Concerning the evacuation:
First, despite all the complaints of chaos and difficultly in loading and launching the lifeboats, the port side (the high side) of the vessel is draped with lifeboat falls of successfully launched boats (It appears that boat 6 is still in her cradle on the port side). The Starboard side also appears to have gotten most, if not all of their boats into the water as well, looking at the photo below. Also, photos from the harbor show both even and odd numbered boats. For the most-part, the thousands of passengers and crew were evacuated from the vessel.

And:

My guess is that the actions of the crew will generally be seen as a contributing factor to the number of lives saved.

These comments were written at a time when all of the ex-passenger stories were noting the chaos onboard, tales of crew pushing past passengers, etc all mixed in with actual news reports of the Captain being one of the first persons off the ship. Well, it seems that I am not alone in my belief that the crew performed an amazing feat in managing to evacuate the ship as Lloyd’s List just awarded the crew of the COSTA CONCORDIA with their ‘Seafarer of the Year’ Award:

Seafarer of the Year
Winner: The Crew of the Costa Concordia, nominated by Magsaysay

When the cruise ship Costa Concordia struck a reef off the island of Giglio on January 13, international attention inevitably focused on the actions of the master. But what was largely missed in the media storm that ensued were the genuine examples of bravery and professionalism displayed by members of the crew. There were 4,229 people on board the vessel at the time of the casualty and while the tragic loss of life caused by this regrettable incident will rightly be the subject of forensic investigations for some time to come, it should not be forgotten that without the skilled response of the majority of the crew, the loss of life could have been far higher. Our judges this year concurred with the view of Filipino crewing suppliers Magsaysay who nominated their crew aboard but also wanted to acknowledge the bravery of others, that the actions of the professional and honourable seafarers that night should be publically recognised. – Link

I think it was every brave of the judges to award the crew of such a notorious disaster this award, especially given that the accident was the direct result of a lack of seamanship on the part of the Captain and most likely others on watch on the bridge. That said, the crew performed in spite of the Captain and even lacking a Captain. They also performed contrary to the reports that have come out up to this point. So congratulations to the crewmembers for a job well done.

I am sure that others will not share my opinion. The Old Salt Blog has other thoughts concerning awarding Seafarer of the Year to the COSTA CONCORDIA crew.

The museum has a section dedicated to the sinking of the MS ESTONIA

This next photo unfortunately does not do the atmosphere of the museum justice (Click here for the full size image). In the top left of the photo you can see a vessel bridge that was transplanted into the museum.

Finally, if you do make it to the museum, be sure to head up to the roof for a look around.

Just outside the museum is the memorial to the MS ESTONIA sinking.

The children in the photo are walking on one part of the broken line memorial.

Screen grab from the film, ‘Fishing Without Nets’

‘Fishing Without Nets’ is an interesting short film on Somali pirates. While it is a fictional story shot in Kenya, you’d probably believe it was a documentary if you weren’t told otherwise. The film was awarded the Grand Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.  So enjoy!

TEASER

Click here to view the embedded video.

DIRECTOR Cutter Hodierne SCREENWRITER Cutter Hodierne, John Hibey.

Unfortunately the full video is blocked from sharing but you can watch it at the link below.  

Link: Fishing Without Nets

If you like the film, be sure to vote for it while there.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Why Do We Dry Dock? from Mercy Ships on Vimeo.

I think this is a great organization. Of course they can always use your donation. However, they are also in need of volunteers as well as professional mariners. Clicking the image below will take you to a copy of an article written by a King’s Pointer who worked on the African Mercy.

Mercy Ships is a global charity that has operated hospital ships in developing nations since 1978. Mercy Ships brings hope and healing to the forgotten poor by mobilizing people and resources worldwide, and serving all people without regard for race, gender, or religion.

Not everyone can give of themselves as a volunteer, but your support for our cause can make a difference in the lives of the forgotten poor. Short-term crew can volunteer from two weeks to two years depending on the position and typically fill service roles or very specialized medical or technical positions. The ability to utilize professional volunteers as Crew allows Mercy Ships to maximize our donor support and serve those who need help the most.
Short-term crew can volunteer from two weeks to two years depending on the position and typically fill service roles or very specialized medical or technical positions.

