Concordia News: Please Post Here

[sidari]

"I accept that this is your experience on the ships you have sailed on, but there was no compulsion for them to do this. I have sailed on ferries that gave a very trunkated drill when we were were well into the voyage (P&O ferries Southampton to Bilbao)"

 

Under US Coastguard laws they do! and did before Concordia.

 

 

"No lifts would have any light in a total power outage when it was dark"

 

The glass to the Right is the External Port side of Brilliance of the seas, to the Left of the pic is one of the Lifts, the other side of the Lifts ie the Entrance is also clearto the Starboard side.

 

 

Edited October 23, 2012 by sidari

[sidari]

External view of the Port side Glass with Lifts Inside.

 

[cruiserfanfromct]

Still no news on the outcome of the pre-trial hearing. :(

 

On another note, Peter Knego, freelance cruise journalist and blogger has posted an article on a trip to Giglio, while in Tuscany on a recent assignment.

 

Read his interesting account with amazing pix here.

[silverfoxcruiser]

CruiserFan -- thank you for posting that link. Amazing pictures and fascinating story of his journey! Silver (family lives in Stratford, CT)

[Tonka's Skipper]

Still no news on the outcome of the pre-trial hearing. :(

 

On another note, Peter Knego, freelance cruise journalist and blogger has posted an article on a trip to Giglio, while in Tuscany on a recent assignment.

 

Read his interesting account with amazing pix here.

 

 

Thanks for the article and photos. It looks like they are cleaning up the tear in the side from the rock and getting ready to finish plating it over.

 

AKK

[Ken711]

Its a housing unit' date=' basicly a block of rooms with 3 levels of walkways/balconies around all sides.

 

These are common on oil rigs and work barges. If you remember back, Titan agreed to provide housing for the workers on the site or on the mainland but not take up the islands hotel space.

 

AKK[/quote']

 

Here's a close-up view of the housing unit.

 

[cruiserfanfromct]

You're welcome fellow nutmeggers Silver & Tonka.

 

To all shutterbugs, here's a great slideshow of some of the best photos of the mishap taken so far -- no particular order or timeline but very memorable pix from the beginning until recently (credit to AFP & Getty Images):

 

http://www.wkyc.com/news/photo-gallery.aspx?storyid=225343

[GranysT]

Cruiserfan,

Thanks so much for posting this. Very interesting.

[sidari]

CT ... Thanks for the link .... :)

[TheBestIsYetToCome]

Fair enough...if the ship is in its upright position...

 

But since Concordia is on her side, the glass elevators will be effectively dangling with a 40ft plus drop below to what was a wall on a deck landing that is now the floor (with the furniture, fixtures and fittings that were on the floor when the ship was upright all in a heap), nowhere to get out and crawl to cos there is nothing to crawl on.

 

Glass elevators were designed for buildings, they have never been tested on a listed ship...cos no-one ever considered that a ship the size of Concordia would fall over onto its side. The mindset has been build them big, build them with glitzy bits like glass elevators cos they would never sink or fall over....standard design complacency, never build redundancy into it cos it'll never be needed.

 

Concordia has shown that these ships are not perfect, they can and do fall over - the cause of why it fell over is not important per se, but the fact that it DID go over has unveiled all sorts of design and equipment issues that had largely been ignored under the "it'll never happen, so we do not need to worry about that" file.

 

People ask why engineering staff did not go to the elevators when she went over...simple really...the deck became the wall, the wall became the deck...

The image below....Carnival Magic's glass elevators....in the vertical, they are fine, but in the horizontal they are potentially lethal cos there IS nowhere to go...

 

That didn't happen immediately. If someone with proper training had been sent to check the elevator banks immediately following the power loss, there would have been time for a different outcome.

[sidari]

A Question for our Mariners out there... tonka etc.

 

Having looked at the pictures quite a few times now and zoomed in on some of them (40,46,58 and 65) the damage to the Hull is clearly behind and begins below the port side Stabiliser Fin, if the ship is supposed to have run sideways against La Scole rock how come the Stabiliser is not broken off ? with the damage being in the rear Quarter of the Hull what is the chance that it was caused when the Hard to Starboard order was given ?

