The wind was still blowing, and large swells were visible on the horizon. MTS Oceanos was a French-built and Greek-owned cruise ship that sank in 1991. Allen dismissed that idea, saying the captain's knowledge of his ship is crucial in an emergency. After Capt. Announcing Our 2023 Cruisers' Choice Award Winners! He was 46 years old. Fourth Officer Joseph G. Boxhall made a quick inspection of the ship and returned to the bridge to report that he had found no damage. dontpanik, July 2, 2007 in What Ever Happened To..??? The ships were used on the Marseilles Madagascar Mauritius service. The impact on the Scole Rocks occurred at about 9:45 p.m. local time, and the first person to contact rescue officials about the ship was someone on the shore, according to the investigative report. The captain went up to the third of these. [1] Avranas was quoted in the New York Times as saying, "When I give the order abandon ship, it doesn't matter what time I leave. BE SURE TO FIRST CONSULT WITH A QUALIFIED FINANCIAL ADVISER, TAX PROFESSIONAL, OR ATTORNEY BEFORE IMPLEMENTING ANY STRATEGY OR RECOMMENDATION DISCUSSED HEREIN. Havent you forgotten, sir, that all those glass windows are closed? a passenger gently reminded him. Barry and Paul were on closed-circuit rebreathers, a Buddy Inspiration rebreather, and a CIS-Lunar MK5P rebreather, respectively. [2] Usually, there would have been a "sail-away" party on deck. EAST LONDON, South Africa . They began launching the remaining lifeboats, with up to 90 people in each, but were unable to start their engines. Many scenarios have been done, my brother. "Ahab is a great example in the sense that he knows a captain should go down with his ship," says Wyn Kelley, a Melville scholar at MIT. Then he returned and oversaw the operation from the air. After evacuating, the 105 meter long ship began to sink. In an interview with the captain, he jokingly remarked that if the ship should sink, he would be on the first lifeboat off the ship. Industries; War and Militaries; More than 4,200 people were rescued, though 32 people died. The moment was immortalized by Rudyard Kipling as the "Birkenhead drill." Since the year of her sinking, the Oceanos has remained in solitary confinement, guarded by the Agulhas current and the secluded landscape of the Transkei. South Korean authorities have arrested Capt. Within eight minutes I closed the waterproof doors. The captain broadcasted a distress signal as he tried to steer the ship towards shore in order for rescuers to reach them. We were preparing to eat when the first mechanic warned us. [5], No alarm or announcement had been given that the ship was in trouble; with other entertainers working on the cruise, Moss Hills a musician from Zimbabwe and former member of Four Jacks and a Jill who had been performing with his wife Tracy in the lounge, explored below decks, discovered that Oceanos appeared to be sinking, and were informed by the cruise director, Lorraine Betts, that the captain had given the order to abandon ship and some crew had already left in a lifeboat. All 571 people on board were saved, following one of the worlds most dramatic and successful rescue operations of its kind. This statement has placed the 51-year-old . He had apparently confused the Titanics partially enclosed promenade deck with the totally open one of her sister ship, Olympic, which he had previously commanded. Her captain, Yiannis Avranas, and some of the crew were convicted of negligence for fleeing the ship without helping the passengers, who were subsequently rescued thanks to the efforts of the ship's entertainers, who made a mayday transmission, launched lifeboats, and helped . Known for. Italy's highest court has upheld the 16-year jail sentence given to the captain of the Costa Concordia, which capsized in 2012 killing 32 people. But witnesses said he appeared on the bridge of the Titanic just moments . He was never incarcerated and Epirotiki gave him command of a ferry until his retirement. Realizing the ships fate, the crew fled in panic, neglecting to close the lower deck portholes, which is standard policy during emergency procedures. Avranas at the time defended his actions, saying he left the ship to direct rescue operations. Captain Davina Avranas English wife aboard the ship with their daughter Faye. After more than three hours in the water, they were rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. It's shameful. If some people like to stay, they can stay. The generators had been shorted, and the supply of power to the engines had been severed. The objective was to show how the application of experience and established diving technique to a near-insurmountable challenge could safely lead to success. ":rolleyes: I don't know what ever happened to him. "If you are leader, you have responsibility for your people, they put their lives in your hands.". Attaining a maximum depth of 86.4m, the three divers initially made their way North to the stern, where Brett Hawton had time to pose next to the raised Greek lettering, spelling out the name OKEANOZ. On schedule, the shallow-water backup team left the boat and descended toward the decompressing divers. Francesco Schettino, accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and of abandoning his crippled cruise ship off Tuscany while passengers were still on board. That is unbelievable!! After the sinking, Avranas attracted extensive media coverage, often being vilified and used as an example of poor professional behaviour while in command. And he did not lighten his position after the accident when he told a foreign television station: The ship's abandonment applies to . [citation needed]. In 2015, a court found Schettino guilty of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, abandoning ship before passengers and crew were evacuated and lying to authorities about the disaster. Midday, the sea spills over the bow of Oceanos. Soon after the collision, he and other officers saw what they believed to be the lights of a nearby ship. He wanted to see where they were taking the crew to land. Although Barry, Paul, and Brett would dive to the Oceanos as a team, they were all on different equipment. The dive was aborted for the day. It was August 3, 1991 when Rosemary Roe saw the dishes slipping on the table during dinner. The rescue featured in episode 4 of Shockwave, first aired 21 December 2007. Some consider