Salty Waters and Strong Stories

Dear Bloggers,

While I'm here looking through my old records from the time I was a sailor, my great years at sea and I'm breaking my head about what will be happening with my retirement, I just feel like wanting a resentment and I would like to respond to the strangest stories I heard that have already been going around years and years. Quietly I am dreaming away in the turbulent waves of my thoughts. In order to write my other stories, and that will be over the coming months of the near future, my sailing stories are slowly running out.

But first of all, I would like to go on with this strange subject, as I have been that lucky to sail the seven seas in the world, and yes I have sometimes seen strange and impossible things at sea. But also the beautiful pictures with the most insane color spectra are shooting through my mind. Everyone knows them the wild but also strange stories about the well known and by many feared "Bermuda triangle". As many websites have been made about this particular phenomenon, it is considered as it could be true or not true. Shouldn't we be able to regard this as well as some popular stories and cases, If it did happen or not.

Yet around the famous and infamous Bermuda triangle located between the places of Porto-Rico, Miami, and Bermuda, the most wild stories and sevens make incredible stories where everyone is listening to with red ears and with full thrills. The cold chills will ripple over your back. It is where some people, get into the story so deeply that you just hear their brains squeaking.

Ships that suddenly disappear, planes that disappear in nothing in an inexplicable manner.

The most beautiful story I've ever heard is telling about the triangle is the following one. I think most of the sailors that have been there and those who will once go there will know this story too.

A ship sailing into the triangle area, comes at the level of the triangle and sees at a certain moment a steering less vessel drifting around. The captain of the arriving ship tried to get in touch with the steering less ship, but no one was found aboard to give any answer. The ship seemed to be abandoned and drifted like a ghost ship. The captain decided to go on board and have a look around and try to find out what was going on.

When he arrived on board there was no living soul to detect, but the tables were covered and the soup already served in the plates and they seemed to be very hot. In one of the cabins they found women's clothes which suggested that women had been on board of this vessel.

Then this story was hung up around this ship, and very detailed it was still exaggerated to help the story. In the first story, the crew would have seen land, a remote island. On this island, naked women stood waving to them, and the crew would have lowered the longboats to go to the island and join in with those naked ladies. Once set foot ashore, this all of a sudden sunk away and the crew was swallowed by the rouge waves.

In another story, it would be that the captain was corrupt and would have sold his cargo, and he had left the ship at sea and with crews drawn into longboats sailing further to safer places to waste the money. And so there are many stories going around, compasses that spin like crazy, And later all electronic devices that would fail to work or even blackout.

And then there are stories about spaceships that would abduct the crews of their ship and so on. All in all the crazy stories are going on here. And nobody can give a thorough explanation for this.

I have also been able to sail the triangle, and even it was in the period that it would statistically be the most dangerous the month of December. According to a research report most ships would disappear every 15^Th to 30^Th December. I have not even noticed something at all or had a strange feeling in my stomach about this peculiar phenomenon as well as the dull running of the compass or radio connections that are lost and what more they told. Yes, just name it.

A strange phenomenon what I have ever seen and experienced was on a high sea. This was on my night guard shift during the fire rounds from 20:00 to 06:00. At one point I suddenly see a beam of light somewhere in the distance somewhere in the close range, it seemed to me like there were driving cars in the distance and the light beam of their car was shining than overseas and was coming towards us.

About half an hour later, you saw lights from a city in the distance and saw the lights of the cars getting faster and getting closer to you. Once on the bridge again I talked to the on duty officer about this. Nevertheless, on the radar, nothing was detected and there was no sign of land or anything else nearby. The officer also looked with interest on this strange things and wondered just like me what was going on. Yet here was a statement, just an air reflection called a Fatah Morgana, nothing more nothing less. Anyway you can see and find strange and also weird things at sea.

Also the stories of the true sun-burned tough seamen who fought with huge jaws to rescue their ship, big monster-like octopuses, and just mention those with their huge tentacles dragging the ships to the bottom and what all can even happen more?

