Cyprus-Forum.com

by **Lit** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:35 pm

Brilliant defense! Its the old I slipped into that woman's bosom (in this case a life boat) and i cant get out!

Seriously though, I think he really tripped .... over a grandmother he was pushing out of the way!
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Cruise Captain Says He 'Tripped' Into Lifeboat, Couldn't Get Out

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cruise-captain-claimed-tripped-lifeboat-report/story?id=15386279#.TxcAXOS5rIU
By PHOEBE NATANSON and LEE FERRAN
ROME Jan. 18, 2012

The captain of the Italian cruise ship gave a slapstick explanation of how he ended up safely in a lifeboat instead of going down with his ship, saying he tripped and fell into the boat as it was being lowered into the sea, Italian media reported today.

"I had no intention of escaping," Francesco Schettino, 52, said during his first court hearing Tuesday, according to Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper.

"I was helping some passengers put the life boat to sea. At a certain point the mechanism for lowering it, blocked. We had to force it. Suddenly the system unblocked itself and I tripped and I found myself inside the life boat with a number of passengers."

Once in the lifeboat that was lowered into the sea, Schettino insisted to the court that it was "impossible to go back onboard."

by **bill cobbett** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 8:33 pm

Yes, don't think there was any danger of the Captain going down with his ship which makes it all the more outrageous that he left his passengers and crew to fend for themselves imho.

Whoever gave the command to sail a couple of hundred yards in to more shallow waters after the boat hit rocks did very well indeed by the way. If it was the Captain, then credit to him for doing at least this cos otherwise we may have been faced with really, really major loss of life.

by **CBBB** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 8:51 pm

That will teach him to drink pints of Campari!

by **Lit** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 3:55 am

bill cobbett wrote:
Whoever gave the command to sail a couple of hundred yards in to more shallow waters after the boat hit rocks did very well indeed by the way. If it was the Captain, then credit to him for doing at least this cos otherwise we may have been faced with really, really major loss of life.

I completely agree. He deserves credit for that but what about his defense? He tripped, twisted, and rolled over causing him to fall into a lifeboat where he was stuck for an hour or two? Ok, that could happen but why was he near a lifeboat in the first place? Isn't a captain suppose to be on the bridge giving orders or something?

by **bill cobbett** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 3:58 am

Lit wrote:
bill cobbett wrote:
Whoever gave the command to sail a couple of hundred yards in to more shallow waters after the boat hit rocks did very well indeed by the way. If it was the Captain, then credit to him for doing at least this cos otherwise we may have been faced with really, really major loss of life.

I completely agree. He deserves credit for that but what about his defense? He tripped, twisted, and rolled over causing him to fall into a lifeboat where he was stuck for an hour or two? Ok, that could happen but why was he near a lifeboat in the first place? Isn't a captain suppose to be on the bridge giving orders or something?

Agree completely with you as well.

by **repulsewarrior** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:08 am

...the radio transmission that we heard a day or two ago is very clear. although the Judicial proceedings will take years, this Capitain is headed for jail. nothing like cowardice is forgiven among people who work on the sea, one way or another, he will pay the price. as for his driving his ship on the shore, the motive, i suspect was that his life was in peril, otherwise.

by **supporttheunderdog** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 7:28 am

Here is link to a site where experts have reconstruct the apparent approach of the ship to the Island and up to the time of her grounding, using charting software simiiar to what was possibly on board

http://www.qps.nl/display/qastor/2012/01/17/20120117_stranding - click on the WMV link.

by **supporttheunderdog** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:59 pm

the question now is was he helping his Blonde Moldavian Dinner companion into the life boat or had he drunk so much wine he fell in to it P*ssed?

by **Jerry** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 9:40 pm

supporttheunderdog wrote:the question now is was he helping his Blonde Moldavian Dinner companion into the life boat or had he drunk so much wine he fell in to it P*ssed?

The Moldavian "waitress" had only just joined the ship, she was so new to the ship that she didn't even have her own crew quarters according to BBC this morning. Perhaps she was going to have breakfast with the captain too. :lol: