Costa Concordia – The Captain of the Ship

On a ship, such as the Costa Concordia, in commerce and industry, there is a designated leader - the Captain of the Ship, who gets the accolades, the benefits, the perks when the sailing is good. With adverse conditions, the Captain must roll with the ship, and many think that if the ship goes down, then the Captain should sink with it.

With the cruise ship Costa Concordia, the ultimate tragedy occured, the ship was holed, and ran aground, and peoples lives were lost. Testing for drugs and alcohol of the captain has proved negative. This experienced Captain was not “under the influence” when piloting his ship, according to the drug tests.

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Without trial, the Captain is held in custody, no offence proven against him.

Rumor and facts merge hand in hand to create a groundswell of public opinion and much speculation. When accidents happen and lives are lost we want someone to blame – it is easy to scapegoat the captains of ships, and industry when something goes tragically wrong.

The ship was to be sailing on to Savona, it’s next scheduled port of call, with no apparent need to sail close to the small island of Giglio.

So why was the Captain of this ship driving so close to Giglia, as much as four miles off course, that he hit a submerged rock, 300 meters offshore, and then turned the ship towards Giglia Island, causing it to keel over in waters less than 20 feet deep.

First reports say the ship did not go off course but failed to follow a designated route through the shallow Giglio harbour, the Captain saying that he brought the ship in, under manual drive, and was steering the ship thinking that he was in clear, navigable waters.

The captain says that due to his actions, many thousands of lives were saved.

The Captain says that he did not abandon ship – we were the last ones to leave.

Costa cruises originally said that the Captain, who was on the bridge understood the severity of the situation and performed a manouvre intended to protect both guests and crew and initiated security procedures to prepare for eventual ship evacuation Unfortunately that operation was complicated by  a sudden tilting of ship that made disembarkation difficult.

Days later the CEO was blaming the Captain for the crash.

The Captain is accused of approaching Giglio island so poorly that the ship took a rock, stuck on the left side, making it lean over, charged with the accident, failure to advise passengers of crash,  failure to properly evacuate and with abandoning ship.

There is some speculation that the ship might have suffered an unexpected power failure, due to harmonic interference, as suffered by other liners, such as the QM2, off Barcelona in 2010, whilst properly travelling in a designated sea lane. This possibility is raised by Latarche of IHS FairPlay Solutions.

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In such a case, all efforts made by the Captain to control a drifting ship would have been heroic, rather than the outcome of him being a “daredevil” and deliberately sailing too close to the island out of bravado.

The Captain was seen in the ship’s bar, allegedly drinking with passengers, leading up to the first indications that something had gone wrong.

The toxicology reports of the drug testing are vital evidence as to whether or not this Captain had been taking drugs or drinking.

The incident should be a warning to all those who have responsibility for other peoples lives, in their workplace environment, that there is a need at all times to take care and be vigilant.

Many Captains of industry, and of ships, see no problem with drinking alcohol, or taking drugs when going about their business. Some might even say that drinking is part of the job, entertaining people, customers, clients and that their drug taking enhances performance.

It would appear that even on cruise ships, Captains are never off duty, and perhaps should restrain their drinking habits to periods ashore. It is the unusual, the emergency that a person is least able to properly deal with, when they are under the influence.

In the case of the Captain of the Costa Concordia, he would appear to have not been intoxicated with drugs or alcohol at the relevant time, and for any Captain of a ship that is may be the best way to be.

On the facts as they appear at this time, there is no clear cut evidence that this Captain was, in any way, responsible for this tragedy. He would be a man simply doing what was always done fifty two weeks a year by cruise ships of this company, that a sudden power fail caused them to hit the rocks.

Costa Concordia commissioned in 2005, has a rounded hull but is comparable with ocean liner safeguards to prevent it falling over. The Master was right to try and return it to shore, and it seems to have keeled over because hit shallow water on the coast.

The average tonnage of cruise ships has doubled in the past decade, with full evacutaion virtually impossible while at sea.

Since 2010, with new regulations, the very latest ships must be equiped to get back to shore in event of major fire, damage or loss of power so that a full evacuation at sea is not necessary.

The Costa Concordia was commissioned 5 years prior to the new rules – but shallow water would turn it, and most other liners their sides. This appears to be a somewhat unique and complex shipping incident. People need to take care that no one is unfairly blamed.

At least at this time the Captain would appear to be completely exonerated on the preliminary issues of alcohol drinking or drug taking as a contributory cause.