Cruise Ship Runs Aground Off Coast of Italy

[d4rkc4sm]

coast guard dude is a complete prick. how is one supposed to count women and children, and tally what they need when the ship is the size of a friggin air craft carrier and listing severely to one side.

[Moyank24]

Originally Posted by d4rkc4sm

coast guard dude is a complete prick. how is one supposed to count women and children, and tally what they need when the ship is the size of a friggin air craft carrier and listing severely to one side.

Obviously, you missed the part where the Captain is supposed to STAY ON THE SHIP. The more personnel on the ship, the more information you can pass along to the people that are trying to save lives. Instead, the coward is sitting on a lifeboat watching everyone go by. And the Coast Guard dude is a prick?

[Jaffa Cake]

It's like a real-life Titanic...



Honestly.

[808?]

View of the stricken cruise ship which ran aground and capsized near the island of Giglio in Italy on 13 January. The image was taken on 17 January.

[rdowns]

Originally Posted by d4rkc4sm

coast guard dude is a complete prick. how is one supposed to count women and children, and tally what they need when the ship is the size of a friggin air craft carrier and listing severely to one side.

Seriously? The captain basically pulled a George Costanza.

[steve2112]

Originally Posted by Jaffa Cake

It's like a real-life Titantic...

Attachment 320432

Honestly.

This is JUST like the Titanic! Well, except for the Titanic being in the middle of the Atlantic instead of right off shore. And the Titanic being buried several thousand feet underwater. And the thousands of people dying.

Other than those few minor differences, it's creepy how similar they are!

[firestarter]

Originally Posted by rdowns

Seriously? The captain basically pulled a George Costanza.

George gets a pass though, for pushing the clown out of the way first.

[snberk103]

Originally Posted by steve2112

This is JUST like the Titanic! Well, except for the Titanic being in the middle of the Atlantic instead of right off shore. And the Titanic being buried several thousand feet underwater. And the thousands of people dying.

Other than those few minor differences, it's creepy how similar they are!

You forgot the uncharted navigational hazard vs the (presumably) charted one. The maiden voyage vs the regular route. The massive rescue operation by other ships that had to dodge the icebergs at great risk to themselves vs the being able to swim to shore. But you're right.... other than these few differences these two incidents are virtually identical...

[Lord Blackadder]

There have been several million shipwrecks over the course of human history, and tens of thousands of large ships have fetched up on rocks in recorded history. We have the names of all of them. Hundreds have probably foundered in the vicinity of the rocks that damaged the Costa Concordia.

And yet, all that people can think of is Titanic. Damn you, James Cameron.

At least I got to watch Leo DiCaprio drown. But that didn't make up for it.

P.S. I thought that poeople would liken this incident to the Andrea Doria sinking. That was at least an Italian ship and had a similar number of casualties. But no, it's all Titanic. Pah.

[quest7]

The captain of the stricken cruise ship Costa Concordia has told investigators he "fell into a lifeboat" during the evacuation and could not get out again.

Francesco Schettino gave the excuse during three hours of questioning with an investigating magistrate before he was released from custody and given house arrest.

Schettino's behaviour has been further called into question after dramatic audio tapes revealed he was ordered back onto the ship to oversee the rescue. A furious coastguard was shocked to learn he had already left the Concordia despite dozens of passengers still needing help.

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16151520

[yg17]

Originally Posted by Jaffa Cake

It's like a real-life Titantic...

Attachment 320432

Honestly.

I'm so glad the Titanic really only happened in the land of make believe.

Good god the media is so pathetic.

Somebody better not tell James Cameron about this or else we'll have another crappy 3 hour long 3D movie with a billion dollars in special effects accompanied by an ear piercing Celine Dion soundtrack.

[Lord Blackadder]

The search for survivors/bodies has been suspended after the Costa Concordia shifted at the wreck site.

The salvors estimate that removing fuel from the ship could take several weeks. But if the ship is shifting the salvage operation becomes much more dicey. If it slides into deeper water matters become considerably more grave - and expensive.

Originally Posted by quest7

The captain of the stricken cruise ship Costa Concordia has told investigators he "fell into a lifeboat" during the evacuation and could not get out again.

The story keeps changing. The captain has a lot to answer for now, and those answers have not, so far, been satisfactory.

Originally Posted by Captain Schettino

"I was navigating by sight because I knew the depths well and I had done this manoeuvre three or four times," he reportedly said.