Around the world today, billions of people live in fear and desperation, with impure water, inadequate food, and little or no access to health care. Behind every statistic is a person waiting for hope and healing. Utilizing hospital ships, Mercy Ships delivers medical excellence with integrity and compassion to the world’s forgotten poor by mobilizing people and resources worldwide. Mercy Ships serves all people without regard for race, gender, or religion.

Link to article posted on Scribd.

USMMA Invites Comments on the USMMA Draft Strategic Plan (2012-2017)

We invite you to review and comment on the draft USMMA Strategic Plan (2012-2017) by July 4, 2012. The USMMA Strategic Planning process was launched on March 13, 2012 by Interim Superintendent Dr. Shashi Kumar and US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood during a Town Hall meeting with midshipmen, faculty and staff. This was the beginning of an extensive outreach process to gather feedback and insights for the USMMA Five-Year Strategic Plan.

Since that time, we have held outreach sessions with the USMMA campus community, as well as representatives from the Maritime industry, alumni, parents and leaders in the Great Neck Community. So far, we have received feedback from more than 800 people with ties to King Point, and we look forward to hearing from even more over the next few weeks.

The Strategic Plan articulates why the Academy matters, its importance to the Nation and the values that drive its success. We want to thank those who participated in one of the outreach sessions and encourage everyone to review the draft plan as we near the end of the strategic planning process. We encourage you to forward this notice to your colleagues.

Go to USMMA.EDU to review the draft USMMA Strategic Plan. Please submit comments to STRATEGICPLAN@USMMA.EDU no later than July 4, 2012.

Very sincerely,

Dr. Bryna Helfer, Director of Public Engagement, USDOT
Ms. Helen Brohl, Senior Advisor for USMMA Strategic Planning, USMMA

Here is a direct link to the PDF document.

The document is not that long. So for those that are interested, now is your opportunity to speak up about the Academy’s future.

The initial accident:
First, there is lots of speculation on some sort of electrical failure or explosion which impacted the propulsion of the vessel. I think this speculation is merely the result of passengers being told this as an excuse at the time of the accident. I think that any electrical failure or ‘loud bang’ that has been widely reported was the result of the initial grounding.

Passenger statements that I have read all seem to lack a period of time between this alleged electrical failure and the grounding. Given the lack of time, for this to have been a contributing factor, would have meant that the vessel was in such close quarters that a mere interruption in propulsion power was enough to ground the ship. That seems unlikely. Also, given the damage to the hull, it appears that the vessel was traveling in a straight line when it ran aground. So for this theory to hold true, the ship would have been about to turn, to avoid this outcropping, or the vessel would have turned into a new course and then run a straight course, that resulted in the grounding. Again, not likely.

Some statements note that they hit something that was not charted. I do not find this a credible excuse if combined with the comment of a failure in the engine room. Interesting in that the passengers have come ashore with stories of electrical problems and the crew appear to be blaming the accuracy of the charts. I suspect that the chart just might have been accurate, and the crew miscalculated the real estate that they were occupying on the chart. The grounding itself is the cause of the electrical problems. Keep in mind that these vessels are so large, that the GPS mark does not tell the whole story. What kind of position display did they have on the bridge? Did it accurately display the vessel on the chart? Lots of coverage seem to view the final resting place of the vessel as where it hit the rocks, but my understanding is that the accident happened further offshore. The stories that the Captain wanted to pass close to the island are giving the impression that the initial grounding happened at the island where in the details it appears that this happened on the way to Giglio.

I see comments regarding the damage to the hull on the port side and that the damage on the submerged starboard side must be as bad. I suspect that the exposed damage is the damage from the initial grounding. The opening in the hull is massive and in some photos you can clearly see that the inside of the ship was open to the sea. At least large enough for a person to climb through. Open enough to immediately flood that compartment. Even once the ship listed enough to put the hole above the surface, the water that came in was still inside, denying the vessel the bouncy of that compartment as well as reducing the stability of the vessel due to free surface effect. I think that if there is damage on the starboard side, that it would have been inflicted later.

