Shipwrecked

Imagine you have just checked into an exclusive hotel............................
                   
You follow the porter as he takes you and your bags to your room, not really paying attention  as you walk down identical looking corridors................................................

Once in your room, you unpack, have a look round the room, locate the fridge and mini bar, see what freebies there are, check out the bathroom,  survey the view from the window.......................

After showering and dressing for dinner you try and find your way back down to the restaurant.

Did you look at the fire exit plan on the door in your room?
Do you know where your nearest exit is?

If all the lights went out would you know where you were and how to get out?

Now translate that scenario onto a ship.............................it gets more complicated because not only are you in the dark but you are also on water.........which way is forward or aft? Do you know where your life jacket is or indeed how to put it on? Do you know where your muster station is and how to get there?
The ship will start tipping shortly and make things even more scary.

This must have been the situation for the 3000 passengers on board the Costa Concordia last Friday. They had only been on board for a couple of hours or so before tragedy struck and their trips of a lifetime became a nightmare.

"On any ship carrying passengers where the passengers are scheduled to be on board for more than 24 hours, a muster of the passengers must take place within 24 hours of their embarkation. Passengers must be given instruction in how to don their lifejackets and the action to take on hearing the general emergency alarm signal" (MGN71)

On Friday, how many people had checked the muster list which by law must have been displayed in their cabin?
This would have told them details of all the emergency signals they would possibly hear such as fire alarm, general emergency alarm (7 or more short blasts on the ships whistle or siren) and abandon ship command (usually verbally by the Captain) and the actions that should be taken if they heard them. They should also have known where their nearest lifeboat was, where their muster station was and how to don a life jacket.

I'm sure many people were saved by the actions of crew members who were able to guide people to lifeboats and help them put on their life jackets correctly.

"Each crew member must participate in at least one abandon ship drill and one fire drill every month. These drills must be held within 24 hours of leaving port if more than 25% of the crew

have not taken part in drills on board the ship in the previous month."(MGN71)

I have taken part in many drills on ships in the 12 years I was at sea, often times thinking 'why oh why are we doing this again?' but I'm sure nothing can prepare you for the real thing. Luckily on the ships I have sailed on the number of people on board was much smaller so mustering and checking if there is anyone missing is a lot easier and quicker than on a cruise ship. And of course our drills are always done during the day, usually during calm weather.

So who is to blame?

Well the buck always stops with the Captain.................he is in charge of the ship.
Even if he is fast asleep in bed at the time of an accident, he is always the one to blame,

In this instance it would seem that the Captain was still on the bridge and was wanting to show off his fancy cruise ship to the people of Isola Del Giglio.  By deviating from the course prescribed by the cruise company he has broken the rules. The ship would have been fitted with an echo sounder which shows how much clearance there is under the ships keel. Navigational charts, paper and on computer, are updated weekly and new clusters of rocks would surely have been noted.

Once the ship had hit the rocks I am sure that a bilge alarm would have sounded and engineers would have gone to investigate.  Once the ship lost power and blacked out, this must surely have been a sign to muster everyone at the muster stations, whilst more investigations were carried out by the ships crew.

The Captain does seem to have had the presence of mind to turn the ship around and bring her nearer into shore, perhaps helping to save lives.
It should always be the last resort to abandon ship, the ship itself being the safest place to be, but once it started listing and taking on more water, this must surely have been the time for the Captain to declare 'Abandon Ship'.

Whenever I go on an aeroplane or stay at a hotel, I do always look at where my nearest exit is......why? No idea, I just like to know how I would escape if the worst came to the worst. 
How many of you can say the same?

Do you spend more time flicking through the in flight magazine than listening and paying attention to the safety announcements?

Do you check out the fire exit plan on the back of your hotel door or check out whats in the mini bar?

It only takes 5 minutes but it could save your life!


Whilst researching for this blog I was shocked to see that on a passenger ship, passengers "should be strongly encouraged to attend abandon ship drills".  They don't have to attend,

If I had to change 2 things it would be that:

1) All passengers must attend an abandon ship drill.
                                                                      
2) An abandon ship/emergency drill on a passenger ship must take place before the ship sails.


Happy Sailing!




Read MGN71