The arrest of the captain is very shocking

[Althearose]

"Monique Maurek, 41, from the Netherlands, told The Sunday Telegraph: 'What scandalised me most was when I saw the captain spending much of the evening before we hit the rocks drinking in the bar with a beautiful woman on his arm."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2086881/Costa-Concordia-captain-Francesco-Schettino-officer-Ciro-Ambrosio-arrested.html#ixzz1jY1tXbyq

[Althearose]

I have children and I could never now let them on a ship as they would be terrified.

 

We cruised over Christmas and New Years on the Carnival Spirit and there was a young girl in front of us crying during the muster drill. She had seen the Titanic and was terrified. I have been thinking of her the last couple of days.

 

On the other hand, my daughter, age 11, is not phased at all by this recent tragedy and says she wants to cruise again soon.

 

Me, not so much.

[ODA 564]

Defamation isn't just unethical--it can be expensive to defend.

 

An e-threat? How droll! Please illuminate for me how I defamed anyone and under what country's laws.

[jopocop]

This Captain was joyridding his ship way too close to this Island, off of the normal path through the strait. He is guilty and will be behind bars for a long time. The Cruise Industry will see to that to save their own bacon. They need a scapegoat to show this was a criminal act to keep the cruising industry growing and prosperus.

I am not going to cruise for a long time, as I cannot trust any Captain and his team if this kind of joy ridding is possible.

There should be back at HQ for the cruise line watching 24/7 where its ships are traveling and sending orders to the Captain to stop the path, etc. Airplanes are tracked in the sky and so should all cruise ships so that they don't hit anything.

[4Sheets2theWind]

I'm no expert on Italian law but it sounds like the prosecutor did the responsible thing holding the Captain during the initial investigation -- especially given credible (and wide-spread) reports of the Captain's behavior (are all of those people who saw the Captain leave before the evacuation was finished really lying?)

 

I hope that if the Captain is absolved he will be released in due time... but I can't say I fault the Italian prosecutor for doing his job...

 

Agreed. And it does seem to be the Italian way to charge the most senior person who may be culpable very early on. They are not always found guilty, and I'm not even sure if it helps, but its does seem to be a typical operating procedure.

 

As a parallel, in 1994, Ayrton Senna was tragically killed driving for the Williams team in the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Imola. Frank Williams, the team owner and principal was "charged with manslaughter in accordance with Italian law, but was cleared after several years". Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Williams_(Formula_One)

 

Bare in mind that Frank Williams was not on the track at the time, would never have taken a spanner to the car Senna was driving, and was not the Chief designer. But in the eyes of the Italian law he was someone to be held accountable if it was proven that mistakes by his team had lead to the death.

[sstrong]

So far only 3 FACTS are known about this disaster:

 

1. The ship hit a rock and suffered catastrophic damage;

2. Well over 4000 people were rescued; and

3. Three fatalaties are confirmed.

 

Everything else is conjecture. The whys, whens, hows etc will only be known for sure after a full and thorough investigation and enquiry have been conducted.

 

To attribute blame before then is wrong.

 

Some facts you forgot:

 

4. The captain abandoned ship while many passengers were still on board and in danger.

 

5. The ship was sailing off course dangerously close to the shore.

 

6. After the accident occurred, the life boats could have been swiftly deployed but the crew waited until it was too late because the ship was listing.

 

7. The ship didn't issue a mayday call until after the belated evacuation was underway.

[4Sheets2theWind]

My confidence in all Cruise Ships is now shattered. I cannot believe that any Captain and his close offices could hit rocks, with all of the tech gear and sonar and stuff. A witness on Giglio Island said the ship was sailing the closest ever. This ship was going to sink fast but for it was ultimately able to turn and beach itself on the island. That gash in the side was huge! The gash had a big boulder or rock stuck in it.

I don't feel I can trust any Captain and his team if they could do this kind of joyriding with a ship. Totally disgusting and frightening. I have children and I could never now let them on a ship as they would be terrified.

This Captain needs jail time, along with others in charge that went along with this horrible joy riding

 

Yes, let's not wait for any investigation, just hang him and be done with it. :roll eyes:

 

I pity any innocent man or woman who finds themselves in the dock with you in the jury.

[dot73]

This Captain was joyridding his ship way too close to this Island, off of the normal path through the strait. He is guilty and will be behind bars for a long time. The Cruise Industry will see to that to save their own bacon. They need a scapegoat to show this was a criminal act to keep the cruising industry growing and prosperus.

I am not going to cruise for a long time, as I cannot trust any Captain and his team if this kind of joy ridding is possible.

This is all speculation. The real facts will come out after the investigation is completed. The media has gone haywire (as usual) and people are speculating all over the place and rushing to justice. This will in no way stop me from cruising just as plane crashes won't stop me from flying, or car crashes stop me from driving. If this accident was as a result of mechanical failure, human error, or negligence, the truth will come out and the captain and his officers will be dealt with accordingly.