Concerning the evacuation:
First, despite all the complaints of chaos and difficultly in loading and launching the lifeboats, the port side (the high side) of the vessel is draped with lifeboat falls of successfully launched boats (It appears that boat 6 is still in her cradle on the port side). The Starboard side also appears to have gotten most, if not all of their boats into the water as well, looking at the photo below. Also, photos from the harbor show both even and odd numbered boats. For the most-part, the thousands of passengers and crew were evacuated from the vessel.

There were unfortunately some deaths. From what I gather, some passengers jumped overboard and some of them died as a result. It is unclear home many decided to self-evacuate. If the number of those who jumped into the sea turns out to have been in the hundreds, than I might have to re-evaluation my opinion regarding what I consider a successful evacuation. Now it might be that passengers ended up in the water due to the chaos of the moment and demands that woman and children go first. As far as that issue goes, I wonder who started that policy. I doubt is helped the situation at all. The goal should have been to fill the boats as quickly as possible to get them launched. The progress in clearing the deck would have helped calm the situation. Alternatively, pushing the men back would have just the opposite effect. Anyway, the whole point behind evacuating the women and children first off the TITANIC was the simple sad fact that there were not enough spaces in the lifeboats for all the passengers. This was not the case here. Anyway, looking at the photo above, I see lots of people eager to get off the vessel. I do not see anyone that I can clearly identify as crew. (I’m not saying this is a problem. I’m not sure I would want to be in that crowd. I would rather be either getting passengers into boats or trying to keep the ship afloat.) Given the number of passengers, how could that not feel chaotic? Still, they managed to find the boat deck, managed to remember their life jacket from their staterooms and aren’t all there with their carry-on luggage. Also note that there is lighting on the boat deck. The rest of the ship might be dark, but there is light here.

It is interesting that there are reports that the Captain somehow managed to abandon ship hours before the last passenger. According to this timeline at the National Post, the Captain was found ashore merely 25 minutes after the first lifeboat made it ashore. That makes me wonder if he was onboard that first lifeboat.

Just how did he manage to abandon ship so quickly? If true, regardless of his involvement in contributing to the initial grounding, his absence would be a contributing factor to the confusion afterwards, and perhaps even to the loss of the vessel. Which brings me to the question:

How did the vessel end up resting on its side on the bottom?
If the vessel was holed in only one compartment, I would think that it would have been possible to keep the vessel upright and afloat. This however would have required dedicated efforts from the engineering staff and damage control crew. Just how long do you think they would keep up their efforts once the rumor spreads that the Captain already abandoned ship and was ‘safe’ ashore?

The vessel remained afloat with a list for hours after the incident. So how did it end up on its side? The lowering of the lifeboats would have helped increase the stability of the vessel. Did the initial list permit water to enter the hull from somewhere else into an otherwise secure compartment? If so, wouldn’t the pumps have been able to handle this? To be clear, I think that there was nothing that could have been done regarding the holed compartment, other than to secure it to prevent flooding of other compartments. Or was the damage so great that it spanned more than one watertight compartment? (Can someone with access to the RENA website check hull compartmentalization as well as whether this was a 1 or 2 compartment vessel)

One possibility was that the vessel went aground again near shore, putting this vessel on its side. I would have thought that if it was clear that flooding was going to sink the vessel that they would have purposefully put it aground again to save the ship and keep it upright. The crew might have thought that would have been the result in the location that they were at. The outcome might have been different had the Captain remained on his ship. Even without propulsion, he might have been able to call in tugs to better position the vessel to prevent her from going over onto her side. It could be that there was nothing that the Captain could have been able to do. Who knows, maybe the crew was better off without him. Many of us know Captains like that. But Captains like that are generally not placed in charge of better ships. At any rate, this vessel seems to have lacked leadership at the moment she needed it most.

Certainly more answers will be coming over time. My guess is that the actions of the crew will generally be seen as a contributing factor to the number of lives saved. I also suspect that the actions of the Captain and whoever was the bridge watch officer are going to figure highly in the list of causes of this accident. As I write this over Sunday, I can already see the news stories turning against the Captain. I’m thinking it will only get worse.