Is it true? Who knows? And who will tell?

The Old Sailor,

My lovely old ship

Dear Bloggers.

You’d love nothing more than to forget all about the time that broke your heart. Yet, whenever she crosses your mind, you forget all she did wrong. You try thinking about revenge to quell those fluttery feelings in your stomach, but that’s easier said than done, and your heart has its own ideas. Don’t freak out, though listen here’s how to cope: When you decide to leave the salty waters.

She might be worth a second chance. OK, so you don’t have to get back to sailing again, but if you still feel this strongly, it might be one of those rare occasions to hop on board as a passenger Maybe you left the ship over something silly like not able to cope with the harsh rhythm of a sailor. If your body wasn’t able anymore tot deal with the pain even being a tough guy, I never consider trying again.
She could’ve been your first real love. First love sticks with you, even years later. It’s not so much that you still want to go back to sea, but you remember the pure joy of that first innocent loving feeling for your new job and it gives you butterflies again as soon you step on board. Of course, you might feel this way over any ex ship that you truly loved.

Stay away at all costs. Stay away from your old ship when you had any bad experiences. It could just be that you’re feeling lonely and you’re remembering the times together. There’s nothing wrong with that, but hooking up here could just cause you to get hurt all over again.

Figure out how to move on Take your butterflies and feelings as a sign that you need to move on. You might’ve thought it was over, but until you don’t feel any attraction to the life at sea anymore, it’s not over. Go out with old sailor friends, focus on a new job or even a hobby and throw out any reminders of your old job.
I did make a point of ensuring someone else was always around when I was there and my memories were drifting off again. It didn't keep me from saying anything unrealistic like “please I want to go back” or “damn, you’re my most beautiful memory.” Tears ran down my cheeks my stomach felt sick.Eventually, I got over it and our life went back to normal.

Start something new. It doesn’t have to be anything serious, but shift your focus to another job. Show yourself there are other jobs out there. My new job as a commuter bus driver is also fantastic and I enjoy it really. It is a total difference than my former job. A different level of being responsible for your passengers. Besides the city I drive has many beautiful student's, sexy distractions are always a great way to make the butterflies go away and the pain is getting less.Once you figure out what it is, it’s easier to ignore.

Think about what went wrong before. Give yourself a cold mental shower. There’s always a reason why you had to give up. What was it? Nothing kills you faster than thinking about all the days life has screwed you over, and not in the fun sweaty way. Fibromyalgia ended my life and career at sea. If this happens, it could just be part of your moving on process. If you tend to form strong connections quickly, this happens fairly often you will find something that suits you. Just avoid the temptation to get back to your old job and know that these funny feelings they’ll disappear soon.

Accepting it is the difficult part and you know you’ll be replaced soon by a new member of staff. Sometimes we just have to accept that at least a small part of us still wants to go back sailing again, but I always remind myself that I’ll be replaced soon and I’ll have the same kind of feelings for something new.

Enjoy the memories, but don’t forget the bad times. Tears and emotions aren’t always a bad thing. Sometimes they’re just your mind’s way of reminding you of good memories. Obviously, there were good times in your old ship. It’s okay to remember those and smile at the memories. Just don’t forget about the bad times. They’ll keep you in check and prevent you from going back to your former life



The Old Sailor,

Day Dreaming

Dear Bloggers,

A couple of days ago we had a bit of stormy weather and at these moments my brain is running like a ships main engine. Just running a bit faster in a tempo that can be followed. As the wind is howling around the bus and rain is bashing on the windows, I need to wait for a couple of minutes to start the next round again. 

My thoughts are drifting away again. I am memorizing my time and life at sea. A great time with some happy and some sad moments. Yes, I loved it and now I am getting too old with too many complicated extras being a diabetic and suffering from fibromyalgia a life at sea is nearly impossible. Yes, I have some odd fantasies. Wait, that sounds not right, maybe for some really bad. During stormy weather I day-dream a lot. When I day-dream I am getting carried away. Maybe it’s a normal human being thing. I cannot look inside your brain.

