Captain John Konrad is co-founder of Unofficial Networks, Editor In Chief of his blog gcaptain and author of the book Fire On The Horizon. He is a USCG licensed Master Mariner of Unlimited Tonnage and, since graduating from SUNY Maritime College, has sailed a variety of ships from ports around the world. John currently lives in Morro Bay, California with his wife and two children. In a series of articles, Konrad looks at the Costa Concordia event from a bit different angle than the media, lover or haters of cruise vacations or those directly affected by the incident:
The only fact that is certain in the Costa Concordia disaster is the universal truth of all maritime disasters… human mistakes were made by multiple individuals.
As discussed in the first part of this article “Costa Concordia – The 3 Most Fatal Mistakes,” Captain Schettino has received a lot of criticism in the mainstream press and possibly, even more from industry insiders including gCaptain for abandoning ship before the last passenger was safe. Still, an important question is not being asked… what did he do right?
Why didn’t he return to the ship after falling into a lifeboat?
In the now famous audio tapes, after falling from the embarcation deck into a lifeboat (a fact that, due to the list of the ship and impact of the grounding remains a remote possibility), the port captain ordered the captain to climb a ladder and board the ship he had just fallen from. This order makes little sense. During an emergency, the captain is the “On Scene Commander” and it’s his job to direct the crews emergency response efforts. This job, however, does not consist of physical action… he can not (should not!) attempt any rescues himself. Instead his job is to deploy assets and communicate to his team. A job he can do perfectly well from a lifeboat.
Read more of this fascinating story at In Defense of Captain Schettino & The Lives He Did Save
Related articles
- Costa Concordia Cruise Ship Captain Ordered Back To Ship [Video] (inquisitr.com)
- Coward, I Meant Captain of the Costa Concordia Didn’t Really Abandon Ship; He Tripped Into Lifeboat (pumabydesign001.com)
- Transcript: The Costa Concordia captain in his own words (independent.co.uk)
- Costa Concordia, the ship that was (chriscruises.net)