them to be dangerous deviations from planned routes. En route to Durban, the Oceanos cruise ship set out from the port of East London on Saturday, August 3, 1991, into 40-knot winds and nine-meter swells. The captain still had some hope of averting total disaster. They accused the crew and the captain, but if there werent good moves with so much inconvenience and so much wave who would be saved? Still others believed he had made it to an overturned lifeboat but lost his grip, possibly when one of the Titanics immense funnels broke loose and crashed into the water nearby. As provided for by Greek Maritime Law pursuant to Article 223: Captain of non-departures last during the abandonment of a dangerous ship, punishable by imprisonment and penalty of money . Maritime experts say such manifestations of courage at sea far outnumber incidents in which captains saved themselves and left their passengers behind. [6] Finding the ship's bridge abandoned, Moss Hills, an on-board entertainer, used the radio phone to broadcast a mayday until another ship answered. Francesco Schettino had handed himself in to the Rebibbia prison in Rome after the verdict, his lawyer said. Christos Nikolaou did not know what was said about him and his colleagues at the time. Steen Brodersen, a retired Danish captain, said that every single crew member, from the chief mate to the cooks, has a designated role in an emergency on a cruise ship. The South African Navy and Air Force launched a massive seven-hour mission in which 16 helicopters were used to airlift the remainder of the passengers and crew to the nearby settlements of The Haven and Hole in the Wall, about 10km south of Coffee Bay. The expedition required diligent and intense preparation. I will certainly avoid any Greek ferriesof course truth be known, I avoid all foreign ferries since I don't trust what they think an acceptable number of passengers is. Although conditions looked very good for diving, a large shore break was preventing our launch, and the skippers felt the risk to the team, and their vessels were too great. From Times Wire Services. By Philip G Van Rensburg. We meet him in Piraeus, where he lives after his retirement. The one who abandoned ship along with his officers and crew and left the entertainers aboard to organize the rescue in August of 1991 off the African coast? He speaks five foreign languages, originally from Kasos, but was born in Egypt. The Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew, slammed into a reef on Friday, after Schettino made an unauthorized maneuver. After five days of staying at the hotel, the other Greek sailors with the assistance of the Greek consular authorities also escaped. There is some film on YOUTUBE showing the sinking of the Oceanos. Moss and Tracy, who now live in Liverpool, continued working as cruise ship entertainers for many years. Why did the captain go down with the ship? The weather forecast was predicting a strong northeasterly wind by morning, a factor that could easily mean the end of the expedition. Epirotiki Lines had lost two other ships within the three years preceding the sinking: the company's flagship Pegasus only two months before, and MV Jupiter, three years before. What happened to the captain of the Oceanos ship? Updated: April 12, 2023 | Original: November 12, 2020. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. However, rough seas caused the party to be held inside in the Four Seasons lounge;[5] most passengers chose to stay in their cabins. In between, however, the first engineer was terrified. / Updated May 22, 2010 / 12:42 PM PDT 20 PHOTOS . In the British and American inquiries that followed, a more complicated picture emerged. In addition to Schettino, Ferrarini and Rusli Bin, the other people who received convictions for their role in the disaster were Cabin Service Director Manrico Giampedroni, First Officer Ciro Ambrosio and Third Officer Silvia Coronica. Lee Jun-Seok, who was one of the first to flee from the ferry as it sank on Wednesday. Smiths body was never recovered, and his final moments remain a mystery, with no shortage of conflicting accountsincluding one in which he jumped off the ship holding a baby. Being one of the worlds most difficult wrecks to reach and successfully dive, the Oceanos offers great rewards for technical divers at the top of their game. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. January 19, 2012 / 3:02 PM Then, about two years ago, South African technical divers Barry Coleman and Brett Hawton decided it was time to revisit the Oceanos. READ MORE: Why Nobody Remembers America's Worst Maritime Disaster. Physical and psychological training, descent strategies, bottom times, gas mixes, decompression profiles, equipment, and logistical planning; all these considerations had to be finalized before the team arrived on location at the Hole in the Wall hotel, where supportive technical diving and medical infrastructures do not exist. [2] Divers have visited her, but strong currents make the dive difficult. He remains incarcerated in a prison just outside of Rome, where he is expected to stay until he is around 80 years old. Many famous naval disasters happen far out at sea, but on January 13, 2012, the Costa Concordia wrecked just off the coast of an Italian island in relatively shallow water. In another instance, Smith ordered that a lifeboat be lowered from the boat deck to the promenade deck, so passengers could climb in more easily. Captain Yiannis Avranas (born c. 1940) had been an officer for twenty years and a seaman for thirty. (Schettino insisted the ship sailed close to shore to salute other mariners and give passengers a good view.) [15], Prior to the events of January 1991, Avranas had apparently given no interview to the media. "If the master is simply looking out for himself or herself, you've breached your duty both legally and morally, to your ship, your crew and your passengers," says Allen, the University of Washington law professor. I sure hope he's no longer a ship's captain anywhere! According to Boltman, "later in the morning, Captain Avarnasi [sic] even contacted me from shore to ask how things were going. Whilst laying the anchor line on the Oceanos that day, the boats remained almost stationary as the opposing forces of wind and current battled against each other for ascendancy.

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