I'm wondering if they ever give psych-evaluations, or any kind of mental testing prior to making someone a captain of a cruise ship. From "falling" into a life boat, then not returning aboard ship to supervise passenger evacuation, this "captain" appears to be bit beneath the criteria set for many who went down with their ship.
That said, I wonder if there isn't SOME bit of truth in what he says about the "show-off" maneuver close to the island. In today's economy, maybe they did want a bit "extra". IF they did, they sure got it, and so did the passengers.
I agree with the first part of what you have said. Listening to the transmissions from the captain to shore during that night and comments he made in court, it was clear to me that this captain took unnecessary risks that night. He is the man in charge and he didn't do his job. He is responsible for the ship and its passengers. He sailed in dangerous waters at night visually.
After safely on land, unlike many passengers whose bodies have been and have yet to be found, he started making outrageous statements that have grown daily. Everything he has said from, "the rocks weren't on my charts" to "the company FORCED me to do it are him and his attorney in CMA (cover my *advertiser censored**) mode. Note the initials of that acronym... :maddening:
I doubt the higher-ups in any cruise ship company would pressure captains to endanger their ships and their passengers for that maneuver. I have been on two cold-water cruises which pose inherent danger. Alaska was relatively tame, but Antarctica was another story.
Those waters are extremely dangerous. They are so dangerous, our ship had to have an experienced, licensed ice pilot. In a lecture on the night before entering Antarctic waters, we were told by the ice pilot that we should throw away our itineraries for this portion of the cruise. We would only go where it was SAFE. When we did run into trouble with rapidly freezing ice, this wonderful ice pilot made our ship dance like a ballerina through dangerous waters. He used every skill he had, all his charts, and intuition to steer the ship back to safety.
In this case, the captain went with his gut instead of his charts. HE was the one in charge of an extremely valuable ship and many human lives. He alone needs to accept responsibility for his actions. I absolutely do not believe that any company with such a valuable asset would pressure any captain to endanger their ship and its passengers.
