He’s hired a Norwegian accident investigator, Arne Sagen, to assist him in his appeal. Not sure what that’s going to do for this fool except run up his legal bill…
Anyway, thought it might be worth a read.
If his story is true I hope he succeeds in his appeal.
Very good article. I have always been of the opinion that large cruise ships are a disaster waiting to happen, and from my experience, the shoreside operators are shifty. I am sure that the real story, minus blame shifting, media hype, the tendency to kick someone when they are down, would place some, or a lot of blame on the captain. But maybe the bigger story is that the judgement of this man has so far been based on a quasi-political football. A person in the wrong place at the wrong time, who made decisions among a chain of circumstances, a lot of which were out of his control. Sort of like Davidson before El Faro went down.
A hell of a time to find out the helmsman doesn’t speak English or Italian.
I still don’t like the way he behaved in the immediate aftermath. I confess I don’t have a lot of empathy for this character.
LI[QUOTE=catherder;174468]I still don’t like the way he behaved in the immediate aftermath. I confess I don’t have a lot of empathy for this character.[/QUOTE]
Neither do I! And I tell you why.
Schettino has been convicted to 16 years in jail and is now awaiting in freedom his appeal to the verdict which could take years. That is a nice opportunity to bring out the truth and write a book about the ‘incident’. This asks for some specific skills which he does not possess so he has to find a co-writer. The job description requires that it must be one of the female species, blond and doable of course, a bit like the Moldovian dancer on board the ship who assisted him on the bridge during the hit on the island’s rocks.
[I]His Moldovian lover on board the Costa Concordia, Domnica Cemortan[/I]
A title for the book is quickly found: The Truth Submerged’. Nice touch if you think of it, especially in relation to the 33 persons who were submerged inside the ship. As the book probably, I am not going to buy it and add to the profits, has no quality you must give it some quantity, 600 pages to be exact. You can then also use it to rest your tired feet on or to reach for something in a high kitchen cupboard, always handy.
[I]Meanwhile It has been suggested in the Italian press that the title of the book should be altered to: "Vada a bordo cazzo …“Go back on board, asshole…”![/I]
The Telegraph wrote:
The book, which Schettino co-wrote with Vittoriana Abate, an Italian television journalist, claims the captain “suffered a violent attack on his character” after the enormous cruise liner rammed into rocks during the night of January 13, 2012. He was accused of being distracted at the time by a Moldovan dancer with whom he was having an affair.
It also claims Schettino – dubbed ‘Captain Coward’ after he abandoned the crew and passengers to their fate and put himself on a lifeboat – is “a victim of an aggressive media" and that his privacy was “constantly violated”.
Although he was sentenced to 16 years in prison in February after being found guilty of abandoning ship, multiple counts of manslaughter and causing a maritime disaster, the book claims the incident should be seen solely as a maritime disaster and “words such as ‘criminal’ have nothing to do with the event”. He is appealing the conviction.
[I]The presentation of the book together wit co-writer Vittoriana Abate.[/I]
In the book he puts himself, as could be expected, in the victim’s role, accuses the media of character assassination and downplays the disaster as a ‘marine incident’. In the end he has the audicity to dedicate the book to the relatives of the 32 victims of the disaster, “because they deserve the truth more than anyone else”. Not the dead, just the relatives deserve that. I assume that totally in character, it is all about him and nobody else, he intends to pocket the revenues of the book instead of donating it to the victims relatives.
[I]The German head line says: “First he abandoned his ship…now his wife.”[/I]
During the writing of the book he develops, as could be foreseen, a relationship with his co-writer and leaves his spouse for her. Nice… As a well known writer he organises a book signing session which however was forbidden by the Mayor of the city in view of the many protests from the locals.
Will be continued…
No way will this guy spend much time if any in prison. The prisons in Italy are spilling over with criminals. This guy does not pose an immediate risk to their population. I don’t like it but that is the truth.
[QUOTE=Capt. Lee;174753][B]No way will this guy spend much time if any in prison[/B]. The prisons in Italy are spilling over with criminals. This guy does not pose an immediate risk to their population. I don’t like it but that is the truth.[/QUOTE]
Absolutely spot on! Unbelievable if you think about the 32 dead and all the family tragedies and grief he caused in the aftermath and the way he handled himself during and after the disaster. Also no relatives so far I know are suing him. It probably would have been a totally different ball game for him if the Costa Concordia had been an American flagged cruise ship…
[QUOTE=Dutchie;174774]the way he handled himself during and after the disaster.[/QUOTE]
The biggest thing he’s disputing is the assumption by the world of “the way he handled himself during” and he claims to have proof. If he’s right I hope people are able to change their minds.
