The Telegraph has provided a Harbor Masters log:
>22.06 Carabinieri (police) at Prato contact the Harbour Master’s office.
I understand a flurry of cell phone calls went out from passengers.
>A woman has called to say her mother is on the Concordia
>and the dining room ceiling has fallen on her and the crew
>have ordered passengers to don life jackets.
This may have been the truth though it is unknown if this was a general order broadcast throughout the ship or not. The extent of the gash was not known and apparently no one knew the rate at which water was entering the ship and no one was doing anything about pumps or plugging the leak either internally or externally. There was no data on which to base any estimate of time left afloat.
>22.14 Harbour Master contacts the Concordia asking if it is having problems.
No indication of what telephone number the Harbor Master called or who he spoke to. Perhaps this was a contact via radio.
>An officer replies that it’s only a blackout
>which has been going on for 20 minutes and
>which they will fix shortly.
Clearly this is public-relations hogwash.
The initial impact with the rocks was felt throughout the ship. A blackout does not cause massive shuddering. That "will fix in 20 minutes" is pure whimsey concocted out of thin air.
>Harbour Master asks about passengers donning life jackets,
>but the officer insists it’s only a power cut.
More lies. Why is this woman telling lies to the police on shore? To calm them?
>22.16 Guardia di Finanza (finance police) patrol boat G104
>is close to the island of Giglio and asks
>if it should check the Concordia.
This is perhaps motivated by hearing radio traffic, it seems strange that permission would be sought or there would be any hesitancy for the police boat to set a course for the passenger liner.
>22.17 Harbour Master informs superiors it suspects
>there is more wrong with the Concordia than
>the ship’s officer is letting on.
A wise conclusion but one wonders what makes him think that? The citizen report relayed to him by the police is being given far greater weight than the statements by the ship's officer.
>22.26 Harbour Master contacts ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino.
Unclear as to the manner of contact.
>He says the ship is taking on water through an opening on his left side
Apparently no statement of I hit a rock.
> and the ship is listing.
No statement of direction or degree. This is vital data.
>He says there are no dead or injured.
At this time, the Captain appears not to have had any reports of death or injuries.
>Harbor Master asks if he needs help.
Holed below the waterline, listing, ceilings collapsing, life vests being donned... but the Harbor Master didn't know if they needed help.
> The captain requests a tug boat.
Going to tow a listing vessel taking on water at an unknown rate are you?
Not going to get the passengers off first?
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Concordia Video
I've withdrawn my comments on the video as the ship depicted as being the Concordia is actually a totally different vessel and the mislabled youtube video uploader clearly knows that.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Unauthorized but not unsafe course deviation?
It has been pointed out that the UK Hydrographic Office charts do not depict rocks in the area wherein the Concordia first impacted rocks. What other charts that might be normally used in the area depict has not been discussed.
A prior voyage of August 14th involved an even closer approach to the island and a transit near the area of impact on the fatal voyage.
So the course deviation on the fatal voyage might at this time appear to have been an unwise and selfishly motivated deviation that hazarded the vessel unnecessarily and that was made in a cavalier manner but the actual track of the vessel appears to have closely approximated that of a prior voyage.
It is unknown if the 24 year old ballerina who is supporting the captain's skill and actions has any knowledge of navigation matters.
It seems that with the vessel holed on the port side any listing should have been to port and should have been rather modest but the vessel listed to starboard and soon heeled hard over. It may have been that in an attempt to achieve a safe harbor the captain made such a tight turn as to cause the shipped water to slosh to the starboard side of the vessel.
A prior voyage of August 14th involved an even closer approach to the island and a transit near the area of impact on the fatal voyage.
So the course deviation on the fatal voyage might at this time appear to have been an unwise and selfishly motivated deviation that hazarded the vessel unnecessarily and that was made in a cavalier manner but the actual track of the vessel appears to have closely approximated that of a prior voyage.
It is unknown if the 24 year old ballerina who is supporting the captain's skill and actions has any knowledge of navigation matters.
