The Oceanos crew was referred to disciplinary inspection for withdrawal of diploma or grade, but they were all acquitted.. The remaining members of the team waited on the boat; some recalled the video footage they had seen of the previous dive made on Monday afternoon and tried to imagine themselves being down there on the wreck with them. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), 5 Maritime Disasters You Might Not Know About, Titanic By the Numbers: From Construction to Disaster to Discovery, Why Nobody Remembers America's Worst Maritime Disaster, https://www.history.com/news/costa-concordia-cruise-ship-disaster-sinking-captain, The Costa Concordia Disaster: How Human Error Made It Worse. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. The ship they spotted in the distance didnt answer, but several others did. Captain of White Star Liner, RMS Titanic, Commander Edward J. Smith, c. 1911. I would avoid any cruise that involves a Greek ship! The 402 passengers and 179 crew members all survived, but Captain Yiannis Avranas and other officers left the ship while some passengers were still on board. On the morning of July 12, 1952, Forges Chantiers de la Gironde launched the last of four sister ships in Bordeaux, France, under the name of Jean Laborde. Updated: April 12, 2023 | Original: November 12, 2020. How does the braking system work in a car? A 2:20 a.m., the last portion of the Titanic disappeared between the waves. May she rest in peace and be as kind to those that follow this great accomplishment. "But that would come after the ship has been evacuated," he added. Although only three divers made it to the wreck, it was the role of each team member that made it possible. UK Retailer Simply Scuba Goes Into Administration For Good This Time, Dive Curaao Launches New All-In-One Vacation Platform. What happened to the cruise ship Oceanos? "I'm kind of flummoxed that a master of a passenger ship anywhere in the world would not understand his obligation extends until that last person is safely off the ship," says Craig Allen, director of the Arctic Law & Policy Institute at the University of Washington. Known for. The team retired for the night, hoping that conditions would improve. One week later, a 32-member team arrived on the scene as part of MNet Camera 7 news channels investigative documentary into the sinking of the Oceanos. In his characteristic style, he managed to weave a comical moment into his narrative of the tumultuous events, telling reporters that he had started singing "Bye Bye Miss American Pie", when he suddenly realised that the next line was going to be "Thisll be the day that I die" - and quickly switched to another song[14][15], Hills later said that searching for Captain Avranas, he had discovered him smoking on the fantail and he said "I think he was in deep, deep shock. Brett and Paul penetrated the portside corridor behind the on-deck pool while Barry singularly explored the large dining hall area. "It comes from the tradition that the captain has ultimate responsibility and should put the care of others ahead of his own well-being in the discharge of his duties," says David Winkler, program director with the Naval Historical Foundation. The notorious master of the vessel was Captain Yiannis Avranas. Smith was at 11:40 p.m. on Sunday, April 14, 1912. He was never incarcerated and Epirotiki gave him command of a ferry until his retirement. Captain Davina Avranas English wife aboard the ship with their daughter Faye. He remains incarcerated in a prison just outside of Rome, where he is expected to stay until he is around 80 years old. But witnesses said he appeared on the bridge of the Titanic just moments later, asking what the storied ship, making its maiden voyage across the Atlantic, had struck. I never saw the captain among us helping, he says.. "It is not just unseemly for a captain to leave a ship," Shealy says. Yiannis Avranas not only abandoned the Greek cruise ship Oceanos after it suffered an explosion off the coast of South Africa but cut ahead of an elderly passenger to be hoisted aloft by a helicopter. Ralph White/Corbis/Getty Images. In August 1991 I was a junior partner in the maritime . The helicopter was used to survey conditions around the wreck that lies at a distance of 9.5km from Hole in the Wall. Abandonment is for everybody, if some people want to stay, they can stay. While we were busy on one hand throwing the boats they went the other way and left, says Nikolaou. On the morning of July 12, 1952, Forges Chantiers de la Gironde launched the last of four sister ships in Bordeaux, France, under the name of Jean Laborde. Yiannis Avranas (born ca. We were crazy to do that dive.. Smith was accused of ignoring ice warnings from other ships and failing to reduce the ships speed to fit the conditions at hand. Schettino argued that he fell into a lifeboat because of how the ship was listing to one side, but this argument proved unconvincing. "There must be a point at which I would think that now it is time to jump into