abandoned ship leaving the passengers to fend for themselves.

The captain’s claim was he wanted to establish a command center OFF THE SHIP so he could then begin rescuing the passengers.

[Georgia Girl 2]

That may well be true. The pic I saw of him he looked like a terrorist.

[az_gila]

As an aside - this is where the policy of “woman and children first” came from -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Birkenhead_(1845)

A story of some brave soldiers.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Q: How many people does it take to captain the Costa Concordia?

A: One and a fifth.

- recycled Joseph Hazelwood “Exxon Valdez” joke.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I think this is the ship,

http://www.oceanossinking.com/

[MeganC]

Has anyone else noticed that the ads for Cruise.com on the Travel Channel feature an aerial shot of the Costa Concordia?