Super yacht sinking - did the crew bravely survive or did they abandon their the passengers

[mids2019]

So....most of the crew survived this tragedy but the passengers died. Do you think it will emerge the crew should have e done more to alrt the passengers and indeed put their lives in danger to attempt a rescue? Maybe it was all just too fast?

I just think there seems silence from the crew at moment despite being survivors of a sinking vessel who have a story to tell. Are lawyers advising they stay quiet on this?

Yea, they will have been told to keep their mouths shut.
It reminds me of that ship, can’t remember the name, where the captain took it too close to the shore and it turned over. The captain was one of the first off, yet my understanding is that the captain should be the last off and do all he can to save passengers and the vessel.

The last body was recovered yesterday. It’d have been poor for anyone to be publicly telling their story yet. There will also be investigations ongoing, and the standard advice is always to wait until those are complete.

Costa Concordia?

I wonder what the law is in terms of the crews responsibility to the passengers? The crew maybe followed a protocol of not trying to rescue anyone if it meant their lives were endangered but it certainly doesn't paint the captain at least as a hero.

From what I’ve read so far, it would seem that the hatches (that should have been closed) were left open to let cool air into the sleeping areas after a very hot day. Which evidently meant that a massive inrush of water meant the boat sank like a stone - which is what one witness (in another vessel) described.
So I doubt there’d have been time for anyone who was still up, to do anything about people asleep in the cabins.

The ones that survived were above deck and the ones that died below/sleeping. It happened at night and I assume the crew were literally all hands on deck and left their charges to sleep. Apparently the vessel was basically bomb proof and I can’t think anybody even began to imagine this scenario. Awful tragedy.

That's a myth, there's nothing to say that the captain has to go down with his ship.

And there's nothing to say that the crew have to either.

Until you find yourself in that situation and until the facts come out I wouldn't start to apportion blame.

I think the working crew are as entitled to try save themselves as the wealthy passengers.

I think it is as simple as those who survived were on deck, those who didn't were in cabins. It went down really quickly.

@AgnesX

"That's a myth, there's nothing to say that the captain has to go down with his ship.

And there's nothing to say that the crew have to either.

Until you find yourself in that situation and until the facts come out I wouldn't start to apportion blame."

You quoted the wrong person, I was just naming the ship the other poster referred to

This. Being awake and on deck rather than asleep and below decks. I assume there was no way to rescue anyone in this type of situation.

Apologies 😔

The Costa Concordia sank because of the arrogance and error of the captain, coupled with some unfortunate circumstances. During the sinking, the Captain made his error worse by failing to coordinate a proper rescue effort (lifeboats were launched half full) and abandoning ship (he claimed he trip and fell into a life boat). It was a huge, serious crime and he received a lengthy jail sentence.

There is nothing at all that points to this sinking being the same, except that some of the crew survived. We've no idea how and why that happened, I'm just grateful there were some survivors. I'm so sad for the families of those who drowned.

Are you schettino? Of course he should have stayed with the ship and help HIS passengers! That’s why he ended up in prison!

I hate this kind of speculation. Maybe the crew did all they could, maybe they made mistakes or panicked. Either way, it is being investigated by the appropriate authorities and our ghoulish curiosity will be satisfied when, ..you know..., actual facts are discovered and eventually released to the public.

Meanwhile, the treatment of the tragedy as a soap opera on social media can only worsen the trauma of the relatives of the deceased, and the still-living crew members.

Many years ago, I worked on luxury private yachts. The owners and their guests are not your ‘ passengers’, they are your employers and their friends. It’s their boat, you are on it to serve them.

Private boats are not like the Navy, or even the Merchant Navy. The only hierarchy and responsibility is who has the money. If you are lucky enough to have a written contract, it will specify the hours you work (much longer than you might expect) and what you will be paid ( rather less than you might think as it is an unregulated area). It doesn’t say you should risk your life for people who you may have never met until the day before yesterday. Would you expect a chambermaid in a hotel to rush into a burning building to rescue the guests?

I expect that the most of the crew were higher up the vessel because that’s where crew quarters often are (not as private or well equipped as the guest quarters), and because you often get up early to do the polishing and cleaning so everything is slick and span ( as if by magic) when the guests emerge. They would have been in a better position to abandon ship ( the cook was in the galley below, and did not escape.)

I enjoyed my time crewing, but I was just a hired hand. My responsibility was sourcing the food and wine , and getting it on the table, being polite and cheerful ( sometimes through gritted teeth). No responsibility without authority.

Why is anyone’s wealth a factor? If you’re travelling on a commercial flight or boat and there’s an issue, wouldn’t you expect help from the crew to escape given their training and knowledge of safety procedures?

My guess is someone fucked up here and others paid the price.

I think it's better in that situation, the way it went down that the crew lived than tried with no hope to save the passengers and all die.

I saw that the Italian authorities are considering charges. Presumably the fact that other ships were ok but it was not. Would have been hard to shut the hatches if the owner has ordered you to leave them open though.

The captain of the Costa Concordia was ordered by officials on land to get on a returning lifeboat and reboard the ship to coordinate the rescue efforts though. The idea isn’t for him to die when the ship goes down, it’s for him to be in charge of things on the ship so things don’t descend into anarchy.

He was also 100% at fault for the sinking which makes it even worse that he was one of the first ones on the lifeboats.

Interesting post, and op I think they didn't have the chance, it was very fast

This.

I'd expect it to be every man (and woman) for themselves in this sort of situation, unfortunately. 🫤

my understanding is that the captain should be the last off and do all he can to save passengers and the vessel

I think your understanding is based on tradition and stories. The captain is required to direct evacuation of a ship, but this wasn’t a ship, and it sank in about a minute. There weren’t fleets of lifeboats to put the few passengers in - does that count as an evacuation?

The Costa Concordia case was different - the captain buggered off in a life boat and left the rest to drown.

They have to consider charges when this sort of thing happens, it’s a normal and routine part of the investigation. Like when a person is hit by a train in the UK, it’s always a potential crime until that’s ruled out.

This. The crew are human beings too.