Cruise Ship Strikes Rock off Italian Coast; 3 dead, 70 missing.

[Anita18]

As good as Sully may have been I'm not sure you can compare those two disasters either.

Sully only had two options, Land on water or crash on water, pretty grim senario either way and with 30 years of experience he landed it on the water better that any one in his field could have.

An Airbus A320's cabin is only 90 feet long and with only 155 people on board it was easy to make sure all were accounted for and out of the cabin since it's a long steal tube not a 17 deck 114,000 ton ship. NYC also has over 8 million people so there would have been much more water traffic than Italy would have had.

The ship's captain was a stupid coward and I hope he is charged with a crime/s when the investigation is over.

Sully undoubtedly had an incredible amount of training that led to his clear thinking during a crisis, but he really had more than two options. IIRC (since Wikipedia is blacked out ) he was actually given the option of flying back to the airport or flying to a smaller local airport nearby, but realized pretty quickly that he wasn't gonna make it to either one, so elected to head toward the Hudson. That turned out to be the absolutely the right decision.

Captain Schettino's extent of decision-making, as far as we can see, was to delay evacuation by more than an hour so he could veer the ship closer to shore. (Jury's out whether that actually caused the ship to take in more water, tilt, and lose half the lifeboats, forcing people to jump into the water in the dark and swim to safety.) And then phone some execs from the cruise line to tell him what else to do.

[Anita18]

Italian-speaking HuffPo commenter at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1210920.html writes:

OMG. Fresh off the Italian morning press:

Schettino: "I wasn´t trying to flee. I just fell into the lifeboat".

Effing not kidding! http://www.corriere.it/

"Non volevo fuggire, mi sono caduto nella scialuppa.*"

I ed at the reply:

The STONES on that man. It's amazing he could leap so nimbly... o_O

[Rex]

A graphic explains how the ship could be salvaged - or destroyed.

[FigureSpins]

As good as Sully may have been I'm not sure you can compare those two disasters either.

I'm not comparing the two incidents, just wondering why an island wouldn't have boats and ships handy to assist the ship. I guess the real reason other craft didn't come was because the Anti-Sully was yakking on the phone instead of putting out an SOS.

That area of NY/NJ is densely populated and there are many ferries, but very few private people have boats in the marinas. Those that did scrambled them to assist. That shipwreck area is a sanctuary for aquatic animals, so maybe boats and ships aren't allowed in those waters.

The ship's captain was a stupid coward and I hope he is charged with a crime/s when the investigation is over.

He's already been charged with several crimes. They're investigating and gathering evidence while he's under house arrest.

Schettino: "I wasn´t trying to flee. I just fell into the lifeboat".

Too funny, in a very sad way. I suspect that the outcome of the phone calls was that he and his second had been relieved of duty, putting the guy who led the evacuation in charge. The execs probably told him to get his sorry butt off the ship.

[numbers123]

Regarding the comments that this had similar Titanic experiences, I doubt that the people involved in the rescue or losing a family member can relate to anything but the Titanic. You know the panic and or sliding around the ship, struggling to get out to the life boats, etc.

I realize that the loss of life is significantly smaller, the event happened in an area that was close to land, the ship had more life boats available, etc. etc. etc., but if you actually lived the experience you only relate it to something that many, many people saw on a movie screen.

I've been on cruises, I intend to cruise again, but I do have a fear of falling into the ocean or with any sort of potential drowning. I can not imagine the fear that the passengers felt.

[Holley Calmes]

A friend of mine from Atlanta was on board and just wrote the most hair-raising, frightening account of her experience on her Facebook page. She made it out, but her description was hair-raising. It was about as bad as you can imagine. I'd copy and post it, but I think that wouldn't be legal or something....

[Skittl1321]

I'd copy and post it, but I think that wouldn't be legal or something....

Could you ask her permission to share it? Glad to hear she is okay.

[skatesindreams]

Holley, if possible, I'd like to read that as well.

[danceronice]

Regarding the comments that this had similar Titanic experiences, I doubt that the people involved in the rescue or losing a family member can relate to anything but the Titanic. You know the panic and or sliding around the ship, struggling to get out to the life boats, etc.

The bigger annoyance is comparing it to the movie is it makes it sound like they don't get that Jack and Rose and everything about the plot was fake, Titanic was real (and Titanic's crew behaved nothing like they're shown the movie OR the captain here, and that's not a typo that it's not capitalized. I'd call him a jack@ss but that's an insult to donkeys everywhere.) No one in the movie actually died, James Cameron's usual best efforts notwithstanding (he's routinely put actors lives at risk--nearly drowned Ed Harris filming "The Abyss" to the point when they finally cut and pulled him out of the tank, Harris punched Cameron in the face and swore never to work with him again.)