 

Whatever, I could day-dream for a whole day, and I have done that before. The good part is anything is possible in a day-dream. When I used to get really angry during my time just after my time at sea. I’d got to my island and cooled down under the palm trees. Yes, I have an island. I also have a ship. But it’s all in my head unfortunately. I turned on the Computer to see “The perfect storm”one of the films I really love to watch. Even though it is not all that realistic.

I day dreamed all the way through it because the film did not catch me this time. The thing I can remember was George Clooney is sailing out with his crew and I was a deck hand. I came around from my day at the day-dream merry go round and thought “what the fuck? This is even more fucked up than my normal day-dream” and went back to whatever else I was thinking about.

Today my fantasies merged with reality and I’ve been searching for small motor ships for sale on the Internet for the last hour. I should be sleeping as it is nearly midnight when I am writing this blog, but never mind. I wish I could buy my family a small motor ship like this.

It has to be the right kind of ship. It has to have the right shape, I found an awesome one with cannons, although I don’t think they are necessary on the Frisian lakes (tempting as it is to track down my wife her ex-boyfriends and enemy’s and fire at them). Burn bastards burn!!!

Problem is, I can’t afford a ship (although there are some smaller ships for sale here in the neighborhood that would cost the same as a car) and I do know how to sail a ship, I do know enough people so they could help me sail the ship, or the people who I do know who could help me to patch up the ship, plus I’d have to sail to get them. So that means no ship, no island with sand and sunshine and I’ll have to stick with driving buses because I currently have no back up plan, unless I suddenly become a famous artist or win a lottery. In which case this is an endless cycle of fantasy but maybe I’d be rich and then I could afford a boat and a new tattoo.

This is all pretty pointless but it’s better than thinking about killing yourself or other negative thoughts, You can call me sick but I am having funny and happy day dreams.

Anyway, a total pointless story, but it indulged my imagination for a bit. Now I’m thinking of my next tattoo…..

The Old Sailor,

a live at sea again?

Dear Bloggers,

I am just looking around for a job again and on my job hunt my mind is drifting off to a job on a cruiseship, something that I did before. The big difference with the time then is that there were no kids involved. That would make the story a bit different. This is what my mind came up with a mix of memories and dreams.

After my flight to the Bahamas and a night at a hotel my day started like this. Got up this morning early, ate a quick breakfast and got a Senseo, made sure everything was in my duffels, checked my email one last time, and got in a cab with the details of the ship. I felt very excited and ready to get going as we drove through the morning island traffic to the port. Upon arrival I got in a line and was given a nametag and paperwork to start filling out. I started to feel a little nervous and anxious as I was overwhelmed with the feeling that there was a lot to do. It hit me that this was actually happening and I could see all the others hugging their parents as their parents cried, and then they would step through a door with officials.

I got to that point already two days ago and said my goodbyes with my wife and she was crying and hugging me so tight I thought she might never let go and then I stepped through the gate towards the guys from customs with my bags and into a line of security, waving goodbyes behind me to my loved ones.

And nowI waited my turn and chatted with a guy from Canada as we shuffled our bags slowly forward in a strange wharf warehouse that had all sorts of giant colorful Chinese decorations being stored in the corners, maybe for Chinese New Year. Finally it was my turn. My bags were scanned, my backpack searched, I walked through the metal detector and was wanded and searched. They loaded my bags on a truck with the rest and I was instructed to continue through a cement hallway. I entered a room where I was to hand over my passport, yellow fever vaccine information and my Bahamas immigration form. Well crap, I just had the Bahama immigration card. I panicked for a second as I realized where it was: back at the hotel. I explained what happened and they said it was not necessary, so I took a breath and moved on.

I walked out of the dim room and out into the hot sunny day on the dock. There it was…!! What a great looking ship! The logo printed huge up on the smoke stacks, blue and white with all the little windows lined up on the outside; my home for the next 185 days…WOW!

