Cruise ship ignores drifting fishing boat

[AmbulanceDriver]

Story here: http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20120419/Death.At.Sea.Cruise.Ship/?cid=hero_media

Here's my summary of it.  3 guys out fishing in a little boat off the coast of Panama.  Motor dies.  16 days later, they have survived on the fish they have caught and 5 gallons of water - not exactly a lot of supplies.  They spot a Princess Cruise Lines cruise ship sailing past in the distance, start waving a red shirt and orange life vest.  Several people out bird watching see the boat, spot the folks waving.   They report this to the line's sales rep that was on board, even have her look through one of the scopes to see what they're talking about.  Passengers are assured that it'll be passed up the line.   One of the passengers, noticing that nothing is being done, even goes to their room, gets the ship's location from one of the programs on the TV there, and fires off an e-mail to the Coast Guard hoping something will happen.

Ship sails on.  Two weeks later, the only survivor is rescued.  He had to push the bodies of his two friends overboard when their corpses started to rot in the heat.

Princess Cruise Lines says the captain and officer on duty were never notified.  They are conducting an "internal investigation".  

Frankly, I think that whoever dropped the ball on passing the info up the chain of command needs to be brought up on manslaughter charges.  I also think that the passengers, when they noticed that the ship wasn't changing course or anything like that should have made themselves an unbearable nuisance until they got up the chain of command and talked to somebody more in charge than a sales rep.  But even their fellow passengers said, "you did everything you could."  I disagree.

[Fitz]

Also, whoever received that email at the Coast Guard should be brought up on UCMJ charges for dereliction of duty.

[dogmush]

Also, whoever received that email at the Coast Guard should be brought up on UCMJ charges for dereliction of duty.

Yeah because the USCG has the resources to invistigate a random email from a non US flag vessel about a non US flag vessel in international waters off of Panama. 

Should they be brought up on charges for not stopping the Somali pirates as well.

Tough stuff there.  I know that the cruise lines actually make it very very difficult for the passengers to interact with the crew sailing the ship (as opposed to the hospitality crew) because, frankly that crew is busy.  It seems like in this case that contributed to these deaths, but it's still not a bad policy.

As a professional mariner, I would have stopped that ship.  There's several things that could have been done to get the operating crew's attention RFN but it's likely that the passengers didn't know that.  I'd say they should have stopped and told every crewmember they could find untill the engines stopped not just one sales rep.

Also, if I've said it once I've said it a thousand times, Cell phones only count as back up commo on a boat in salt water.  If you're getting farther from land then you can swim you need a radio.  Salt water is not a place to screw around.

 

[Fitz]

Respectfully, it takes little effort for someone to make a phone call.

"Hey, Sir, i got an email from a passenger aboard such and such vessel. They said there's a fishing boat stranded near them."

Then, they look up that ship's position, get in touch with the ship, and investigate.

Maybe i'm ignorant. I'm not in the navy or coast guard... but the position reporting and tracking capabilities of the AIS stuff we use at my job are pretty doggone impressive.

I don't know, but if all the vessels in the great lakes carry transponders that our CG assets can see on a map real time (and they do, I know this because I'm looking at them now through our AIS layer on our map), then it stands to reason something like this should be easily available for tracking a large cruise liner.

Agree on the rest of your post though.

And, if there's no way for a hospitality crew member to communicate a situation to the actual sailing crew, there's something horribly wrong.

[Fitz]

double post sorry

[BlueStarLizzard]

Yeah because the USCG has the resources to invistigate a random email from a non US flag vessel about a non US flag vessel in international waters off of Panama. 

Should they be brought up on charges for not stopping the Somali pirates as well.

Tough stuff there.  I know that the cruise lines actually make it very very difficult for the passengers to interact with the crew sailing the ship (as opposed to the hospitality crew) because, frankly that crew is busy.  It seems like in this case that contributed to these deaths, but it's still not a bad policy.

As a professional mariner, I would have stopped that ship.  There's several things that could have been done to get the operating crew's attention RFN but it's likely that the passengers didn't know that.  I'd say they should have stopped and told every crewmember they could find untill the engines stopped not just one sales rep.

Also, if I've said it once I've said it a thousand times, Cell phones only count as back up commo on a boat in salt water.  If you're getting farther from land then you can swim you need a radio.  Salt water is not a place to screw around.

 

However the sales rep that was informed should be held liabiable if she failed to report what was going on. She would have known who to tell and had a responcibility to do so.

[dogmush]

Respectfully, it takes little effort for someone to make a phone call.

"Hey, Sir, i got an email from a passenger aboard such and such vessel. They said there's a fishing boat stranded near them."

Then, they look up that ship's position, get in touch with the ship, and investigate.

Maybe i'm ignorant. I'm not in the navy or coast guard... but the position reporting and tracking capabilities of the AIS stuff we use at my job are pretty doggone impressive.

