A Concordia Crew Member Posts on Facebook

[LINGBER]

 

That was a planned route which they had verified and allowed.

This time the captain was even closer and didn't had approval.

 

Completely agree that this was unsanctioned and not trying to minimize the responsibility of the Captain in this terrible tragedy! I just find it interesting that everything I have read the last few days says Costa would never allow their ships to sail this close to shore. And then the link from a BBC broadcast compares the route that was taken last August. Here is some copy from report.

 

18 January 2012 Last updated at 04:54 ET Help

 

"The Costa Concordia sailed closer to Giglio island last August than it did on Friday, according to satellite tracking information given to the BBC by the shipping journal, Lloyd's List Intelligence.

 

Lloyd's List told the BBC's Newsnight programme the vessel passed within 230m of the island on 14 August 2011 to mark La Notte di San Lorenzo - the night of the shooting stars festival on the island."

[sfwriter]

Katia is real, and her message is real. It was written from her perspective -- onboard the vessel -- helping her guests.

 

There's also an interesting perspective difference. She's claiming he wasn't the first to leave because he was still stuck in a lifeboat attached to the ship. Which is a valid perspective.

 

Where other people are saying he left early, which is also true.

 

He had no business being in that lifeboat at all at that point in time, and neither did his second and third in command unless they were absolutely needed to pilot the lifeboat due to no other qualified candidates being available.

[CruiseGem]

I was answering a question with facts, not speculating what I think should happen.

In this case it would not help much to have attended the drill as testamony of some in early news was that a few died at the muster station ! as it was on the side of the ship that was eventully underwater ,I cannot believe that 4,000 people evacuated themselves the crew must have been there to help as the Captian did not call mayday and the call to abandon ship came very late The crew had a huge job to evacuate all those passengers

,even if they were not perfect I think that it must really hurt them to see all the news of the sloppy job they did as they must have also felt thier lives in peril as well

[Because123]

For those who are talking about the August 'bow' being closer to the island...

 

Was it in the same general area as last week?

 

Piers themselves are unquestionably 'closer' to islands, and cruise ships pull right up to them to let us off.

 

The issue, I would think, is more than just 'close'. It's also rocky, reefy, etc..

 

You can be 'closer' and be safer than Concordia was last week. So... did the other sailing that 'bowed' do its bow in the same area of the coastline?

[LINGBER]

For those who are talking about the August 'bow' being closer to the island...

 

Was it in the same general area as last week?

 

Piers themselves are unquestionably 'closer' to islands, and cruise ships pull right up to them to let us off.

 

The issue, I would think, is more than just 'close'. It's also rocky, reefy, etc..

 

You can be 'closer' and be safer than Concordia was last week. So... did the other sailing that 'bowed' do its bow in the same area of the coastline?

 

Hi, Take a look at this news report. Looks like the course was very similiar but not exact. Close enough though to raise questions about some of Costas statements regarding the distance they allow ships to maintain bewtween land.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16607837

[shepp]

I have never done a drill that involved anything more than a chat in a warm comfy lounge and donning a life jacket. Perhaps one step in the right direction might at least be moving the passengers to the life boat positions on the promenade deck - whatever the weather? In this case though by the time the 'abandon ship' order was given half the ships could not used and the panic had truly set in.

 

I think you've answered your own question. Having passengers muster to a few easily identifiable indoor spaces where there's sufficient informed crew for guidance, while it's not foolproof, seems preferable to having thousands of pax running every which way trying to find the correctly numbered boat station, then just jamming into whatever boat is nearest.

[Misten]

 

That was a planned route which they had verified and allowed.

This time the captain was even closer and didn't had approval.

 

Perhaps, but it looks as though going off-track to salute islands might well turn out eventually to show to have been an accepted practice?

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/19/costa-concordia-captain-francesco-schettino

 

"…The company has put the entire blame for the incident on the captain. At a press conference on Monday, Costa Cruises' chairman and chief executive, Pier Luigi Foschi, said Schettino had not sought permission to deviate from his route in order to skirt the shoreline of Giglio, reportedly as a tribute to a retired skipper living on the island.

But evidence of Costa Cruises' enthusiasm for "salutes" can be found on the firm's blog in an entry describing how, in September 2010, the Costa Concordia under Schettino's command passed close to the island of Procida in the bay of Naples.

The blog said the salute provided "great excitement not only for the islanders but also for the numerous tourists present ... [it was] doubtless a joy and a novelty for all, including the guests of the Costa Concordia, ready with their cameras on the external decks to immortalise that unique moment and celebrate and salute with flags and handkerchiefs."

Foschi said that the company, and the Italian authorities, had known of and agreed to an earlier nighttime "salute" of Giglio in August last year. He said the firm had reviewed in advance the captain's intended course and that the vessel passed "not closer than 500 metres from the island".

But his assertion has been called into question by the London maritime daily Lloyds List, which published a map based on Lloyds List Intelligence tracking data. This indicated that the earlier course took the Costa Concordia within 230 metres of land, close to the point at which the ship hit the rocks last Friday…”

Earlier in the article another interesting issue is brought up:

“…The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that investigators had established that Captain Francesco Schettino spoke on three occasions to the ship's operator, Costa Cruises, via its emergency unit before the evacuation began.

 

Investigators wanted to know whether the 68-minute period that elapsed during the course of these calls was because Schettino had underplayed or underestimated the gravity of the damage sustained by the liner, or because Costa Cruises, a subsidiary of Miami-based Carnival, had been reluctant to sanction a decision to evacuate that might cost it millions of euros in compensation, the paper said…

[Misten]

 

Perhaps, but it looks as though going off-track to salute islands might well turn out eventually to show to have been an accepted practice?