I walked all the way down the dock to the gangway (ship entrance) I entered the dim lit gangway struggling to see after squinting in the bright Bahamian sun. I walked through a metal detector again and was instructed to go up the stairs. There are several decks (levels) on the ship and I had entered on level three. As I started up the grand looking stairs I took notice to the wood walls, nice carpet, perfectly shined metal handrails and glass engraved with quotes hanging on the walls. I felt like I was about to enter a fancy ballroom in a five star hotel or something.

 

I passed deck after deck of beautiful looking hallways and rooms to check out later until I reached deck six. I suppose I had a confused look on my face, because a guy introduced himself and pointed to a table I was supposed to go to. I was in a very large room with many nice cushioned swivel chairs all lined in rows in a half circle around a dance floor with a piano. The ceiling had fancy woodwork as well and the drapes looked like something from a mansion. It looked like a performance room. It was currently being used to check in everyone who boarded the ship. I was given my Ships ID at one table, a sheet with all of my personal info and what I still needed to do on another, and then came up on a table that gave me a sheet of what semester at sea trips I was already signed up for. I felt anxious again as I had no idea this was going to happen and was not sure if I wanted more trips. So, panicked and a little worried I signed up for an Amazon explorer trip and an African drumming and dance workshop. I then helped my new Canadian friend look over trips.

Proceeding around the room I talked to the ship doctor about any medical conditions and then was told my room number and that I was free to go. I think I must have looked like a deer in headlights because I just stood there for a minute not knowing what to do or where I should go first, so much to take in! OK room first, maybe my roommate would be there. So I headed back to the stairs and headed down to the third deck. I was so lost. I walked the hallway again and then felt like an idiot, haha this is only half of the ship and there are no even numbers in this hallway, I’m on the other side. So I went to the correct never ending hallway of wooden walls and doors and found my new bedroom door.

My name was posted next to it. Above mine was my roommate’s: Andrew Thompson, Texas. My heart sank. Great, I have a high maintenance Texan for a roommate. I immediately stopped myself, “Jake don’t stereotype, he is probably very nice and you will become good friends and it will work out great!” So with that I opened the door with my new ID, which did not look like me and confused everyone because I still had long hair in the ID picture, and dragged my duffels that had been conveniently placed in front of my door into my new cabin.

Empty; he wasn’t on the ship yet. My cabin was very nice, placed in the direct center of the ship where there is the least rocking. There are two small twin beds on either side. We each have a small three-drawer bedside table and share a little glass table and chair, a built in vanity/desk and chair, a built into the wall mini TV and fridge with three drawers underneath. The closet is maybe four feet long with shoe racks at the bottom and a side shelving area with six shelves. I thought it was incredibly nice looking and spacious given the small area and my expectations. Opposite the closet is a tiny bathroom, just big enough for a small toilet, sink and a shower. Well I wasn’t expecting that at all, so YAY for personal bathrooms! I like it! The window is bigger then I expected too! I was too excited to learn more about this fancy ship, so I left unpacking to be done later and went exploring.

I decided I wanted to wander on every deck from front to back of the ship and see where everything was. Deck two through four I discovered are only rooms, besides the restricted areas. Just long forever-going narrow hallways of doors with name tags and fancy wood doors. On deck five I started at the front of the ship and walked towards the back discovering that there were still some rooms with bigger hallways and bigger doors that were spread further apart, probably nicer bigger rooms for some guys and girls with a higher rank. Also on this floor was a circular open area, where there are bulletin boards of information and several desks and the main info/pursers desk. Some of the bulletin boards have pictures of everyone on the ship with their name. (something we called the muppet show on the ferries.) In the center was a big open circle where you could look up to the next level. Continuing there were more rooms and the hallway eventually turned a corner and opened up into the entrance to the main dining hall. The dining hall was very nice.

 

It looked like a ballroom fancy dinner restaurant with mirrors on the ceilings encircling big glass chandelier. Windows around the entire room with a view of the ocean made for the perfect dinning experience around the big oval tables with soft blue chairs. Near the entrance was an island table that looked like a bar. Just outside the dining hall were also doors to outside decks, which I explored and found lifeboats and beautiful views off the ships side of the city of Nassau.