"But this time I ordered the turn too late and I ended up in water that was too shallow. I don't know why it happened."

[steve2112]

Originally Posted by Lord Blackadder

There have been several million shipwrecks over the course of human history, and tens of thousands of large ships have fetched up on rocks in recorded history. We have the names of all of them. Hundreds have probably foundered in the vicinity of the rocks that damaged the Costa Concordia.

And yet, all that people can think of is Titanic. Damn you, James Cameron.

At least I got to watch Leo DiCaprio drown. But that didn't make up for it.

P.S. I thought that poeople would liken this incident to the Andrea Doria sinking. That was at least an Italian ship and had a similar number of casualties. But no, it's all Titanic. Pah.

To be fair, though, the Titanic IS the World's Largest Metaphor, at least according to The Onion.

[Lord Blackadder]

Originally Posted by steve2112

To be fair, though, the Titanic IS the World's Largest Metaphor, at least according to The Onion.

Totally.

I have heard people referring to the Titanic disaster, only half-jokingly, when a dinghy capsized. The modern consciousness is wired thus:

Boat sinks = Titanic

People must have been starved for absurdly over-used ship-sinking metaphors before 1912.

[Happybunny]

One piece of good news.
A german woman who had been given out as missing, has been found among the survivors.

[iJohnHenry]

Mussolini would have had him shot. And rightly so.

[Jaffa Cake]

Originally Posted by Lord Blackadder

People must have been starved for absurdly over-used ship-sinking metaphors before 1912.

Hmm. The Mary Rose? The Bonhomme Richard?

We ought to ask iJohnHenry which ship-based metaphors he remembers using when he was a nipper...

[Lord Blackadder]

The Spanish Armada of 1588?

[iJohnHenry]

Originally Posted by Jaffa Cake

Hmm. The Mary Rose? The Bonhomme Richard?

The Mary Rose was a sad case, chalked up to vanity. And sailors died as a result.

Originally Posted by Jaffa Cake

We ought to ask iJohnHenry which ship-based metaphors he remembers using when he was a nipper...

I still remember how to keel-haul a Jack Tar like you.

[Prof.]

Ironic how this happened almost exactly 100 years after Titanic.

April 14, 1912 - January 13, 2012

[Lord Blackadder]

Here is an enlightening article from the BBC on the immediate future of the ship.

It sounds like Smits, the salvor, is cautiously optimistic but the insurance bean-count are suggesting a write-off is rather likely.

As I said in a previous post, it is almost certainly technically possible to re-float the ship and tow it away for repair, but whether or not that happens is up to the money men. It's a $500 million dollar ship, but any recovery effort could cost a substantial portion of that.

[Consultant]

Gap is "48.8m (160ft) wide" as noted by above article.

"The ship has a breach on the hull about 90 meters (300 feet) long, according to Officer Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno."
Currently picture #8 here:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/18/travel...tml?hpt=hp_bn7

[Lord Blackadder]

I have gone lurking on a few maritime-related forums and the insider consensus seems to be that this incident only very narroly avoided producing thousands of casualties. The SOP of cruise lines, their safety protocols, and the designs of cruise ships (packing tourists in like sardines) are all being called into question.

It will be interesting to see what the aftermath of this wreck means for the cruising industry.

[wrinkster22]

Here is my problem:
Crew members (stewards) make next nothing- something along the lines of 80$ a month.
And if you have not cruised before you are pretty much expected to tip 10 dollars a day for each person (Eg. Family of 5, 7 night cruise= 5x10x7)
Also stewards sign contracts for several months (11.5 normally) and keep all of there money in their (tiny) rooms.
Allthough the cruise company is going to have to pay for the money that they paid them, all the money they made in tips is gone.

Sadly the cruise lines do not care about the people who make a real impression on the line..

Oh and I just wanted to let you know this was not Costa's first crash....

Edit: I found this an interesting read.

[iJohnHenry]

Originally Posted by Lord Blackadder

I have gone lurking on a few maritime-related forums and the insider consensus seems to be that this incident only very narroly avoided producing thousands of casualties. The SOP of cruise lines, their safety protocols, and the designs of cruise ships (packing tourists in like sardines) are all being called into question.

It will be interesting to see what the aftermath of this wreck means for the cruising industry.

Considering he headed for open water after the "hit", it's a good thing she hit bottom before he got any further out.

The decks may not have been awash, but eventually she would have gone down.