Captain Francesco Schettino and the COSTA CONCORDIA

I've been reading a bit about this ship, the Costa Concordia, that ran aground off the Italian coast a few days ago.  Fascinating.

The BBC has a fairly good overview of what happened - the Costa Concordia left Civitavecchia, the port servicing Rome, and headed north towards Livorno from whence passengers could go to Pisa, Vinci, Sienna, and Florence.  On the way, passing between the island Giglio and the port St. Stefano on the coast, the ship steered a NW course to pass close aboard the island.  

There are reefs and rocks near that island and the water depth goes from around 50' to less than 20' rather quickly as you approach.  According to Wikipedia, the Costa Concordia draws 26' of water, so 40' is safe, 30' is not.  For the bulk of those 9 miles between Porto St. Stefano and Isola del Giglio, the water depth is 350-400 feet.  

It was night time, so other than some lights of Giglio's villages, there was nothing for passengers to see.  There is no reason from the geography for the skipper to take her that close aboard the island, and the BBC report indicates the course change was not authorized by the cruise line.  It seems Capt. Schettino brought the ship in close last August as well, and he did so again on January 13.  The BBC says it's because the skipper wanted the locals to get a sight of the ship.  Unless there's a particular local he wanted to impress, that makes very little sense, but then, the whole thing makes very little sense.

The ship struck a rock, tearing a gash in the hull below the waterline on the starboard side - which means the rock was to seaward of the ship as it headed north - and starts to list.  The skipper brought the ship around, heading towards the shallows of Giglio until the ship runs aground and the order is given to abandon ship.  (Some Photos)

The movement off the ship was undisciplined and panicked.  You'd expect that from the passengers.  The crew, right up to the skipper himself, however, also seem to have panicked and discipline collapsed.  The captain seems to have been among the first off.

The primary cause of the accident, from all the preliminary information, is Captain Schettino.  Other information might yet come forward to exonerate him, but I can't imagine what it would be.  This will, however, ultimately be a story about him, not about cruise ship or the industry.