Continuing up to deck six I was at the back and I discovered a place called the garden lounge. Not quite as nice of a dining area, more like a cute diner also lined with windows. The coolest part about this room was the colorful columns of bubbles going up the walls on either side of the buffet line. The room also led out to the first real nice outside deck I had seen. There were tables and chairs all sitting on the large deck that overlooked the ocean. Half covered by the deck above and half not it was the perfect place to dine outside. I am so excited to work out here and watch sunsets! This also had a nice granite topped bar.
Going back inside I noticed two conferencerooms on the side of the garden lounge. I continued out and walked down a hallway past the stairs and into an amazing place called the piano bar. This ship was way too nice to have been built for only a few passengers! No wonder this ships cruise were so expensive. Filled with tables, comfy chairs, couches, a piano and a nice sized snack bar with all the candies, coffee, chips and cup noodles you could ever want.

The messroom, wow. The perfect place to sit on your computer, read and do some work in the evenings, maybe even play some games with friends. Down the hallway a little further was the diningroom for us. The room was fairly small so I knew my breaks wouldn’t be all that big; hurray for small breaks and more coffee and tea moments it makes the days shorter in a way.

Then I stumbled across something I had heard was on the ship but wasn’t sure would be as nice as they were. There are three little shops all in a circle in the hallway. One is a merchandise store, one a tiny bookstore and the other a supply store of pens, notebooks, lanyards and small tubes of shampoo and sunscreen, basically tons of miniature things that people may run out of or have forgotten. I immediately promised myself not to spend too much money on anything in these stores because the prices of all extra food and merchandise is twice that of stores on land.

Back in the square, I was now on the top floor and could look down on the desks. Upstairs on either side of the circle was the ship library with a few rows of computers. I walked past another room with desks and looks like a card room. To get up to the final deck I had to go back to the garden lounge and up the stairs. Deck seven is apparently only accessible to our passengers on the back half of the ship, but what I found was really cool!! The outside deck was covered in sun lounge chairs and tables with chairs. In the direct middle was a small pool about 5 feet deep with the logo at the bottom. At the very back of the deck under the canvas canopy was an even bigger snack bar with a grill! They make smoothies, ice cream, cookies, pizza, hamburgers, grilled cheese and had all of the same delicious snacks the other bar did. Of course the snack bars all cost extra compared to our already paid for meals in the dining rooms, though I bet they will be a nice change to have now and then when the dining room food gets old.

To the side of all of this were weights and all of the common work out equipment. Continuing around the outside of the ship on this deck there were outside basketball courts and volleyball courts all netted in. There were places for all sorts of activities and exercise. Continuing inside I found something crazy!! There is a wellness center on this ship, which includes a salon to get your hair cut and your nails done, a spa to get massages, facials and waxes. And of course a workout room with treadmills, stair masters, bikes and ellipticals. I couldn’t believe this was here as this ship is not that big, but I guess it could come in handy. Lastly I learned that the health center was back on deck two and that deck one was off limits due to it containing storage and all of the ships workings. Deck eight (where the bridge is located) is also off limits, except for the one viewing deck where you can look out over the front of the ship.

Done exploring, I decided to go unpack so I didn’t have to think about it later. I went back to my room to find my new roommate sitting on the bed crying. We introduced ourselves and I asked her what was wrong. He was just in shock and was having a really hard time leaving the family behind. Turns out I can remember the feeling from many years ago. He is a very nice guy who does not fit the stereotype I had placed at all. We got to know each other for a short amount of time until he decided he wanted some air and left. While he was gone I unpacked. I realized that he had more full luggage then I did so I gave him a bit of extra space since I did not need it. I took half the closet, two shelves and one drawer so that he had plenty of room. I put my magnets and few photos up on the walls, along with my magnetic calendar, placed toiletries in a portion of the cabinet under the sink and determined what I would be using least and left it in my duffels which I flattened and rolled under the bed.

