Francesco Schettino was nicknamed “Captain Coward” by the press after the tragic Costa Concordia disaster. The voyage began in January 2012 from Civitavecchia, Italy, meant to be a week-long journey. However, the cruise collided with rocks in the Tyrrhennian Sea and sank. The crash resulted in 32 deaths, and a 16-year-sentence for Schettino. This incident appeared all over Italian news outlets, but it is far from the only cruise disaster in recent years.
A tragic cruise
On January 13, 2012, Costa Concordia set on its usual course bearing 3,200 passengers and over 1,000 crew members. However, Schettino added a detour to make a “salute” by sailing close to Giglio Island. As they near the island, the cruise hit underwater rocks that punctured the hull and flooded the controls. Immediately, the ship lost power and began drifting. Mayhem commenced and 32 people died as a result of a poorly managed evacuation. When the ship capsized, passengers had to fend for themselves while climbing over the hull to get rescued by the Coast Guard.
Abandoning the cruise
Schettino got branded a coward for abandoning ship with other officers. His explanation changed from accidentally falling out of the ship onto the lifeboat, to choosing to go ashore to coordinate the evacuation. Meanwhile, the press circulated a recording of the Coast Guard screaming and cursing at Schettino to return to the ship.
“Go back on board”
One part of the recording involved Coastguard Captain Gregorio De Falco shouting, “Listen Schettino, perhaps you have saved yourself from the sea, but I will make you look very bad. I will make you pay for this. Dammit, go back on board!”
From the radio on a lifeboat, Schettino responded he was co-ordinating the rescue from afar, BBC reports. At one point, he pleaded, “Do you realize that it is dark and we can’t see anything?”
The coastguard yelled back, “So, what do you want to do, to go home, Schettino?! It’s dark and you want to go home? Go to the bow of the ship where the ladder is and tell me what needs to be done, how many people there are, and what they need! Now!”
Why did the cruise detour?
During the legal proceedings, multiple reasons for the detour were brought up. During his testimony, Schettino said he wanted to give the passengers a good view, while saluting a retired captain who lived on the island and doing a favor for the head of the wait staff. The captain said he performed these “fly-bys” to please the passengers on board.
He denied the claims he was trying to impress his lover, Domnica Cemortan, who was at the helm with him. During the proceedings, he accepted some of the responsibility but blamed other crew members for the crash.
Schettino’s upcoming hearing
In 2015, Schettino was sentenced to 16 years of incarcerations for dereliction of duty, manslaughter, being the cause of a shipwreck, and abandoning his passengers. He recently reappeared in headlines after applying for “semi-liberty,” which rewards prisoners with good behavior by allowing them to complete their sentence outside of prison. The hearing is scheduled for March 2025, according to the Maritime Executive.
Viral outbreak
Cruise disasters come in different forms. Sometimes they come from human error, weather, or technical malfunction. But in the case of MS Explorer of the Seas in 2014, the catastrophe came from a virus. The voyage set records after an outbreak of a nanovirus forced people away from deck and down to the infirmary. Overall, 630 passengers and 50 crewmembers suffered from gastrointestinal symptoms, according to NPR.
Pirate attack
The Tom Hanks film, Captain Phillips, was based on true events: a pirate hijacking a cruise in 2005. The Seabourn Spirits luxury cruise liner was off the coast of Somalia when two armed boats approached and fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. The cruise managed to evade disaster and outrun the attackers. The 151 passengers were escorted below deck during the chase, and no one were injured aside from one of the 161-person crew, reports CBS News at the time.
“The Poop Cruise”
In 2013, passengers aboard Carnival Triumph cruise ship suffered a waking nightmare. A fire broke out and disabled the power, leaving the cruise drifting for four days before being rescued. During that time, there was no air conditioning, and limited resources when it came to water, food, and lights. But the incident was named after the lack of working toilets, which lead to hallways stacked with sewage-filled biohazard bags.
To make matters worse, the ship’s inspection and maintenance records show that it shouldn’t have been allowed to set sail. In fact, only four of six generators were operational when they embarked, according to CNN; plus the company was aware of ongoing generator fire hazards in its ships.