I’m not one for criminalization of the seafarer. However, criminal acts deserve to be punished. The Captain’s actions are going to be difficult to defend, if it turns out that he wasn’t there…

Costa Concordia cruise ship Friday night, prior to sinking. Photo: (by Sestini – Corriere della Sera) via United States Embassy in Rome

UPDATE: The captain of the cruise ship COSTA CONCORDIA has been arrested by Italian police as an investigation into Friday night’s grounding is launched.  Read: Updated: Cruise Ship Costa Concordia Sinks off Italian Coast [VIDEO, AIS Track]

Earlier: Word is out that the cruiseship COSTA CONCORDIA went aground Friday night. But aground doesn’t accurately describe the current situation, which I would describe as a sinking.

Holidaymakers from Britain, France, Italy and Germany were forced to flee the 1,500-cabin Costa Concordia in lifeboats when it hit a reef less than two hours after leaving port.

Some leapt overboard and swam to shore as the ship started to sink into the waters near the island of Giglio, off the Tuscan coast.

Francesco Paolillo, the coastguard spokesman, said that at least three bodies were retrieved from the sea and at least three more were feared dead.

Local officials are also reporting that 69 people are still unaccounted for.

By this morning, the ship was lying virtually flat off Giglio’s coast, its starboard side submerged in the water. – Telegraph, UK (Click to read the whole article)

Here are two photos from USA Today of the accident:

According to a New York Times report:

“We had to scream at the controllers to release the boats from the side,” said Mike van Dijk, a 54-year-old from Pretoria, South Africa. “We were standing in the corridors and they weren’t allowing us to get onto the boats. It was a scramble, an absolute scramble.”

The vessel “hit an obstacle” — it was not clear if it might have hit a rocky reef in the waters off Giglio — “ripping a gash 50 meters across” in the side of the ship, and started taking on water.

The cruise liner’s captain, Commander Paolillo said, then tried to steer his ship toward shallow waters, near Giglio’s small port, to make evacuation by lifeboat easier.

But after the ship started listing badly, lifeboat evacuation was no longer feasible, Commander Paolillo said.

Surely there will be more to follow regarding this incident.

News is coming out from Sea Shepherd that their high speed vessel, the BRIGITTE BARDOT (ex Gojira) has been damaged by a rogue wave:

Sea Shepherd Ship Severely Damaged by Rogue Wave
Steve Irwin Responding to Distress Call from the Brigitte Bardot

While fighting heavy seas in pursuit of the Japanese whaling fleet, the Sea Shepherd scout vessel Brigitte Bardot was struck by a rogue wave that has cracked the hull and severely damaged one of the pontoons on the vessel.

Captain Paul Watson, onboard the Sea Shepherd flagship Steve Irwin, reports that they are fighting heavy seas to reach the position of the Brigitte Bardot some 240 miles to the southeast. It is expected to take twenty hours to reach the damaged vessel.

The Brigitte Bardot is at 51 degrees 42 minutes South and 99 Degrees 21 minutes East, or 1500 miles southwest of Fremantle, Western Australia.

Brigitte Bardot Captain Jonathan Miles Renecle of South Africa was pursuing the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru in six meter swells when the wave slammed into the port side of the vessel cracking the hull. The crack has been getting wider as the seas continue to pound the vessel.

Captain Renecle is confident that the ship will stay afloat until the Steve Irwin arrives. The Brigitte Bardot has a crew of ten: three British, three American, one Australian, one Canadian, one Belgian and one South African.

The Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker will continue in pursuit of the whaling fleet. The Steve Irwin will assist the Brigitte Bardot, first to see to the safety of the crew, and then to escort the vessel to Fremantle for repairs.

“This is disappointing but these are hostile seas and we have always been prepared for situations like this,” Said Captain Paul Watson from the Steve Irwin. “Right now the safety of my crew on the Brigitte Bardot is our priority and we intend to reach the crew and then do what we can to save our ship.” - Sea Shepherd Website

It seems that the vessel is in serious trouble in a very remote location. Worse, given the remote location, the only vessels available to come to the rescue is another Sea Shepherd vessel, the STEVE IRWIN. this will put two vessels out of action. However, this is much better than being down there alone.

