Cruise ship aground off Italy!

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » Jan 14th, '12, 09:02

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-573 ... bsCarousel

3 dead, more missing, ship capsized.

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » Jan 14th, '12, 14:55

The Captain's been arrested.

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » Jan 14th, '12, 17:09

Oh. And the Captain was reported as one of the first off.

Hope he salvaged his cell phone.

Oswego John · Post by **Oswego John** » Jan 14th, '12, 17:33

Vino Chianti Rosso will do it every time.

O J

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » Jan 14th, '12, 18:54

Oswego John wrote:Vino Chianti Rosso will do it every time.

O J

I suppose even if the Captain gets sent to the brig, Italian bread and sparkling mineral water isn't all that bad.

(No disrespect to the dead and missing; it's just that it's Saturday!)

Oswego John · Post by **Oswego John** » Jan 14th, '12, 19:03

Oh yeah. That's right, it's Saturday.

Get ready, here it comes. ;>)

O J

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » Jan 14th, '12, 19:14

Oswego John wrote:Oh yeah. That's right, it's Saturday.

Get ready, here it comes. ;>)

O J

My deepest apologies to the users of this message board; I am truly sorry for reminding him. Please forgive me.

Steve Laume · Post by **Steve Laume** » Jan 15th, '12, 13:03

It is very hard to speculate about what actually occurred, except that the ship hit a rock.

I light of that fact and that the ship must have been taking on a good bit of water and had begun to list, it seems very prudent to have run the thing up onto shore. This whole thing could have turned out much worse. Being just off shore and on the bottom right in front of a town probably saved thousands of lives.

One thing that puzzles me is that the gash is on the port side and the ship listed and eventually capsized to starboard. That just seems odd. If it had gone the other way on a steeply sloping bottom the entire superstructure might have gone under.

All told most of these people were very lucky. To compare this incident to the Titanic is just wrong. The loss of life was immense and the people were civil, Steve.

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Jan 15th, '12, 13:52

Steve, your thoughts are about the same as mine. Most of what i read, if the captain is telling the truth, I cannot fault him too much. If he is lying we will know soon enough as there will be plenty of witnesses to his actions. But if he indeed struck a rock where none was charted, how can he be faulted? Yes he was a couple miles of his typical course, but if the charts showed good water then I cant say it was bad seamanship. And the decision to run run the boat to shallower waters and ground it strikes me as smart thinking under pressure.

There seems more a generally bigger issue with the crew and the cruise ship industry in general hiring unqualified people who cannot communicate in the same language as the passangers. Technically the captain is responsible for the actions of his bad crew not directing passengers properly, but the cruise line company is who is really at fault for hiring cheap foreign labor and working them endless hours and not training them properly.

Still too much unknown though to judge either way, but with the little we do know I am not ready to point a finger at the captain.

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » Jan 15th, '12, 18:20

>>Being just off shore and on the bottom right in front of a town probably saved thousands of lives. <<

Being "just off shore" seems to be what caused the grounding in the first place.

This isn't the first time we've heard a Captain tell us whatever he hit wasn't on the chart.

GLutzow · Post by **GLutzow** » Jan 15th, '12, 18:45

We have very little info at this point. I, for one, would love to see a plot of the ship's course up to, and including, the point of impact and then the course ran to shore. This would give us far more information than rampant speculation.

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » Jan 15th, '12, 18:59

The comparison was made by a passenger, I believe, and refers to the experience of the individual and not the disaster as a whole. Surely, this can't compare overall to Titanic, but the panic of one person seems fair game to me.

Steve Laume · Post by **Steve Laume** » Jan 15th, '12, 19:24

I am trying not to speculate too much. They have recovered the "black box" which should have the answers to the most important questions.

The charts can be wrong but cutting it too close is never a good idea. More so it you are commanding a huge cruise ship.

I once tried to squeeze though an area that had a rock at 7ft. With a 4'-2" draft, at mid tide, with very little swell, I should have easily glided over the obstruction. I was where I was supposed to be and was very surprised to feel the bump! A later hauling revealed a couple of scratches in the forward area of the keel. Not quite the same situation but the charts are not perfect. It also taught me not to cut hings too close when the bottom is hard.

No matter what happened I feel this guy is done as a captain of large vessels, Steve.

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » Jan 16th, '12, 07:48

Steve Laume wrote:The charts can be wrong but cutting it too close is never a good idea.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hp ... 4411_n.jpg

I'm not saying that's the route the Captain took... the chart is just as I found it with a Google search. The bottom does seem to fall away quickly once you get away from the land though. As for "secret, undiscovered reefs," I suspect the reefs in this area have been well known for about 2,000 years.

jneely · Post by **jneely** » Jan 16th, '12, 14:48

Some interesting information here: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4710

The Cape Dory Board

Cruise ship aground off Italy!

Cruise ship aground off Italy!

Just in from CNN

2.5 miles off course

MAMA MIA

Re: MAMA MIA

Saturday

Re: Saturday

Don't be too quick to judge

Just like Titanic?

Giglio Porto nautical chart

Info Source