I jumped up as a loud voice boomed over the speakers that I had forgotten that they existed. “Good afternoon and welcome aboard. At this point all passengers have boarded. The ship was originally scheduled to depart within the hour, There will be an emergency lifeboat drill in ten minutes. Please look at the card on the back of your door to locate your muster station. Please wear warm clothing, close-toed shoes, a hat and your life vest from your cabin and convene at your muster station. This is a drill, but please take it seriously, wear the proper clothing and remain quiet at your station while attendance is taken. Thank you.” So I changed into the proper clothing and got the life vest out of my closet. When the signal was made everyone flooded out of their rooms like a herd of cattle down the hallways. Moving up the stairs was slow. Everyone flooded out onto the outside decks at their specified muster stations. It looked pretty strange and reminded me of the good old days on the ferry as the bright blue decks were covered with people organized in orange life vests. Once everyone was accounted for a hush went over the crowd as the captain of the ship walked all decks inspecting that everyone was properly prepared and everything set to go with other high status crewmembers following behind. All was clear and we were free to go.

Later in the evening we had a ship wide meeting to introduce and welcome everyone to the ship. I learned that this ship is 590ft long, is the fastest ship of its size in the world traveling a maximum of 28 knots or 32 miles an hour. The maximum capacity of the ship is 836 people but on this voyage there are 780. 570 of them are passengers, 70 are crew to sail the ship and 140 are staffmembers to serve the passengers, They also mentioned that the ship was very sustainable, but I have no idea how. But i will probably find this out during the journey. Now it is time to go to sleep on the light rocking waves. Maybe my dreams will become real one day.

The Old Sailor,

How things in life can go wrong

Dear Bloggers,

As we all could see and hear on the news that a modern Cruise liner went of it’s normal position and sank close to the Italian island Giglio on Friday the 13th is a strange combination of human error and bad luck. Or are the supersticious people right about this special day, question is why did the captain go overboard or is he just another asshole that is only thinking about himself? It must be a drama if you were part of it as your life will never be the same again. Eventhough It is this year a quarter of a century ago that I had to take part in military support actions during the disaster with the roro ferry Herald of Free Enterprise. A picture that is never gone out of my memory.

Herald of Free Enterprise

My thoughts go out to the families and friends of the ones that passed away or have gone missing during this disaster. It will take many years to pick up your life and see the sun shining again. At least that is my experience as being only a helper on the side not doing anything else then my job at that time.

Costa Concordia in better days

Following the tragic Costa Concordia accident, Carnival Corporation & plc, parent company of Costa Cruises and nine leading cruise lines around the world, today announced a comprehensive audit and review of all safety and emergency response procedures across all of the company’s cruise lines.Carnival Corporation & plc and the cruise industry as a whole have maintained an excellent safety record over the years. “However, this tragedy has called into question our company’s safety and emergency response procedures and practices,” said Micky Arison, chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc. “While I have every confidence in the safety of our vessels and the professionalism of our crews, this review will evaluate all practices and procedures to make sure that this kind of accident doesn’t happen again.”

Initial timeline and track of the Costa Concordia grounding.

Friday 13 January 2012.

Times and positions approximate.

2116 = 9:16 pm local time.

1900. Costa Concordia departs Civitavecchia.

2116. Costa Concordia turns left toward Isola del Giglio in order to pass close to the island. This deviation will add a short distance to this overnight leg and require a slightly higher overall speed. This ship is doing 15.5 kts.

2133. Costa Concordia is on course 276 (almost due West) at 15.5 kts approaching Isola del Giglio. The island is about 2000 yards directly in front of Costa Concordia. The plan is to turn right, toward the north, and leave the island to the port side.

2136. Costa Concordia commences turn to the right late, maintaining speed of 15.5 kts. Due to advance and transfer, the momentum of the vessel will carry it closer to the island before the turn to the new course is completed. It looks like the new course was planned to be something like 320.

