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Cruise ship captain

Still image from video shows former Costa Concordia crew member Domnica Cemortan gesturing during a television interview recorded on January 17, 2012 in Chisinau. Cemortan, who happened to be onboard the cruise ship during the disaster off the coast of Tuscany last Friday, defended the captain's action in the interview. Photograph by: Zhurnal Tv via Reuters Tv, Reuters

Woman with Italian ship captain defends his effort

Alison Mutler, Nicole Winfield The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, January 20, 2012 - 11:14am

ROME -- A young Moldovan woman who says she was called to the bridge of the stricken Costa Concordia to help evacuate Russian passengers defended the embattled captain on Thursday, saying he worked tirelessly and "saved over 3,000 lives."

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Capt. Bill Wright, left, discussed cruise-industry regulation at a passenger ship safety conference in London on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 with Richard Evenhand, managing director of V.Ships Leisure UK on the right. Wright, senior vice president of Marine Operations for the Royal Caribbean International cruise line, said it was too soon to comment on the captain of the Costa Concordia’s actions, but said it was “an unwritten rule or law of the sea” that a captain stands by a ship in distress. (AP Photo/Cassandra Vinograd)

Other seafarers outraged that captain could jump ship

Karl Ritter The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, January 19, 2012 - 12:52pm

STOCKHOLM -- Seafaring tradition holds that the captain should be last to leave a sinking ship. But is it realistic to expect skippers -- only human after all -- to suppress their survival instinct amid the horror of a maritime disaster? To ask them to stare down death from the bridge, as the lights go out and the water rises, until everyone else has made it to safety?

From mariners on ships plying the world's oceans, the answer is loud and clear: Aye.

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FILE In this In this Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012 file photo Francesco Schettino, right, the captain of the luxury cruiser Costa Concordia, which ran aground off Italy's tiny Tuscan island of Isola del Giglio, is taken into custody by Carabinieri in Porto Santo Stefano, Italy. Seamen have expressed almost universal outrage at Capt. Francesco Schettino, accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and of abandoning his crippled cruise ship off Tuscany while passengers were still on board. The charge of abandoning his ship carries a potential sentence of 12 years in prison. Seafaring tradition holds that the captain should be last to leave a sinking ship. But is it realistic to expect skippers _ only human after all _ to suppress their survival instinct amid the horror of a maritime disaster? To ask them to stare down death from the bridge, as the lights go out and the water rises, until everyone else has made it to safety? From mariners on ships plying the world's oceans, the answer is loud and clear: Aye. (AP Photo/Giacomo Aprili, File)

Doomed ship's captain told port: 'It's just a blackout'

Collen Barry, Nicole Winfield The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, January 19, 2012 - 10:39am

ROME -- A new audiotape emerged Thursday of the first contact between Livorno port officials and the Costa Concordia -- and the captain is heard insisting that his cruise ship only had a blackout a full 30 minutes after it had rammed into a reef.

Costa Concordia, Cruise ship, Cruise ship captain, Cruise ship sinking, Disaster, Sinking, International Read more Comments