[dot73]

Some facts you forgot:

 

4. The captain abandoned ship while many passengers were still on board and in danger.

 

5. The ship was sailing off course dangerously close to the shore.

 

6. After the accident occurred, the life boats could have been swiftly deployed but the crew waited until it was too late because the ship was listing.

 

7. The ship didn't issue a mayday call until after the belated evacuation was underway.

 

And you know all this from what - media reports, eyewitness reports, etc. All of these have been very wrong in the past. Wait until the investigation is completed and then place the blame where it belongs.

[cubella59]

I can't speak to whether the reports in this article are true and whom the Capt was seen with. However I can speak with absolute certainty to the fact that the Capt's wife and daughter boarded the Concordia on Dec 27 in Civi. The Capt's wife is a strikingly beautful Italian woman (as is his daughter for that matter). We met the wife and daughter in our private dining room where he was dining with them. It was the first time he had seen them in four months and he was going to disembark with them in the near future (he works 4 months on, 2 months off). It was also not unusual to see the Capt drink, let's remember folks he hosts several passenger gala nights where he is at his table with his officers and wine flows at these dinners. We had dinner with the Capt the night before his wife and daughter boarded and I can say with certainty that he had two glasses of wine and when our server offered to reflill his glass, he declined. He was also constantly being called on his cell from the bridge.

 

If his daugher and wife were still on board when this tragedy occured, it may explain why he supposedly left before all passengers and crew were off. Not that it's an excuse, he certainly could have made sure his wife and daughter were in a lifeboat and off the ship safely, but who knows what runs through one's mind when you believe your family is in danger. The man being portayed in the media as a reckless coward, was not the man I thought I met. I'm really struggling with the dichotomy, Just food for thought.

 

"Monique Maurek, 41, from the Netherlands, told The Sunday Telegraph: 'What scandalised me most was when I saw the captain spending much of the evening before we hit the rocks drinking in the bar with a beautiful woman on his arm."

Read more:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2086881/Costa-Concordia-captain-Francesco-Schettino-officer-Ciro-Ambrosio-arrested.html#ixzz1jY1tXbyq

[YII]

"Monique Maurek, 41, from the Netherlands, told The Sunday Telegraph: 'What scandalised me most was when I saw the captain spending much of the evening before we hit the rocks drinking in the bar with a beautiful woman on his arm."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2086881/Costa-Concordia-captain-Francesco-Schettino-officer-Ciro-Ambrosio-arrested.html#ixzz1jY1tXbyq

 

Since when is that a crime ? Maybe she was just jealous.

[nellydean]

Since when is that a crime ? Maybe she was just jealous.

 

I bet his wife won't be too pleased either

[jopocop]

No, I would tell the judge to disqualify me as that is my right to refuse jury duty if I already made up my mind.

According to many witness accounts, and even the Captain, he was sailing way to close to this Island. Why?

It is night and there is no reason to be next to the Island speeding along.

Anyway, the ship has gear to detect the approaching rocks and nobody was watching that.

He lost billion dollar ship needlessly, and caused deaths, injuries, and Carnival and the rest of the cruise line stocks will plunge now when markets open. There will be layoffs in the industry, less travel by airlines, and everything, for what this man did.

He goes to jail for a long time I would say.

[sstrong]

And you know all this from what - media reports, eyewitness reports, etc. All of these have been very wrong in the past. Wait until the investigation is completed and then place the blame where it belongs.

 

Yes! This is an internet chat board about cruising. People come here to discuss, debate, hypothesize, and speculate about these things. We do it based on the available facts. They may change but these are the facts as we currently know them. If you don't want to hear other people's opinions about them, you should stick to hard copies of print newspapers -- not an internet forum that exists for this purpose.

[sylmack]

No, I would tell the judge to disqualify me as that is my right to refuse jury duty if I already made up my mind.

According to many witness accounts, and even the Captain, he was sailing way to close to this Island. Why?

It is night and there is no reason to be next to the Island speeding along.

Anyway, the ship has gear to detect the approaching rocks and nobody was watching that.

He lost billion dollar ship needlessly, and caused deaths, injuries, and Carnival and the rest of the cruise line stocks will plunge now when markets open. There will be layoffs in the industry, less travel by airlines, and everything, for what this man did.

He goes to jail for a long time I would say.

 

Was the Captain even on duty at the time ? I thought he was in the bar with a beautiful woman on his arm.

 

Doesn't matter anyways because he is ultimately responsible for the ship and the actions of his crew.

[kirsty_r]

Was the Captain even on duty at the time ? I thought he was in the bar with a beautiful woman on his arm.

 

Doesn't matter anyways because he is ultimately responsible for the ship and the actions of his crew.

Reports did say he was on the bridge at the time of the accident. The being in a bar thing might not necessarily be true.

[jopocop]

The Black Box shows the Captain is lying and covering his butt.

 

So, you got a loose cannon Captain that jeopardizes everyone for his joyriding and then he tries to cover it up as a lier.