2138. Costa Concordia strikes charted rocks off Isola del Giglio on her port side. Power is lost to the electrical plant and propulsion. The ship starts to slow. The crew announces there is a power outage and reports to Isola del Giglio that they need no assistance. Many news report are quoting “9:30″ or 2130 as the time of the impact. That time isn’t supported by the AIS data below.

2145. First alarm is sounded.

2145-2150. Ship begins to list.

2200. Bow thruster is used to turn bow to the right. The ships is moving slowly toward Giglio, likely the result of current.

2242. Accident is reported to port authorities.

2250. Abandon ship order is given.

0100. Schettino reports only 40 people remain on board. In fact there are hundreds.

0146. Italian Coast Guard orders Schettino to return to Costa Concordia.

source of AIS data:

AIS data for Costa Concordia night of 13 January 2012. Times are GMT, one hour different than that on the ship.

At present it appears that Carnival Cruise Lines (and their subsidiary Costa Crociere) are treating this as a special cause event, the actions of a rogue sea master. Costa Crociere’’s statement already indicates this is the direction they are headed. What needs to be investigated are issues of command and leadership. To what degree are tenets such as “forceful backup” and “a questioning attitude” prevalent. Further, the system surrounding selection, training, and routine monitoring of masters needs to be scrutinized sufficienty in order to understand whether Mr. Schettino was indeed a rogue captain operating outside the system, or whether there were systemic contributors to this tragedy.

If the investigation focuses solely on the actions on board Costa Concordia the evening of Friday 13 January, then the probability of recurrence is 100%.

A stricken Costa Concordia.

The statement Micky Arison, CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines should issue.

It is with sadness and regret that I report the latest on the Costa Concordia tragedy. As of 0700 this morning xx bodies have been recovered and xx people remain unaccounted for. Our search efforts continue.

Our subsidiary and operator of the Costa Concordia, Costa Crociere issued a statement that identified significant human error on the part of the ship’s master as the likely immediate cause of this accident. While that appears thus far to be true, I don’t believe the statement goes far enough in describing my responsibility for safe cruising and the actions we are taking.

I have directed for following.

We have provided all cruise ship captains with all available information about the Costa Concordia accident and aftermath. As more information becomes available, I will pass that to them. Cruise ships at sea will continue their itineraries. All captains of cruise ships in port will recertify to me personally that they understand their responsibilities to operate within the procedures, ensure their crews are operating within procedures and the paramount importance of passenger safety, prior to getting underway.

I have directed full compliance with the investigating body and commissioned an independent company investigation that will report directly to the Board.

This investigation will proceed in 2 phases.

In the first phase, the immediate causes of the grounding, capsizing, and incomplete evacuation will be investigated. The intent is not only to understand why the ship was so far off course, and how it’s navigational safety equipment malfunctioned, but how the damage control efforts to control the flooding failed to prevent the ship from capsizing.

When complete, I will recommend a public release of our findings and actions.

In the second phase, which will likely take several months, the investigation will look into the distant causes of the accident. We will understand how ship design, manufacture, crew training, and leadership structures all affected this event.

It would be too easy to identify this accident as the rogue action of a single irresponsible master and I am not going to take that route. I have charged the investigators with understanding and identifying the role that fundamental questions of company culture toward safety, the willingness of subordinates to question the direction of superiors, and the ability of watchstanding teams to respond with resilience to unanticipated events.

In this investigation, no decision will be off limits no matter who made them or how removed they may seem from the immediate event.

Leadership lessons from the Costa Concordia tragedy.

In the evening of 13 January 2012 the modern cruise ship Costa Concordia with about 4300 souls aboard grounded and capsized off the Italian Isola del Giglio. The death toll is likekly to run into the 20s.

It now appears that the captain, Francesco Schettino directed the ship alter course to take it very close to the island as a sort of nautical fly-by as a tribute to one of ship’s company who was from that island. From the photos, it is apparent that the ship was passing very close to the shore. These waters have been plied since before the Romans and the chance that any rocks were uncharted is unthinkable.

