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?

The captain of that ship served a lengthy jail term for, iirc, manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, AND abandoning his ship.
It isn't the law however that a ships captain has to go down with the ship, or even be the last one off. But they are, by law, responsible FOR the ship AND the lives of the crew and passengers.

I know this because by pure chance, a couple of years ago I had quite a long conversation with a current serving captain of one of the P&O cruise ships about just this topic!

From a video taken by surveillance cameras at a shipyard, it seems the passengers of the Bayesian had about 16 minutes to save themselves and avoid the sinking.

As well as the owner, and five guests, the captain and 8 crew members made it off. If you read this article, it explains all sorts of measures other sailors in the vicinity took during the storm, which the Bayesian apparently didn't, apart from abandoning the seven who died.

That was one of the charges against Schettino. The reality is that it depends where you are. Some countries (Spain, Greece and Italy, for example) regard abandoning ship whilst there are still passengers on board as a crime. Many other countries don't.

Yes .. if you've rtft you'll have seen that a) I'm aware of that and b) it's also been pointed out.

That explains why many crew are paid cash, USD, no taxes? Not saying case with this ship, but understand this is case with many of the “service staff” recruited.

I agree.

Possible open windows … however, luxury yachts have air con. Otherwise would be unbearable with heat & damp.

My husband is an ex yachte, his opinion on this is that it's most likely they were up working on deck.

So by default in a safer place on sinking. They have no time for rescues.

This would be a disgusting rumour to spread, that one person is responsible for the whole tragedy. Obviously completely false.

I see, I think someone up thread thought it was no longer being mentioned/perhaps not certain.

I haven't been following it so I don't know much but I know as a lowly paid worker with young kids to go home to would I fuck feel like certain sacrifice of my life for a billionaire. I think it really depends on rank, urgency and things like that.

There is a famous one I think in south Africa where the ship sank but luckily everyone survived.

The crew had fucked off abandoning ship without even telling anyone. It was the 2 person husband and wife entertainment team that discovered it, raised the alarm, gathered all the passangers together, kept everyone calm and co-ordinates the air lift to get everyone off the ship. Even though they where 'just' lounge singers and clearly not even thought off as 'crew' as they where abandoned along with else. The captain faced a LOT of backlash for not alerting anyone and for abandoning without care when there was hours to abandon ship. He literally didn't even try.

There are other scenarios in history where stuff happens so fast that families get separated, people get trapped/washed away, fires break out, people panic and jump into the sea etc... which is probably an impossible to organize a rescue situation and at some point just has to become surviving.

The press conference has just been held. The weather event that kicked off the sinking has been described as a downburst rather than the originally understood waterspout.

The press conference did not speculate on the hatches - AFAIK this is not yet known either way

22 on board. 6 passengers survived. 9 crew survived. So 50% of passengers survived and 90% of the crew. The crew would likely be awake, on deck, or possibly in the lounge, working at this hour of the morning. Also, most likely sober, which the passengers may not have been. The passengers who survived seem to have been on deck. The yacht appears to have tipped to starboard and then sunk. Anyone in the cabins, below the lounge, would have had little time to escape. The crew member who died was the chef, who was probably either asleep or in the galley - somewhere less easy to escape?
Yes, the crew and the captain (master?) are expected to get the passengers off. But if the passengers are on the lowest deck and that is now full of water there is not a lot you can do. Someone launched a life-raft, I think? That has to be the crew. Those who were in the water - who, according to the mother with the baby, were suddenly tipped into the sea - were pulled onto the life-raft. Everyone who died was in the cabins at the bottom of the vessel.
I should think the crew, who were awake, did their best to save the passengers.
The investigation is likely to be on whether the hatches were open and what safety drills and evacuation drills had been done, and also WHY the yacht tipped - which has to do with its stability, the actions of the captain and where the boat was anchored.

Seems the crew saved themselves without raising alarm.
Wgy was there no Watch?
why wasn’t there knowledge of incoming Squall?

Were crew complacent because of being so close to land?

The large sliding glass doors were also a possible design flaw that would allow tons of water onboard .

Crew not heroic in my eyes for not heeding storm warnings.

Saving their billionaire employers is way above their paygrade. They also have families, who they are leaving for many months at a time to serve the owners. You can bet that the "tycoon" who died wouldn't give a second thought if he'd got off and it had been a deckhand or a stewardess who drowned.

This. I wouldn't put my life in danger, whatever the etiquette is.

Seems the crew saved themselves without raising alarm.

You have zero evidence to say this, @oakleaffy

Again, the investigation will look into what alarms were raised. But there’s not much good bells going off and crew shouting out if cabin doors are blocked by furniture shifting when the ship tilts.

Appearances at the moment suggest they panicked and saved themselves. one would have hoped professionalism would have played a role in keeping a night watch, monitoring the weather conditions and initiating the safety measures for bad weather (closing hatches), waking up the guests so they could prepare to evacuate if needed.

Im guessing someone fell asleep on watch and they got taken by surprise. Still managed to alert each other but not the guests though.

Yachts like that have air con
no need for open doors and hatches- Especially not when an incoming storm is well forecast.

Your post is unpleasant speculation.

Where are you getting this info?

"Squalls" FYI aren't another word for storms. You don't just use that because you think it sounds nautical. They are not forecast for a start.

Storms on the other hand are usually forecast, however sometimes they are accompanied by rare metrological phenomena which cannot be predicted.

All, please read the press conference information from the Italian investigators.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c3vxzw3kw77t

Absolutely. As a captain if necessary you override the wishes of the owner. If you aren't prepared to do that you shouldn't be a yacht captain. Yachts that size require the captain to have a high level of qualification and command a very decent salary.

However,.there is no indication that there was a dispute between owner and captain, that will have to wait for the investigation

If it was dragging the anchor for 15 minutes why were not the passengers ordered on deck?