the water so I don't die," he said. Why did the captain go down with the ship? Just before he boarded a train to Washington, Pryal reported, the man smiled at him and said, Be good, shipmate, until we meet again., There is no possibility I am mistaken. Pryal told a reporter. I would avoid any cruise that involves a Greek ship! I saw Captain Smith getting excited; passengers would not have noticed, but I did, May Sloan, a surviving Titanic stewardess, wrote in a letter shortly after the disaster. This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies. Authorities isolated officers and sailors at a hotel. Even if he's not convicted, it is highly unlikely that he'll ever command a cruise or cargo ship again because of the damage to his reputation, said Prof. Craig Allen of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. Then, about two years ago, South African technical divers Barry Coleman and Brett Hawton decided it was time to revisit the Oceanos. Life seems to have been unaware that immediately after Silent Smiths death in 1915, the Lima News had identified the man as one Michael McKenna. The ship started taking on water, rapidly flooding the engine room. Spouse. WATCH: Full episodes of When Big Things Go Wrong online now. Epirotiki Line. Has the old idea that captains should not abandon ship itself been abandoned? On the front page was a Kostas Mitropoulos cartoon that lampooned the Captain, it read: Where to take you captain?the helicopter pilot asked him as he rescued him from the sinking ship named Ocean of failures. There was no stopping the flooding and no hope for the Oceanos sinking. The first engineer along with some of the engine room got on a boat and left. The unfitted ventilation pipe was said to have left a 10cm hole in the watertight bulkhead between the generator and the sewerage tank. Smiths final moments arent definitively known, but reports varied widely. Some countries, like Italy, have included it in national laws. None of the 571 passengers drowned. When they bail early, everything falls apart. In 1994, his English wife Davina published a book about . The technology means that the rebreather diver uses significantly less gas, has reduced nitrogen uptake, and subsequently fewer decompression requirements. The captain broadcasted a distress signal as he tried to steer the ship towards shore in order for rescuers to reach them. The Italian captain went back onboard the wreck for the first time since the sinking of the cruise ship on January 13, 2012, as part of his trial for manslaughter and abandoning ship. The Worst Christmas Story Ever: The Sinking of SS Leopoldville on 24 December 1944, How AI is Transforming Personal and Professional Investing, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, UC Berkeleys Financial Innovation Conference, Why did Titanic Sink : A Scientific Analysis. For example, three months after the Titanic disaster, in July 1912, a Baltimore man named Peter Pryal reported seeing Smith on the streets of that city. The generators had been shorted, and the supply of power to the engines had been severed. Click here to reload the page in order to enable certain features. Then he returned and oversaw the operation from the air. Captain of MTS Oceanos. Will this discovery change our understanding of Titanic's final moments? Avranas was charged with misconduct after it was discovered that he and numerous crew members left the ship while the passengers remained behind. The international and some Greek media condemned the attitude of Captain Yiannis Avranas. Allen dismissed that idea, saying the captain's knowledge of his ship is crucial in an emergency. Francesco Schettino had handed himself in to the Rebibbia prison in Rome after the verdict, his lawyer said. "He's given the industry a bad name, he's made us all look bad. 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 South African Marines land on the ship from naval helicopters. Sometimes we were almost horizontal going down. The Costa Concordia was owned by Costa Crociere, a subsidiary of Carnival . She headed into 40-knot (20m/s) winds and 9m (30ft) swells. None of the 571 passengers drowned. "Some people panic, but a short time later they collect their senses and do the right thing," Allen said. Francesco Schettino, accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and of abandoning his crippled cruise ship off Tuscany while passengers were still on board. 