It seems that with the vessel holed on the port side any listing should have been to port and should have been rather modest but the vessel listed to starboard and soon heeled hard over. It may have been that in an attempt to achieve a safe harbor the captain made such a tight turn as to cause the shipped water to slosh to the starboard side of the vessel.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Phone Hacking Update
In what has clearly become a major scandal in the UK it seems that many people were prone to suspect spouses and trusted employees but did not suspect phone hacking by tabloids. Even one person who phoned to receive his messages and found that his own number was busy apparently failed to become sufficiently suspicious of the integrity of his telephone messages.
Various amounts are being paid out as compensation accompanied by the usual disclaimers of not an admission of guilty knowledge by executives.
Various amounts are being paid out as compensation accompanied by the usual disclaimers of not an admission of guilty knowledge by executives.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
South Point Casino 72 Hour Sale
South Point Hotel and Casino begins its 72 hour sale on Wednesday January 18th at Noon Pacific Time and ends it at Noon of January 21st: Midweek rooms 40.00, Weekend rooms 60.00. One free Funbook. No Resort Fees. Rooms at South Point are generally large and clean.
The casino is bright and offers generous rules at Blackjack but is said to have an extremely low tolerance for card counters. Its craps offering remains the rather dismal 2x odds when most of Vegas offers 5x, 10x, 20x or 100x.
See: SouthPointCasino.com for details.
The casino is bright and offers generous rules at Blackjack but is said to have an extremely low tolerance for card counters. Its craps offering remains the rather dismal 2x odds when most of Vegas offers 5x, 10x, 20x or 100x.
See: SouthPointCasino.com for details.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Touristic Navigation: Italian Cruise Ship Runs Aground
Okay. An Italian cruise ship has run aground near a well-known reef equipped with electronic and visual aids to navigation to mark its position.
WHY is my first thought: what sporting events, particularly soccer matches, were playing on TV at the time of the collision?
It appears there was no counter-flooding to correct the very prompt list to starboard, but there are reports the vessel did attempt to steer for shallower water.
Weather was fine, seas were calm, all ship-board navigation systems working fine including separate GPS receivers.
Anyone know what teams were playing?
A fifty meter gash is going to admit a good deal of water and without separate compartments the sloshing is similar to the effect on Ro-Ro's where it takes very little water to affect lateral stability. Its better to be lower in the water but not list than it is to ship water and have it slosh about enough to make the listing fatal. A cruise ship that close to shore should never have been at risk of turning turtle.
The arrest of the Captain is in keeping with Italian law and does not imply that there has been any acts which under USA law would be considered Probable Cause. There was a statement made that the Captain had sailed close to the island to honor a retired Costa captain who lived there and was on board at the time but this statement contained no supporting evidence or statement indicating the source of the information. It does seem that other sources are accepting the validity of the claim that there was an intentional course alteration that resulted in the ship sailing fifteen miles closer to the island that it otherwise would have. The captain maintains that the chart he used showed no rocks being present at the location in question.
Reporting of the events has been almost as chaotic as the event. The Captain is reported to have been dining with passengers and to have been on the bridge. Much has been made of a premature departure but there is absolutely nothing in International Laws of the Sea that requires the Captain to remain aboard until all others are off the vessel. Nor incidentally is there any law about Women and Children first nor even about passengers first. Yep! That is correct. It seems the second and third officer were with him in the same lifeboat, though only the captain claims that he fell into the boat.
Much has been said about so many languages making announcements difficult but Italian and English would have taken care of very many of those aboard. Virtually all announcements could have been done in five languages to satisfy the vast majority of passengers on board. Don't tell me that they can't have a prior dictionary of safety messages with the words: Right, Left, Lifeboat, Walk, Cabin, Life vest in all languages.
A large ship so close to shallow water seems strange, a 160 foot gash is strangely large indicating speed was other than Dead Slow Ahead.