 

 

Bestisyettocome ... no one seems to know where the Lift was located that the people are supposed to have been trapped inside.

Edited October 24, 2012 by sidari

[Max49]

It's obvious the bow of the ship was turning to starboard and the stern was swinging to port when it hit the rocks.

We will undoubtedly hear the "Hard to Port" order was after the collision to try to get the stern away from the rock. That order would have also sent the bow to port (toward land) and another quick order "Hard to Starboard would have been in order when they felt the stern was clear of the rocks so they could get the ship back towards the channel where the water was known to be deep enough.

A boat is like a car with rear wheel steering or backing your car up.

 

On another note; is the Grand Jury (or whatever they call it) hearing over? I haven't heard any news for awhile. The last I heard was Schettino requested permission to question the expert witnesses. I did'nt hear that was granted or denied and certainly did not hear what he might have said to them. I think it was in regard to whether Schettino pulled a brilliant maneuver to get the ship back to land or as the experts said it was just luck. That sounds like it should have been interesting ; but I don't think Schettino was in any condition to do any thing brilliant that night, especially after the crash.

Edited October 25, 2012 by Max49

[sidari]

"It's obvious the bow of the ship was turning to starboard and the stern was swinging to port when it hit the rocks"

 

Max .. i know and understand how that all works but given the distance between the Stabiliser Fin and the start of the metal buckling which is not very far there is no way a ship that size could have turned with no damage to the Fin because the turn to Port would have ripped it off! seeing as the start of the damage is below the bottom height of the fin.

 

It could be that had Concordia continued on the path it was on that it may well have either grazed or missed La Scole rock, in at least one of the pictures there are as many as four breaks in the Hull including the big hole.

[Max49]

"It's obvious the bow of the ship was turning to starboard and the stern was swinging to port when it hit the rocks"

 

Max .. i know and understand how that all works but given the distance between the Stabiliser Fin and the start of the metal buckling which is not very far there is no way a ship that size could have turned with no damage to the Fin because the turn to Port would have ripped it off! seeing as the start of the damage is below the bottom height of the fin.

 

It could be that had Concordia continued on the path it was on that it may well have either grazed or missed La Scole rock, in at least one of the pictures there are as many as four breaks in the Hull including the big hole.

 

I agree. I believe we heard that Schettino said he saw some spray indicating shallow water over rocks at the last minute. It is possible that if they waited a couple more seconds before turning to port, they may have missed the rock. We don't know if that would have put the bow of the ship in other dangers.

 

I've said before, the sail by in August, they may have missed the rocks by mere feet or even inches and apparently they never knew "Maddona" was watching out for them on that trip.

[Tonka's Skipper]

With that nice close up photo, that housing unit looks like it is made out of ocean contianers.

 

That is a bit odd, but not a impossiblity

 

AKK

[cruiserfanfromct]

According to today's Huff Post, there's a petition to deny Schettino back pay - the petition can be found here.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/10/25/francesco-schettino-costa-concordia-disaster-back-pay_n_2018018.html

 

Still no news on the pre-trial outcome. :confused:

[SomeBeach]

I'm baaack!

Actually returned home a few days ago but it took a few days to get caught up here.

 

Still no news on the outcome of the pre-trial hearing. :(

 

On another note, Peter Knego, freelance cruise journalist and blogger has posted an article on a trip to Giglio, while in Tuscany on a recent assignment.

 

Read his interesting account with amazing pix here.

 

Thanks for this CT.

I really appreciated seeing a bit of Giglio itself. We mostly only see 2 views of from the island so I enjoyed seeing views towards it.

Two pictures of Concordia taken from up the mountain (hill) were really striking.

 

According to today's Huff Post, there's a petition to deny Schettino back pay - the petition can be found here.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/10/25/francesco-schettino-costa-concordia-disaster-back-pay_n_2018018.html

 

Still no news on the pre-trial outcome. :confused:

 

Not sure a petition will make a difference as this will probably have to follow the laws of the country.

That said, I sure wouldn't want to have a to pay him one cent.