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. Maritime officials who did not want to be quoted said it was . The Greek government is not doing anything about the incident. Even before the journey started, the ship had already started to wear. Its captain was accused of manslaughter and abandoning the 4,200 passengers and crew on the night of the wreck. Hills organized the orderly evacuation of passengers by the helicopters, later reporting that Avranas was among the first to leave at this point. Concern showed on everyones faces, but although an immense amount of planning, effort, and money is poured into conducting a deep-diving expedition, the safety of those involved is always the priority. Oceanos was briefly featured in the 1985 film Sky High and with another Epirotiki ship, Apollon XI, in the 1986 film Hardbodies 2. [22] The show Extreme Weather: The Survivors featured a segment on the sinking. I wanted to go down to the deck, where they were left lying on the floor, covered with blankets, passengers and crew members who sang to get courage. Does anyone know of the current whereabouts of former Captain Yiannis Avranas of the doomed Oceanos? [1] He was married to British national Davina Avrana.[3]. What happened to the captain of the Costa Concordia? The ship ran aground off the Italian coast in 2012, killing 32 people. Steve said, We had to hold onto the anchor line with all our strength. At six in the morning the helicopters appeared. Smith also checked in periodically with the wireless operators until, at about 2 a.m., he released them from duty and told them to try to save themselves. I am on business., Pryal said he trailed Smith to a train station. REBELLION RESEARCH ADVISORS, L.P. IS A REGISTERED INVESTMENT ADVISER AND NOT FOR PROFIT EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH THINK TANK. On schedule, the shallow-water backup team left the boat and descended toward the decompressing divers. 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. The chief engineer reported to Captain Avranas that water was entering the hull and flooding the generator room. At roughly midnight, Andrews reportedly told Smith the Titanic could last another 60 to 90 minutes. BE SURE TO FIRST CONSULT WITH A QUALIFIED FINANCIAL ADVISER, TAX PROFESSIONAL, OR ATTORNEY BEFORE IMPLEMENTING ANY STRATEGY OR RECOMMENDATION DISCUSSED HEREIN. Schettino also didnt immediately alert the Italian Search and Rescue Authority about the accident. At sea he had no kindness. 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. By The Oceanos lies at a depth between 92m and 97m, about 5km offshore, on the western edge of the mighty Agulhas current. About 2:00 p.m., the Oceanos begins its vertical descent. Here's a link if you want to see a video of the story. This window period, although based on unscientific information provided by maritime vessels in the area, falls in May and December. But whatever relief Smith might have felt at that moment was quickly shattered. In addition, Pryals doctor attested that he was absolutely sane and not given to hallucinations., In fact, Pryal said he had seen Smith twice, once on a Wednesday and again the following Saturday, when he returned to the same spot to look for him. In the time of need, however, the crew found that everything was useless. "It isn't just a maritime code, it's a code of leadership," Gurnon said. Various factors affect the flow rate of the current including pressure systems, the position of flow, coastal-trapped waves, and wind. And he did not lighten his position after the accident when he told a foreign television station: The ship's abandonment applies to . Sailing close to shore to give passengers a nice view or salute other sailors is known as a sail-by, and its unclear how often cruise ships perform these maneuvers. The wreck was not the fault of unexpected weather or ship malfunctionit was a disaster caused entirely by a series of human errors. Royer, however, died after suffering a head injury when he finally left the ship. Aug. 6, 1991 12 AM PT. INVESTMENTS INVOLVE RISK AND UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED, ARE NOT GUARANTEED. The nearest, RMS Carpathia, replied that it would change course and hurry to the Titanics position. As soon as we reached seven degrees, we decided to lower the boats and start evacuation. Some early newspaper reports, allegedly supported by eyewitnesses, say he had shot himself with a pistol, though few historians give them any credence. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Stranger still are several widely publicized reports that he didnt die at all. The sense that captains are beyond the law that they are the law, or at least they were, during the age of sail is why they make such great bad guys. The sewage and water systems had their one way "check valves" removed and not replaced. The divers had penetrated 70m into the wreck with the aid of the scooters. 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 . The Italian captain went back onboard the wreck for the first time since the sinking of the cruise ship on January 13, 2012, as part of his trial for manslaughter and abandoning ship. Schettino should have remained on board "until the last passenger is accounted for," said Abelardo Pacheco, a Filipino captain who was held hostage for five months in Somalia and now heads a seafarers' training center in Manila. While the ship could have stayed afloat with up to four flooded compartments, depending on their location, five tipped into catastrophic territory. Lee Jun-Seok, who was one of the first to flee from the ferry as it sank on Wednesday.