The question remains that irrespective of the reasons the vessel was off course, once the bottom was ripped out, why was there a failure of other systems, notably propulsion and power generation? Why were interior and exterior lights, particularly search lights not activated. Separate generators and battery power should have been available.
On-Edit: It appears that the captain has claimed he was engaged in "touristic navigation" which appears to be a phrase he has selected to avoid having to state that he was hazarding his vessel by intentionally standing into danger so as to delight a few friends of his on the ship and on the island.
On-Edit: Since Italian law and not International Maritime Law applies, it appears that his premature departure from the vessel can subject him to prison time. He had steamed approximate 25 miles on a "touristic" course that placed his vessel 15 miles closer to the rocks that his ship would have normally been.
Timeline:
9:30pm Impact with rocks. Crew comments to passengers were un-informative.
10:10pm Abandon Ship ordered.
10:12pm Police telephone ship in response to flurry of calls from passengers but are told only of an electrical blackout problem, not of collision, leak, list or abandon ship alarm.
WHY is my first thought: what sporting events, particularly soccer matches, were playing on TV at the time of the collision?
It appears there was no counter-flooding to correct the very prompt list to starboard, but there are reports the vessel did attempt to steer for shallower water.
Weather was fine, seas were calm, all ship-board navigation systems working fine including separate GPS receivers.
Anyone know what teams were playing?
A fifty meter gash is going to admit a good deal of water and without separate compartments the sloshing is similar to the effect on Ro-Ro's where it takes very little water to affect lateral stability. Its better to be lower in the water but not list than it is to ship water and have it slosh about enough to make the listing fatal. A cruise ship that close to shore should never have been at risk of turning turtle.
The arrest of the Captain is in keeping with Italian law and does not imply that there has been any acts which under USA law would be considered Probable Cause. There was a statement made that the Captain had sailed close to the island to honor a retired Costa captain who lived there and was on board at the time but this statement contained no supporting evidence or statement indicating the source of the information. It does seem that other sources are accepting the validity of the claim that there was an intentional course alteration that resulted in the ship sailing fifteen miles closer to the island that it otherwise would have. The captain maintains that the chart he used showed no rocks being present at the location in question.
Reporting of the events has been almost as chaotic as the event. The Captain is reported to have been dining with passengers and to have been on the bridge. Much has been made of a premature departure but there is absolutely nothing in International Laws of the Sea that requires the Captain to remain aboard until all others are off the vessel. Nor incidentally is there any law about Women and Children first nor even about passengers first. Yep! That is correct. It seems the second and third officer were with him in the same lifeboat, though only the captain claims that he fell into the boat.
Much has been said about so many languages making announcements difficult but Italian and English would have taken care of very many of those aboard. Virtually all announcements could have been done in five languages to satisfy the vast majority of passengers on board. Don't tell me that they can't have a prior dictionary of safety messages with the words: Right, Left, Lifeboat, Walk, Cabin, Life vest in all languages.
A large ship so close to shallow water seems strange, a 160 foot gash is strangely large indicating speed was other than Dead Slow Ahead.
The question remains that irrespective of the reasons the vessel was off course, once the bottom was ripped out, why was there a failure of other systems, notably propulsion and power generation? Why were interior and exterior lights, particularly search lights not activated. Separate generators and battery power should have been available.
On-Edit: It appears that the captain has claimed he was engaged in "touristic navigation" which appears to be a phrase he has selected to avoid having to state that he was hazarding his vessel by intentionally standing into danger so as to delight a few friends of his on the ship and on the island.
On-Edit: Since Italian law and not International Maritime Law applies, it appears that his premature departure from the vessel can subject him to prison time. He had steamed approximate 25 miles on a "touristic" course that placed his vessel 15 miles closer to the rocks that his ship would have normally been.
Timeline:
9:30pm Impact with rocks. Crew comments to passengers were un-informative.
10:10pm Abandon Ship ordered.
10:12pm Police telephone ship in response to flurry of calls from passengers but are told only of an electrical blackout problem, not of collision, leak, list or abandon ship alarm.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)