Costa Concordia captain gets 16 years.
 

The infamous captain of the ship wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship
received 16 years prison time.

http://www.france24.com/en/20150211-...ter-shipwreck/

I recently watched a Nova special on the re-float. Amazing feat of engineering that. Can't say I blame the court for locking him up.

Not nearly enuff.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

I saw that too, agree amazing.
Bill the captain for the job.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Dp, nt.

Does tradition has anything to do with the captain's behavior?

I would not expect this from a British captain. Am I influenced by
history, films, books?

Are you referring to a somehow special Italian dolce vita attitude? We should be careful with generalizations...

But this man is an asshole, that's for sure. The accident was one thing, but how he acted after the accident, during the trial, for example, was so shocking for the families of the victims. An alpha male gorilla who is actually a coward chicken.

The German bereaved said a week ago that they want to see him in jail, no matter for how long.

True!

I guess I am over impressed with British naval history.

British seafarers tend to have exceptionally large brass balls. Most British and German captains would still be on the boat.

Please do not misunderstand me - British naval history is an impressive, a great topic!

Jutland was a draw. :)

Am I the only one to note that when the ship was lying on its side there was a rock formation jutting out that nearly touched the ship. Surely the helmsman must have seen it and assumed that it might continue under the surface and veered away from the land.

From the way I see ship control procedures depicted, I get the impression that helmsmen aren't supposed to steer a different way than ordered because they assume something.

He could have brought it to the captain's attention, not that it would have changed his mind, or what passed for his mind.

I think, (I know, that might be dangerous!:)) that the ship hit something farther out and lost steerage and then drifted into the final resting place.

I looked at the wikipedia article on this. You're right, JJ, it drifted for about an hour and a half before grounding. The Captain claims he grounded it deliberately, the Coast Guard says 'maybe.'

There was a crowd on the bridge, including several officers, the Captain, and the Captain's girlfriend, all to enjoy the dramatic close-passby of the island. The Captain had the alarms turned-off and was navigating, he said, 'by sight.' He frequently asked the first officer for radar updates, apparently needing glasses he didn't have to read instruments. He admits to seeing waves breaking on the reef and ordering a course correction too late. The attempted turn swung the side of the vessel into the reef, resulting in a 70' gash and embedding a boulder the size of a truck (or so the photo looks to me) in the ship's bottom. This flooded the engine room, and the ship had no motive power and only electricity from batteries after that.

The helmsman was convicted along with several other officers and officials in July 2013, in plea bargain deals. Helmsman got less than two years, suspended. Charge was supposedly turning in wrong direction when Captain ordered corrective maneuver. Whether this was a fair cop or just a plea to avoid risking actual prison time, I cannot say.

That helps, thx.