I don't know, but if all the vessels in the great lakes carry transponders that our CG assets can see on a map real time (and they do, I know this because I'm looking at them now through our AIS layer on our map), then it stands to reason something like this should be easily available for tracking a large cruise liner.

AIS is pretty cool. And I'm sure the cruise ship has it.

But expecting random guardsman that gets an e-mail from .....(what did she just go to their web page? who did she email anyway?)to know or frankly have the time to find out and start a trans national rescue op is fantasy.  If she knew the SALTS mail address of one of the 210's in the area then yeah, maybe they could check it out, but she would have been better off e-mailing Princess Cruiselines direct.  I'll bet someone at the home office had the INMARSAT number to the bridge of that ship.

[Fitz]

You learn something new everyday.


I wasn't trying to be condescending or anything... I genuinely don't know how these things work

[Tallpine]

So in real life, Chuck Noland would have never survived to find out that Kelly had married someone else ...   

[Perd Hapley]

 Two weeks later, the only survivor is rescued.  He had to push the bodies of his two friends overboard when their corpses started to rot in the heat.

So he survives, they're dead, and their bodies are conveniently missing. Somebody should ask him what human flesh tastes like, see if he slips up.

[MillCreek]

^^^ Is there any possible answer other than 'like chicken'?

[Viking]

^^^ Is there any possible answer other than 'like chicken'?

From what I've read..."tasted a bit like veal".

[RoadKingLarry]

So he survives, they're dead, and their bodies are conveniently missing. Somebody should ask him what human flesh tastes like, see if he slips up.

The "other" other white meat.

[Ryan in Maine]

I would've gone man overboard in awesome fashion so the ship would have to stop. Course I'm young and dumb enough...

[dogmush]

Pulling the fire alarms on several decks at once is more likely to get a fast reaction from the crew.

[Hawkmoon]

I would've gone man overboard in awesome fashion so the ship would have to stop. Course I'm young and dumb enough...

You're also assuming the ship would have stopped to look for you. Recent history with persons overboard on cruise ships tends to suggest that a passenger or two per voyage is considered collateral damage, not worth adjusting the schedule for. I suspect the same applied to the stranded fishermen. My guess is the captain (or whoever was the officer of the watch) simply didn't want to risk being late for the next port-of-call.

[French G.]

Lemme tell you, the box score for people who have gone overboard on ships I've been on is not good. Don't do it. Passenger confused hotel staff with a mariner. That's the problem with floating hotels, lots of hotel staff with zero nautical knowledge. No professional mariner should ever refuse to render aid.

[Blakenzy]

Cruiseliner crews seem to be really sketchy.

What was the name of that Captain that abandoned his stranded ship in the Med before any proper evacuation was prepared for the passengers??

[lupinus]

Aw come on, he just slipped and fell into the life boat. Give the poor guy a break.

[robear]

Cruiseliner crews seem to be really sketchy.

What was the name of that Captain that abandoned his stranded ship in the Med before any proper evacuation was prepared for the passengers??

Francesco Schettino.     An Italian Coast Guard commander really called him out during the incident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz4M0JCznAc&feature=fvst

[seeker_two]

Pulling the fire alarms on several decks at once is more likely to get a fast reaction from the crew.

This....or finding your way to the Engineering deck to throw a few random switches....

[Hawkmoon]

Aw come on, he just slipped and fell into the life boat. Give the poor guy a break.

And the reef he used to cut open the hull of his shiny cruise liner wasn't on his nautical charts (even though it's on tourist maps of the island).

[Lee]

I was on a cruise ship a few weeks ago (wife and kids made me go).  We smelled smoke in our cabin and reported it.  Three youthful native Caribbean employees showed up and agreed they smelled smoke.  After about 5 minutes of talking about it, one of them said, "it's probably electrical", implying that it was no big deal.  5 minutes later, they tell us that maybe we should report it.  I about lost it then, and told them that I already did report it -TO YOU -why don't YOU call someone!  One of them then used our phone to call someone.  They told us that someone would get with us very soon.  No one did - at all.  The smell cleared up eventually, so we let it drop.  I believe that is the mindset of the staff on most cruise ships.  They are generally staffed by people who are not overly motivated and have been locked on a floating motel/bar/casino for the better part of a year.
 Might help to explain an event like this.     

[wmenorr67]

And here one of my dream vacations is an Alaskan cruise.

[Waitone]

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/fishermen-die-in-elements-as-cruise-ship-passes_2012-04-21

On Thursday, Princess Cruises, based in Santa Clarita, Calif., said a preliminary investigation showed that passengers' reports that they had spotted a boat in distress never made it to Capt. Edward Perrin or the officer on duty.

If it did, the company said, the captain and crew would have altered course to rescue the men, just as the cruise line has done more than 30 times in the last 10 years. The company expressed sympathy for the men and their families.

Sounds to me like the floaters were spotted and word was passed to the hospitality staff who failed to pass it up the chain.  The company said they had a history of altering course to affect rescue.  I wonder if those were man overboard as opposed to a floater waaay out there.