It's the middle of winter over there now.

Although it's unwise to speculate based on initial media reports,  it does seem the whole evacuation was badly handled.  The financial imperatives that drive merchant ship operations tend to result in poor training and minimal compliance with safety standards. We may be seeing the result of this here.

Gist wrote on Jan 16^th, 2012 at 8:15am:


There is - or at least there was in the 90's   I remember seeing it.   Modern ships don't rely on these. They have far more sophisticated navigational equipment, that was obviously ignored.  They are actually dismantling many lighthouses as a result of that.

muso wrote on Jan 16^th, 2012 at 2:22pm:


No, not a lighthouse a cardinal mark. A lighthouse tells you roughly where you are and then you have to use some kind of navigation aid/skills to work out a precise position. A cardinal mark is just a pole sitting on top of a hazard. The crew doesn't need to do any navigating other than to avoid the thing. The light flashes a code to tell crews which side is clear water. You'll see quite a few of them around most large harbours.

As for "sophisticated navigational equipment", you'd be talking about GPS. GPS is accurate most of the time. And therein lies the problem because sometimes GPS is downright inaccurate but everyone has become complacent and started relying on the damn things. There was a racing sailboat went aground last year off Wollongong on a very well know island. Both the skipper and navigator were highly experienced and they certainly knew the island was there because the whole point of the race was to go around it. It's thought the cause was GPS error although both skipper and navigator were lost so there is some doubt.

The best, most foolproof inshore navigation method is still an experienced person, an up to date chart and a bearing compass that's been tested for error. But almost nobody does any of that stuff anymore.

I have found that looking where you are going helps.

Was the Captain 'George Costanza' from Seinfeld, who always used to make me laugh at the time.
This rat however couldn't get off his ship fast enough abandoning all to their fate, and the Coast Guard Commander had to actually order the coward back on board from shore to co-ordinate the evacuation.
Disgusting state of affairs, and an embarrassment to the sea faring community.
Some of the passengers stated when they got into the life boat, the cords (wires) snapped.
The safety equipment on passenger ships would have a planned maintenance program associated with them I would have thought, even in Italy.
And having a large amount of Filipino and other cheap laboring non Italian speaking crew aboard doesn't help the communication system in an emergency like this.
This truely was a disaster waiting to happen.

Gist wrote on Jan 18^th, 2012 at 10:19am:


I thought so Gist.
I'm sure it works fine, right up until there is an emergency.
Personally speaking, I sailed with the Grey Funnel Line for twenty years and language was no barrier.
It should be a requirement though that the cruise liner crew all have the ability to understand and speak the one lingo.

cods wrote on Jan 16^th, 2012 at 6:02am:


What surprised me is that the Costa Concordia is actually larger than the Titanic which was, of course, the largest cruise ship in the world 100 years ago.

However, the Costa Concordia is only half the size of the present largest cruise ship in the world, which I think is called the Empress of the Seas.