Hi Clanky,
`A blast from the past`. Re` your post 13 of Sept`26th 2013 [sinking of Concordia]. I cannot help remembering some of our past exchanges in which I mentioned among other things the possible confusion arising from different languages aboard such vessels. [Quite apart from your comment that the grounding was due to a helmsman applying wrong helm because he did not understand the language in which the helm order was given] I watched the full videos of the event on TV, and was not in the least surprised to see hundreds of passengers wandering willy nilly this way and that way totally confused and some in a state of panic, and mostly apparently completely without competent crew members to guide them. In fact the apparent lack of competent seamen was very noticable throughout. There were also examples of a few frightened passengers [who did come across crew members], asking for guidance only to find that the crew members could not understand a word they were saying.
It was fortunate in a way that this event occurred on the edge of land. It is almost certain that if this ship had been sinking far from land there would have been much greater loss of life. As for the Captain and MAJORITY of crew, then it seems to have been a pretty shameful affair. Though of course no blame can be attached to crew
on the basis of language, and of course these guys are simply there trying to make a living. Blame here in my opinion lies with a system [for want of a better word] that creates crew lists where half of them can`t understand what the next guy is saying. [ Of course it all comes down to the `cheapest labour`, and that very issue is responsible for many of the worlds ills today.]
Clanky, this is honestly not along the lines of an `I told you so`. It is simply a reinforcement of my previous statements that `I, a well seasoned ex steam trampship man, would still not set foot aboard one of these modern floating monstrosities`. There are of course much larger vessels than `Concordia`, and I still view them all as huge disasters waiting to happen.
Yep ! I`m stiill an old dinosaur Clanky.
I sincerely wish you all the best.