[Tonka's Skipper]

"It's obvious the bow of the ship was turning to starboard and the stern was swinging to port when it hit the rocks"

 

Max .. i know and understand how that all works but given the distance between the Stabiliser Fin and the start of the metal buckling which is not very far there is no way a ship that size could have turned with no damage to the Fin because the turn to Port would have ripped it off! seeing as the start of the damage is below the bottom height of the fin.

 

It could be that had Concordia continued on the path it was on that it may well have either grazed or missed La Scole rock, in at least one of the pictures there are as many as four breaks in the Hull including the big hole.

 

Hi Sidari,

 

I dont know which photos you mean but:

 

1. Reember it take time for the recation time between the rudder orders and the time to turn the wheel or push the joy stick, the rudder to turn and bfore there is any reaction in direction of the vessel.

 

2. It is possible that further out then the rock that actually damaged the hull and holed her, the bottm was swallower, and some hull dmage started here, below the level of the fin.

 

3. As has been pointed out here , reember the stern turns around the bow. so if she was heading straight, the fin passed the exposed rock, and then the stern started turning to port, the dmage deepwe down on the hull could have started and then as the stern truned more to port the expeosed rock/ledge did the major damage further aft.

 

 

AKK

[balf]

Silvio Berlosconi has just been sentenced to a year in clink for tax offences after a six year investigation (and he is appealing so it could be another six)

 

We want to see the ship floated successfully (how lohg, two years) and the captain.....executed..jailed for life ....10....20....30....years....exonerated.....reinstated.....made up to president lof Costa, indicate your choice.

 

Do we have the patience? Are we all going to last the course.

 

Will this thread break all records?

 

David.

[cruiserfanfromct]

I'm baaack!

Actually returned home a few days ago but it took a few days to get caught up here.

 

Welcome back SB! Hope you had a great New England cruise -- your timing was great -- looks like the "perfect storm" is heading this way in a few days.

[qtlikeme]

One of our fellow passengers that night shared this link with us. It is chilling and not for the faint hearted.

 

It brought back so many haunting memories.

 

So very thankful to have survived.

 

I follow this thread faithfully and want to thank everyone who contributes. I seem to be forever looking for anything related to that awful night.

 

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

[Max49]

Thanks for posting that Qtlikeme. It had to have been terrifying and claustrophobic with little or no leadership from the crew. I'm glad you made it through that nightmare.

I also hope this thread can stay alive long enough to see if that pompous cowardly captain gets what he deserves. Obviously there was no heroes at all from the bridge, or am I not giving someone credit who deserves it? An off duty captain or something?

[sidari]

Youtube have blocked the video in the UK due to copyright grounds ...:mad:

 

Max ... As with other professions there are Heroes who do the job but never shout about it, i am sure there were many that night who did a great job including some of the off duty officers.

[Tonka's Skipper]

Hi Sidari,

 

I dont know which photos you mean but:

 

1. Reember it take time for the recation time between the rudder orders and the time to turn the wheel or push the joy stick, the rudder to turn and bfore there is any reaction in direction of the vessel.

 

2. It is possible that further out then the rock that actually damaged the hull and holed her, the bottom was deeper, and some hull dmage started here, below the level of the fin.

 

3. As has been pointed out here , reember the stern turns around the bow. so if she was heading straight, the fin passed the exposed rock, and then the stern started turning to port, the dmage deepwe down on the hull could have started and then as the stern truned more to port the expeosed rock/ledge did the major damage further aft.

 

AKK.....

[Max49]

Youtube have blocked the video in the UK due to copyright grounds ...:mad:

 

Max ... As with other professions there are Heroes who do the job but never shout about it, i am sure there were many that night who did a great job including some of the off duty officers.

 

I'm sure you're right Sid, but it would be nice to hear a passenger say one of the officers from the bridge was helping or maybe a glimpse of one helping in one of these videos.

There are over 4000 people, each with a different experience that night and relatively speaking we have only heard from a few and nothing from the officers except Schettino's paid version and he did'nt really say any thing. I thought we would have heard from some of the other officers in the hearing but it seems in Italy it's a big secret, at least from the public. I would think they'd want to find out what happened before memories start fading.