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/19/costa-concordia-captain-francesco-schettino

 

 

“…The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that investigators had established that Captain Francesco Schettino spoke on three occasions to the ship's operator, Costa Cruises, via its emergency unit before the evacuation began.

 

Investigators wanted to know whether the 68-minute period that elapsed during the course of these calls was because Schettino had underplayed or underestimated the gravity of the damage sustained by the liner, or because Costa Cruises, a subsidiary of Miami-based Carnival, had been reluctant to sanction a decision to evacuate that might cost it millions of euros in compensation, the paper said…

 

I don't see the same media frenzy over this information as we've seen over the last week. Is it safer and easier to loudly condemn one man without evidence than it is to report with evidence on a profitable company?

[Misten]

Witness relates how she left the boat at 11:50 pm (nearly 2.5 hours after the ship hit rocks. It seems the Captain was still on board then, so perhaps not really one of the first to leave the ship ?

 

 

(Link taken from http://www.thejournal.ie/video-costa-concordia-crew-member-defends-captain-332782-Jan2012/ )

[Misten]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/uk-italy-ship-idUSLNE80M00H20120123

 

"...Costa chief executive Pier Luigi Foschi has said that ships sometimes engage in "tourist navigation" in which they approach the coast but that this is only done under safe conditions and he was not aware of any riskier approaches so close to the shore.

 

Costa is a unit of Carnival Corp (CCL.N), the world's largest cruise line operator.

 

According to transcripts of his hearing with investigators leaked to Italian newspapers, Schettino told magistrates Costa had insisted on the manoeuvre to please passengers and attract publicity.

 

"It was planned, we were supposed to have done it a week earlier but it was not possible because of bad weather," Schettino said, according to the Corriere della Sera daily.

 

"They insisted. They said: 'We do tourist navigation, we have to be seen, get publicity and greet the island'."

 

He said he had performed similar manoeuvres regularly over the past four months on the Costa Concordia and on other ships in the Costa fleet along the Italian coast line which is dotted with small islands that are popular with tourists.

 

"But we do it every time we do the Sorrento coast, Capri, we do it everywhere," he said.

 

Foschi, who visited Giglio on Sunday, declined to respond to Schettino's comments.

"As an investigation by magistrates is currently underway, we cannot give out any information," he said.

 

BROKEN BLACK BOXES

 

Italian newspapers have also published photographs of the Costa Concordia apparently performing the "salute" close to other ports including Syracuse in Sicily and the island of Procida, which is near Naples and Schettino's hometown of Meta di Sorrento.

 

Schettino said the fatal manoeuvre of January 13 was originally intended to bring the ship half a mile from the shore, "but then we brought it to 0.28" (of a nautical mile), he said.

 

Investigators have said the actual point of impact was much closer to the shore but establishing the exact sequence of events could be complicated by problems with the recording equipment used to track the ship's progress.

 

Schettino said the black box on board had been broken for two weeks and he had asked for it to be repaired, in vain.

 

In the hearing, Schettino insisted he had informed Costa's headquarters of the accident straight away and his line of conduct had been approved by the company's marine operations director throughout a series of phone conversations..."

[Misten]

Investigators have said the actual point of impact was much closer to the shore but establishing the exact sequence of events could be complicated by problems with the recording equipment used to track the ship's progress.

 

Schettino said the black box on board had been broken for two weeks and he had asked for it to be repaired, in vain.

 

In the hearing, Schettino insisted he had informed Costa's headquarters of the accident straight away and his line of conduct had been approved by the company's marine operations director throughout a series of phone conversations..."

 

Wow. A black box on a ship carrying thousands of passengers goes two weeks without repair or replacement? Is it possible that the navigational equipment may also have missed out on good maintenance practice and have been less than 100% accurate?

[Misten]

Wow. A black box on a ship carrying thousands of passengers goes two weeks without repair or replacement? /

 

Isn't it a SOLAS requirement that every ship must have a VDR (black box) located in a suitable enclosure, capable of data storage and retrieval whenever required as per the IMO’s International convention?

[Misten]

Wow. A black box on a ship carrying thousands of passengers goes two weeks without repair or replacement? /

 

Isn't it a SOLAS requirement that every ship must have a VDR (black box) located in a suitable enclosure, capable of data storage and retrieval whenever required as per the IMO’s International convention?

 

Wasn't Costa Concordia built in 2006? If so, as a large passenger ship, it does look to me as though that regulation was breached...by the company itself presumably?

 

http://www.imo.org/OurWork/Safety/Navigation/Pages/VDR.aspx

[Misten]

If so, as a large passenger ship, it does look to me as though that regulation was breached...by the company itself presumably?

 

Its owned by the company:

 

"...Ownership of VDR/data

 

The ship owner will, in all circumstances and at all times, own the VDR and its data..."

 

And is it possible that the company might have put off the repair of the VDR because the repair may have involved cruise delays? The Company was so very fast in trying to put the entire blame on one of their own experienced ship's Captains that it came across to me that the Company might themselves have something to hide...

All about the VDR:

http://www.kelvinhughes.com/equipment/svdr/faq

[scooterpopsnana]

sounds very fishy, lots of the statements do not match with what is already know/reported.

 

How would the mayor of Giglio board a sinking ship? Why?? The coast guard reported that it had to take over the evacuation from the captain and that he was ordered 3 times to return to the ship. Why would you undress a person in a lifeboat. There isn't any room and where did you get the blankets in a lifeboat???

 

Many guest have, independent of each other reported the many problems with the evacuations.

 

This sounds like some very twisted person posting on FB.

 

 

There are several reports that the deputy mayor did board the ship and worked with the ship's doctor in the evacuation of passengers.