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| Ray attending a lifeboat drill |
Last Sunday night the Costa Concordia sank off the coast of
the island of Giglio, enroute to Civitavecchia, a port I had visited many times
working for Princess Cruises. I would like to say that in all my years at sea I
never encountered a captain like Francesco Schettino. I considered all the
captains kings of their ship, they were all very professional, attentive and if
I have to admit it, a little bit scary.
While normally I am not one to comment on ship safety the
lack of knowledge of some of the announcers made me feel I had to write this
post. A newscaster was interviewing some passengers after they had made it back
to safety in the US.
They told him that when they realized that the ship was in trouble they were
dressed in formal wear, an evening gown and high heels. Reasoning that this was
not the proper attire for lifeboat travel, they returned to their cabins and
changed their clothes.
The commentator congratulated them, "What clear
thinking,"
NO, NO, NO, it was not clear thinking returning to their
cabin. It was a horrible idea. It is never a good idea to return to your cabin
when a ship is possibly sinking. There are just too many things that can go
wrong, What if the ship is on fire? What if the electricity goes off? What if
the ship tilts and you can't open the door to your cabin? When you hear any
kind of alarm you should proceed to your muster station and if you don't know
where it is then proceed to the highest open deck.
Even though international law states that a lifeboat drill
has to be held at least 24 hours after a boat leaves port, every ship I ever
worked on held an emergency drill as soon as the ship sailed. As a crew member
I also attended many drills over the course of my career at sea. If you read my
book Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships, I talk about the
'how to board a lifeboat drills', 'how to locate a bomb drills', 'how to crawl
out of your cabin in case of a fire drills', and even a drill about the proper
way to jump off the side of a ship without breaking your neck!
The following story perfectly illustrates my point.
Ray had been working on a Greek ship for three months and
was very familiar with his surroundings. One day while the ship was docked in
Patras he went out to lunch with a friend. When they returned to the ship they
discovered the engine room was on fire and the ship had been evacuated. After a
few hours the fire had been put out but the ship was declared out of service
for repairs. They allowed the crew to board so that they could collect their
belongings.
There was no power or lights working on the ship. When Ray left
the ships entrance and headed to his cabin, he became disoriented walking down
the pitch black corridor. He found his cabin by counting the doors. Once inside
he relied on the light from the porthole as he gathered his belongings, but
leaving the his cabin he found it very difficult to find his way back to the
gangway. His walk was further complicated by the debris that had been dropped
in the hallway, by the other crew in their scramble to get off the ship.
Our main point is that even in this situation when the ship
was stable and upright and there was no immediate danger or rush and no crowd
of panicking passengers, finding his way around the bowels of the ship was no easy
task - and he was a crew member. So imagine the problems a passenger would have
in the middle of an emergency situation.
Although ships are very safe and safety is taken very
seriously on a cruise ship accidents can still happen.
We hope this helps you if you ever find yourself on a sinking ship.
As an update to this article we are sorry to report that Sandor Feher the violinist on the Costa ship, helped children into their lifejackets and then left to return to his cabin to retrieve his violin and was never seen again.
Below is the links to our novel.
Click the link to find at Amazon.com
Click the link to find at Amazon United Kingdom
Click the link to find at Amazon Germany
We hope this helps you if you ever find yourself on a sinking ship.
As an update to this article we are sorry to report that Sandor Feher the violinist on the Costa ship, helped children into their lifejackets and then left to return to his cabin to retrieve his violin and was never seen again.
Below is the links to our novel.
Click the link to find at Amazon.com
Click the link to find at Amazon United Kingdom
Click the link to find at Amazon Germany
