I’m well aware of how dangerous it is especially when landing aircraft on the stern or a flight deck, replenishing at sea, or dealing with heavy weather. I’m not even upset the capt changed course - but this idiot didn’t take soundings, bother to establish a visual nav team, or deal with the situation after it occurred as a responsible capt would.
That being said - the korean thing is still up for review as suspect of NK foul play, I thought I heard the Norwegian had something going on below decks in regards to hotwork, Looking at the xmas island freighter it wasn’t well maintained and appears to be the result of storm surge, oh and the russian sub fire was a result of hotwork and with exception of the SK ship all the others were alongside the pier - there is no excuse for running aground in todays age of GPS, fathometers, range finders, thrusters, and manual backups in calm weather....
but then it was dark, you can hear the CO talk to the PA about it - BAH, ship him over the side and keel-haul him mates, he’s a landlubber making as a mermaid - so let him swim.
With Satellite Weather data, RADAR, GPS, all sorts of web based ship traffic position data, etc, it would seem that it is still a much more dangerous business than the Cruise Lines would lead one to believe (not including hiring cowboys as Captains - not that there is anything wrong with cowboys, they just shouldn't be allowed to drive the train...).
It also explains why so many Navy Captains have their careers cut short.