Helge Ingstad is afloat again:
But not for long. She is going into a drydock shot into the rocks at Haakonsvern Naval Base.
Hm, the wreck will be towed to dry dock??? It cannot move anywhere under own power. In dry dock what will happen apart from patching up the hole in the hull??? Are they going to modify the bridge to be open … to keep the crew awake? IMHO better is to scrap it.
Luckily I understand Norwegian (and the link) so I know that Norwegian police now considers taking action against three crew on the HI bridge. The police thinks the HI crew couldn’t distinguish between a tanker and shore.
Maybe they were all drunk?
I wonder whether it is normal practice in marine accidents, such as this one, to do a breath alcohol test? It would be the logic thing to do, certainly in cases were the risk of damage, both to material and personal lives, is so big. This should be done of course immediately after the accident. In traffic accidents this is standard procedure nowadays. If the result of the breath test is doubtful a blood test at the police station is then done. I really hope that they did these tests because if not it would reflect badly, amateurish, on the investigation.
More like you are.
BTW; NOT 3 people on the HI, but the OOW on HI, the pilot on Sola TS and the duty officer at Fedje VTS. And they are not being charged, but being suspended during investigation. (Maybe you don’t understand Norwegian good enough to read an article, just the headlines?)
It is also standard procedure in maritime accidents and was done here.
Hm, I have done plenty average adjustments and sorted out plenty incidents but never anybody was charged with anything or suspended. The incidents were all accidents then (back in the 70’s). Of course times have changed. Now you need some guilty party, e.g. the Master of the ship like my friend Francesco Schettino that happened to be on M/S Costa Concordia when it touched a rock 2012. He must spend 16 years in jail for it. I describe his experiences at my web site. He thought the damaged ship was safe and could be towed to a port for repairs BUT the staff aboard opened watertight doors during evacuation and forgot to close them … and the ship was subject to progressive flooding … and capsized. All the fault of the Master. He should have closed the watertight doors after staff had left the ship.
I note that the Greek Master of M/T Sola TS is not charged with anything. It was the fault of the Norwegian pilot on his ship and some Norwegian person ashore at some traffic center far away chatting in Norwegian that assisted the collision (and a Norwegian person on HI). Anything happens in Norway!
I also note that HI was floating for five days after the collision and before it sank. Didn’t the ship have bilge pumps?
Because he put it there.
That would have been impossible… since he had already abandoned ship ahead of many passengers.
You, sir, are nuts.
I think you should learn something from marine incidents and not put the Master in jail for alleged mistakes of them. In order to do so, a marine incident must be properly investigated and analyzed. It seems you are badly informed about the Costa Concordia incident. Any shipowner and maritime administration jailing their master mariners for alleged errors at sea are not worth much in my eyes. Same with this Helge Ingstad incident speeding down a fairway in the night with a bridge full of sailors and no master not looking forward.
Nobody have been charged with anything, or been put in jail over the HI incident. 3 people have been suspended with full pay pending investigation. Can you now please stop harping up again and up again on the same incorrect statements. (And your friend Francesco Schettino)
After Schettino left the ship, Giglio’s police chief Roberto Galli, was stunned to find the captain sitting on the rocks at the shore watching the ship sink. When he encouraged Schettino to return to the ship the captain told him, “No, I want to stay here, to verify conditions on the ship.” Galli stayed with him for 30 minutes. “At one point, Schettino asked to use my telephone, because his was running out of juice. I wasn’t giving this guy my phone. Because, unlike him, I was trying to save people,” Galli says. “Finally, when I was about to leave, he asked for a blanket and tea. I said, ‘If you come back with me, I’ll give you whatever you want.’ But he didn’t move. So I left.”
It is also very strange and suspicious that Schettino took the time to take of his uniform and change into civilian clothes obviously to blend unnoticed into the crowd instead of keeping on his uniform and be a recognisable leader who is in charge of the rescue of the 4000 passengers. If it was his objective to remain under the radar to escape his responsibiliy as a captain of the ship then you could indeed call him a coward.
I rest my case…
@ombugge No. I work for safety at sea and it includes proper incident investigations. By chance, today 15 April 2019 an old case is heard at the Tribunal de Grande Instance, Nanterre, France. It concerns the sinking of M/S Estonia 28 September, 1994. The official cause of incident is that the Master was ordering the ship to go too fast in severe weather, the bow visor dropped off, water entered the superstructure (nobody noticed anything) and the ship sank killing ~1000 persons including the Master. I have written many books about it. Google Anders Björkman + Estonia and you find them. Years later I met the mother of the Master at Pärnu, Estonia. I also met the Master’s wife. They knew that the son/husband would never go too fast with any ship in bad weather. I agreed with them. And today - almost 25 years later the case is heard at Nanterre. Maybe right now.
Safety at sea is a business without end. And I like it.
@Dutchie No, Schettino, on the starboard side open deck (lifeboat embarcation deck), jumped on top of a lifeboat, when the ship capsized to starboard, and survived and was brought to Giglio port, went to a hotel nearby trying to call his office, etc. His ship never sank. I describe it at my website.