Other than waiting to see the fate of this vessel, I guess the only thing left to say is that this vessel was completely not suited for the environment that Sea Shepherd was operating in and it was only a matter of time before it because a casualty.

Guess they must be getting great footage for the next season. I look forward to seeing if the Japanese have come up with any good countermeasures to keep the Sea Shepherds at bay. I’m guessing that they have new tactics. Otherwise they would be setting themselves up for another defeat like last season.

THE SHIPPING MAN is a novel by Matthew McCleery about the crazy world of shipowners and finance:

 

When restless New York City hedge fund manager Robert Fairchild watches the Baltic Dry Cargo Index plunge 97%, registering an all-time high and a 25-year low within the span of just six months, he decides to buy a ship.

Immediately fantasizing about naming a vessel after his wife, carrying a string of worry beads and being able to introduce himself as a “shipowner” at his upcoming college reunion, Fairchild immediately embarks on an odyssey into the most exclusive, glamorous and high stakes business in the world.

From pirates off the coast of Somalia and on Wall Street to Greek and Norwegian shipping magnates, the education of Robert Fairchild is an expensive one. In the end, he loses his hedge fund, but he gains a life – as a Shipping Man. Part fast-
paced financial thriller, part ship finance text book, The Shipping Man is 310 pages of required reading for anyone with an interest in capital formation for shipping. – Amazon

Instead of me attempting to pick a nice excerpt or two, you can read the first chapter here for free. (PDF Link).  The author, Mr. McCleery, is the President of Marine Money International. So he is writing from a position in the know. Which makes me wonder what kind of stories he wished he could have put into this book but dare no, at least not yet.

I am not one to read much these days.  Between work and an internet connection full of unlimited possibilities to waste time, if I am going to stop everything to pick up a book, that book better be damn good. That said, after reading the first chapter (see link above) I was hooked and ordered the book. I burned through the book in three days. This is part of the other problem I have with books. When they are good, I just have to read the whole thing.

It didn’t hurt that I was familiar with a number of locations mentioned in the book as well as familiar with the kinds of people portrayed in the book. This made it easy to accept what would appear to an outsider to be completely unbelievable situations. Anyone who has sailed has a couple of their own sea stories that anyone but another sailor would believe. This book seems to put together a story of a person’s venture into shipowning that truly falls into the category of sea story.

So, if you are looking for something to read or know of someone who likes sea stories or if you are a businessman who would like a little insight into the financial aspects of owning a ship, then by all means give this book a try.

One thing this book confirmed, is my investing rule to stay away from shipping line stocks. Not that the stocks are bad, just that I am not smart enough to make money buying and selling them. For those who want to give it a try, see ‘Betting on Shipping Stocks? Sometimes Ignoring the Herd Pays [MARKET ADVICE]‘, ‘Horizon Lines Shares Delisted From NYSE‘ as well as gCaptain’s finance related posts.

Have you seen me?

One of the main stories last week was the apparent dismissal (for lack of a better word) of the Superintendent of the of the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point. (See: Merchant Marine Academy Superintendent Reassigned)

There are a number of rumors out there as to why this has happened, and a number of them are covered in the gCaptain Forum (See: King’s Point Superintendent Reassigned… and MARAD has NOTHING to say about it) as well as covered in the ‘USMMA at Kings Point Alumni’ group in Linkedin. (See: USMMA Superintendent Admiral Greene – KP ’78 leaving KP)

The object of this post is not to delve into the rumors, but to instead wonder just where is the Maritime Administrator in all this? I ask this because the Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, visited the Academy on Tuesday, the 18th to express his support for the Academy.

The Academy however falls under the immediate supervision of the Maritime Administration and the Maritime Administrator, David Matsuda. But it was not Matsuda who visited the Academy this week. It was his boss, the Secretary of Transportation. Matsuda apparently didn’t even tag along.

From a report of the visit, the Secretary declined to provide any more details why RADM Greene was dismissed but did confirm that he had no intention of visiting the possibility of reinstating him to the position. So instead of answering questions, this latest visit to the Academy seems to make the mystery even deeper.

Fred