Don’t we wish that one of the other crewmen spoke up against this reckless, dangerous, and ultimately lethal stunt? As captain of a nuclear powered submarine I strove to give a few orders as possible in order to maintain a detached perspective on the actions of the ship, balancing safety and operational tasking dispassionately. In a strong leader-follower culture, the leader gives orders and the others follow. Asking questions is discouraged. It would appear that this is another case of leader-follower in action.

A bigger question lies for the cruise ship company: Costa lines and the parent company Carnival Cruise lines.

How is such a leadership structure tolerated on board their cruise ships? This is a throwback to the 18th century “Master and Commander” style leadership: top-down, autocratic, imperious, and wrong.

Did someone challenge the Captain's ill-thought out orders?

I only can see this as a bad decission of one captain it is no needed to be scared to go on a cruise but it is something to think about. If you might go cruising just realize that you might need to rescue yourself one day and you are happy if you have read the safety instructions.

The Old Sailor,

A great day out.

Dear Bloggers,


I phoned a good friend of mine to hear if he would be home the next day as I found it time to pay him a visit. He a has provided many years litres of coffee and some time to have a good conversation. To our family he is like family as our kids see him as an uncle, he is a great guy and we always have a lot of fun.

Roundtrips sailing through the harbour.

He mentioned on the phone that the yearly harbour festival would be on his programme and that sounded as a great idea to me. I have always been working on these days as we participated as a company, a very busy day as it is in between the regular sailing shedule. And all guests need to be scanned in as they cross the border of the Netherlands. But now I finally had the time and the energy to go and visit this great event.

the event attracts a lot of people

Leading up to SAIL 2010 Amsterdam, the IJmuiden Harbour Festival sailed into town on 14 and 15 August. This free festival sees the Trawlerkade and the Halkade swell with a positive sea of activities and a legion of breathtaking boats. As a former sailor this is the place to be. A few pilotboats and a couple of tugboats are sailing roundtrips through the harbour. A huge crane demonstrates with grabbing water how much it can carry. One scoop is thousands of litres water it creates quite a wave when it is splashed back to the harbour from several metres of height. Big plus that it was a lovely sunny day with a slight sea breeze there is all kinds of music on the quay and plenty of stands to get some food and beverages.

Also pilotboats and tugboats are making roundtrips.

But the IJmuiden Harbour Festival isn't only a joy to the ears and eyes - there's plenty to send your taste buds into overdrive! Delve into the world of seafood at special stands brought in for the first time this year, watch the professionals cook up a storm at demonstrations and join in the annual 'Dinner on the Quay' (ticket required). What a brilliant idea to mix food and sea. And my god there were a lot of people drawn to the harbour. For a great deal of people this is a great day out and to have a look on all kinds of vessels modern or old it is all beautiful. My heart was happy again and not everyone can understand that, deep down I hope that we would get some money to have my own boat. I would love to travel the world again but this time in my own speed.

Tallships are visiting IJmuiden

There was also plenty to keep the kids entertained with interactive, educational games on the quay. And the sun was shining and we should have brought our swimming gear because there was plenty of water-based fun on the menu. On wednesday the first tall ships will have a lay-over in the harbour of IJmuiden. A pre-Sail event which will atract thousands of people again. Unfortunately I have to work so no chance for me to see it. As the cream on our day the Prinsendam of te Holland America Line sailed into the locks when we were driving home, a great chance to see the ship in a close range.

The Prinsendam in the locks.

Head to IJmuiden to catch a preview of the beautiful tall ships and replicas before they join the SAIL-IN Parade and make their way to Amsterdam on Thursday, 19 June. This year, the cultural programme is bigger than ever and features a bounty of family entertainment including a Shanty Festival, street artists, local performers and acclaimed national stars of the stage. So if you have some time to spare on one of these dates it might be something for you as it is great to see these large barks and briks to sail down the North Sea Canal.

At least we had a great day and we have seen a lot.

The Old Sailor,