 

Here is the latest news account:

 

Schettino has said the ship hit rocks that were not marked on his nautical charts, and that he did all that he could to save lives. "We were navigating approximately 300 metres from the rocks," he told Media set television. "There shouldn't have been such a rock." On Sunday night, Italian RAI radio reported that the ship's black box, discovered by rescue teams, had revealed the Costa Concordia was just 150 metres from Giglio when it struck rocks.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/15/cruise-ship-scene-disaster?newsfeed=true

[kenish]

Was the Captain even on duty at the time ? I thought he was in the bar with a beautiful woman on his arm.

 

Doesn't matter anyways because he is ultimately responsible for the ship and the actions of his crew.

 

Exactly. The captain cannot be on the bridge 24/7; they need to sleep, eat, and have leisure time too. That said, in both maritime and aviation law the captain or person in command of the vessel is held totally accountable for anything and everything that happens under their watch.

 

Assuming the captain was off-duty and in the bar (and that's hearsay right now), I have a question (I don't know maritime law, only aviation regs): would the off-duty captain be allowed to consume alcohol, and what is the waiting time between the last drink and assuming command? (It's 8 hours in aviation).

[jopocop]

Also, executive management of Costa violated every PR rule in the book. There are expert crisis management companies that are available 24/7 to rapidly assess a disaster and do immediate PR to show the company in the best possible light.

 

Here we are two days later and upper management is in denial and will not release the truth to the public. Upper Management knows what exactly happened and will not tell the truth.

 

Shame on them, including Carnival executive management not cooperating to tell the truth to the public.

[Red Mini Stapler]

Also, executive management of Costa violated every PR rule in the book. There are expert crisis management companies that are available 24/7 to rapidly assess a disaster and do immediate PR to show the company in the best possible light.

 

Here we are two days later and upper management is in denial and will not release the truth to the public. Upper Management knows what exactly happened and will not tell the truth.

 

Shame on them, including Carnival executive management not cooperating to tell the truth to the public.

 

how dare you expecting them to work during weekends?? :eek:

[Signor John]

The Black Box shows the Captain is lying and covering his butt.

 

Your post reminds me of the "gossip" or "telephone" game that we used to play as kids. One child would whisper something in the next kid's ear, and the story that emerged at the other end of the line seldom matched the original statement.

 

All that you have to go on is a news story about a radio report. Have you heard the original radio report? Can you verify its content and its source?

 

Maybe the captain screwed up, and maybe he didn't. At this point, we simply don't know.

[Hunwolf]

Defamation isn't just unethical--it can be expensive to defend.

 

LOL...that's a good one. It would be better though if you actually had an idea what defamation stood for.

 

Comments made on a message board don't come close to meeting any standard...especially when the story/person is of large public interest. Only in rare exceptions (aka Richard Jewell in Atlanta) has even the media been held up that standard.

[Shangrila Seeker]

Everyone seems to think the ccaptain was on the bridge at the time of the accident. I don't believe a captain is on the bridge 24/7. And yes he is the resposible person, he still has other duties,(Captains reception, and sleep) that does take him away from the bridge. As for him leaving the ship we will have to see all the facts. He may have been push over the side in all of the confusion.

 

Question I would have is if the ship hit on the port side why is it laying on the starboard side?

[Gerrym]

If we are going to quote facts, please let's keep it to the facts and not mix it up with opinion or hearsay.

 

 

Some facts you forgot:

 

4. The captain abandoned ship while many passengers were still on board and in danger. Not fact, the Captain maintains he did stay until all known passengers were off the ship.

 

5. The ship was sailing off course dangerously close to the shore. Agreed

 

6. After the accident occurred, the life boats could have been swiftly deployed but the crew waited until it was too late because the ship was listing. Your view, not yet fact.

 

7. The ship didn't issue a mayday call until after the belated evacuation was underway. Agreed

[travelberlin]

I can't speak to whether the reports in this article are true and whom the Capt was seen with. However I can speak with absolute certainty to the fact that the Capt's wife and daughter boarded the Concordia on Dec 27 in Civi. The Capt's wife is a strikingly beautful Italian woman (as is his daughter for that matter). We met the wife and daughter in our private dining room where he was dining with them. It was the first time he had seen them in four months and he was going to disembark with them in the near future (he works 4 months on, 2 months off). It was also not unusual to see the Capt drink, let's remember folks he hosts several passenger gala nights where he is at his table with his officers and wine flows at these dinners. We had dinner with the Capt the night before his wife and daughter boarded and I can say with certainty that he had two glasses of wine and when our server offered to reflill his glass, he declined. He was also constantly being called on his cell from the bridge.

 

If his daugher and wife were still on board when this tragedy occured, it may explain why he supposedly left before all passengers and crew were off. Not that it's an excuse, he certainly could have made sure his wife and daughter were in a lifeboat and off the ship safely, but who knows what runs through one's mind when you believe your family is in danger. The man being portayed in the media as a reckless coward, was not the man I thought I met. I'm really struggling with the dichotomy, Just food for thought.

The main job of a captain should be to be responsible for the ship and the safety of the passengers. Not to be an entertainer. Sometimes I wonder if they do not have too much pressure on their jobs.