[QUOTE=Capt. Phoenix;174775]The biggest thing he’s disputing is the assumption by the world of “the way he handled himself during” and he claims to have proof. If he’s right I hope people are able to change their minds.[/QUOTE]
Not likely. It’s hard for people to change their minds, and some prefer what the tabloids tell them. Media run amok vs. objective facts. A similar case was John Lerro and the Skyway Bridge. It took a long time for him to clear his name, but the facts came out in the end.
First of all it should be noted that Arne Sagen is a well known maritime safety expert who is connected with the Skagerak Foundation and a good man to have on your side. He is the author of the book ‘The ISM Code’ and a recognised expert in field of safety at sea.
Having said that I donot know where he got the information from to be able to make the above statement. Surely out of the 4000 passengers a few at least should have come forward and acknowlegded that they had been saved by Schettino but nobody did so.
On the other hand there is a reliable witness, the Chief of Police of the island Giglio, who has a totally different story about the man’s behaviour.
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 intend to keep an open mind for the information they will present to the court and take it from there. They should come up with some real verifiable facts because only these will count in the end. We will wait and see…
[QUOTE=Capt. Lee;174753]No way will this guy spend much time if any in prison. The prisons in Italy are spilling over with criminals. This guy does not pose an immediate risk to their population. I don’t like it but that is the truth.[/QUOTE]
He’s incredibly unpopular with the Italian public. They don’t have the ten second attention span that Americans have, and they will be quick to anger if this asshole wins his appeal or gets some kind of leniency.
[QUOTE=Dutchie;174884]First of all it should be noted that Arne Sagen is a well known maritime safety expert who is connected with the Skagerak Foundation and a good man to have on your side. He is the author of the book ‘The ISM Code’ and a recognised expert in field of safety at sea.
Having said that I donot know where he got the information from to be able to make the above statement. Surely out of the 4000 passengers a few at least should have come forward and acknowlegded that they had been saved by Schettino but nobody did so.
On the other hand there is a reliable witness, the Chief of Police of the island Giglio, who has a totally different story about the man’s behaviour.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 intend to keep an open mind for the information they will present to the court and take it from there. They should come up with some real verifiable facts because only these will count in the end. We will wait and see…[/QUOTE]
Yes, he faded away like a coward, and that is the one outstanding item of behavior that sticks out for me. Even a tongue lashing by a Coast Guard senior officer failed to move him. That he had presence of mind enough to do this chameleon bit and claim later that he had nothing but good intentions, boggles my mind.
I hope that Arne Sagen knows what he is doing because he could easily sail into uncharted rocky waters here. He should know better than making such statements without any back up of solid proof.
Schettino in a fighting mood… Click on the picture!
A captain should leave the ship as the last person, but not before he has secured all documents and books as well as all valuables which were entrusted to him. That is more. or less the definition. Schettino clearly failed to do so, claimed that he tripped by accident and slid down the side into a lifeboat, conveniently together wit his Greek second in command. After the conversation with Falco he was found sitting on a rock asking for a blanket and a cup of tea while watching the sinking ship. Not very heroic…
[video=youtube_share;wmq26XeuXEs]http://youtu.be/wmq26XeuXEs[/video]
Of course we must be critical about what the media is writing and wants us to belief!
Well, today is 29 October 2016 and the Schettino case goes on, i.e. he has a last chance to appeal at some supreme court at Rome and then, if he loses, he must go to jail.
Reason is very simple.
Any accident of an Italian ship, e.g. an accidental [I]contact[/I] is a [B]CRIME[/B] to be punished. Even if the cause is human error or whatever, any accident is a [B]CRIME[/B] and when crimes are committed by Italian ships, there must be a culprit = the Master.
In this case the lifesaving appliances didn’t work due to technical malfunction and lack of crew to handle them and it was another [B]CRIME[/B] by the Master.
Even worse, when the ship was abandoned, underpaid crew opened illegal watertight doors to get out causing water to spread - progressive flooding - leading to loss of stability, capsize and sinking and people killed.
It was another [B]CRIME[/B] by the Master.
In Italy the ship owner and authorities are not responsible of anything. So only really stupid people become Masters of Italian ships. They can only blame themselves.
“When I took over, I was tempted to shout «hard to starboard», but such an abrupt maneuver would have meant a risk of capsizing.”
Put the lying sack of sh*t in the same cell as Hillary, that LYING “TOO BIG TO JAIL” C#NT!