I get not everyone has heard of Lusitania, Britannic, Andrea Doria, Achille Lauro, Edmund Fitzgerald, the storms of '13, the Eastland (actually that would be closest here--rollover in shallow water, though again, that was 800 people dying, and there it was less than a hundred yards from dry land) etc. But at least don't imply the one you HAVE heard of was a movie, not reality.

As for boats I heard in initial reports one reason they suspected people weren't accounted for was they may have been picked up by civilians along the coast and taken to homes, not major hospitals.

[numbers123]

???? I doubt that many people really thought that Titanic was real. Just because it was a fictitious story about 2 people in love, doesn't mean that I think that is what really happened.

Do I believe that some of the films set in Elizabethan period are real? no, it just makes a story. Or that Pearl Harbor or whatever the name of the film was is real? Bridge on the River Kwai? There may be some truth to it, but I imagine anyone who lived through that or had a personal connection to it would be among the first to tell you it was not completely true.

I can appreciate that you have some personal connection to the Titanic.I can appreciate that it makes you angry.

We use whatever reference we can to make a connection to a horrific event because we can not begin to fathom what it was really like.

[nubka]

Hasn't anyone ever read/heard about The Andrea Doria? Much more similar to what is happening here, than the Titanic.

http://www.andreadoria.org/
http://www.pbs.org/lostliners/andrea.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/17297/andrea_home.htm

[orbitz]

Titanic is being re-released ini 3D this summer. It should do big business.

[Rex]

Hasn't anyone ever read/heard about The Andrea Doria? Much more similar to what is happening here, than the Titanic.

http://www.andreadoria.org/
http://www.pbs.org/lostliners/andrea.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/17297/andrea_home.htm

The Titanic has always been the most famous maritime disaster in the world, even before Cameron's overblown opus. Its effect on modern culture is sweeping and unsurpassed. When people think of shipwrecks, it's the first ship they think of.

Once I was reading one of my ocean liner picture books, and my mom comes up to me and asked me, "Is that the Titanic?". It was actually a picture of the Normandie, but it just goes to show you....

[MacMadame]

No one in the movie actually died

Jack died... that was the whole point of the Jack and Rose story.

If you meant no actors died making the movie, people aren't comparing this crash to the making of the Titanic movie but to the actual real Titanic that did sink and where many people died.

[nubka]

The Titanic has always been the most famous maritime disaster in the world, even before Cameron's overblown opus. Its effect on modern culture is sweeping and unsurpassed. When people think of shipwrecks, it's the first ship they think of.

Once I was reading one of my ocean liner picture books, and my mom comes up to me and asked me, "Is that the Titanic?". It was actually a picture of the Normandie, but it just goes to show you....

Yes, I understand that. The Andrea Doria rescue is really interesting to read about. Captain Calamai stayed with his ship until the last, although there were many flaws/errors in judgement in this catastrophy, both on the Italian and Swedish side. I think most folks don't even know about it...

[Rex]

Yes, I understand that. The Andrea Doria rescue is really interesting to read about. Captain Calamai stayed with his ship until the last, although there were many flaws/errors in judgement in this catastrophy, both on the Italian and Swedish side. I think most folks don't even know about it...

He sure did. Poor Calamai...even on his deathbed, he spoke about the disaster; it haunted him for the rest of his life.

The Andrea Doria is a fascinating story. Back then, they thought that such an accident was impossible because of advances made with radar, thanks to its use in the Second World War. But it happened.

Ironically, the Stockholm, the ship that sank the Doria, still sails today as the MS Athena.

[nubka]

Ironically, the Stockholm, the ship that sank the Doria, still sails today as the MS Athena.

Carstens-Johannsen went on to have a long maritime career, and still maintains no wrong doing on that fateful, foggy night off of Nantucket...

[Rex]

Carstens-Johannsen went on to have a long maritime career, and still maintains no wrong doing on that fateful, foggy night off of Nantucket...

I read Saved and several websites on the tragedy, and to be honest, I don't think that I could tell you who was culpable...both parties? They both misread their radar.

[Skittl1321]

I read Saved and several websites on the tragedy, and to be honest, I don't think that I could tell you who was culpable...both parties? They both misread their radar.

And they both had the instinct to turn the opposite way of the other ship to "get out of the way".

Now there is a standard of which way to turn, so ships don't turn into each other.


ETA: Here is the video of the Oceanus sinking, and the rescue efforts coordinated by the staff musicians. The quote at the end of it from the Captain makes me sick. He sees no problems at all with abandoning all the passengers, as if they chose to stay. At least this Captain is trying to make crazy excuses, that tells me he has SOME guilt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VNZSO_XEP4

[MacMadame]

At least this Captain is trying to make crazy excuses, that tells me he has SOME guilt.

I think he's just trying to CYA so he doesn't lose his job and/or go to jail.