The moment was immortalized by Rudyard Kipling as the "Birkenhead drill." ", First published on January 19, 2012 / 3:02 PM. He made the wrong choice. An often asked question is what happened to the captain of the oceans at this stage, eyewitness accounts reveal that many of the crew, including Captain Avranias, were already packed and ready to depart, seemingly unconcerned with the safety of the passengers. [22] The show Extreme Weather: The Survivors featured a segment on the sinking. The Oceanos had been on its usual route along the South African coast when it encountered heavy rains and gale-force winds. Steve said, We had to hold onto the anchor line with all our strength. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Should oxygen levels drop below those required by the diver, O2 can be computationally or manually injected into the system from an onboard cylinder to replenish the supply. The most famous, perhaps, is the captain of the Titanic, E.J. Outwardly, Smith seems to have kept up a brave front, appearing captain-like to the last, at least to most observers. Coast Guard to capt. He in consultation with the international federation fled Nikolaou to Greece. Maritime experts said the tradition of a captain standing by his ship isn't established in international maritime law. UK Retailer Simply Scuba Goes Into Administration For Good This Time, Dive Curaao Launches New All-In-One Vacation Platform. Very well, Pryal, the man supposedly answered, but please dont detain me. He also knew that its 20 lifeboats, with a total capacity of 1,178, couldnt begin to accommodate the more than 2,200 passengers and crew members aboard. Only entertainment staff, singers and waiters helped us later. Yonhap/EPA/Landov Several of the ship's crew, notably Capt. Making things worse, the crew had dropped the anchor incorrectly, causing the ship to flop over even more dramatically. Hills organized the orderly evacuation of passengers by the helicopters, later reporting that Avranas was among the first to leave at this point. They were taken from the hotel to the airport five minutes before the plane left, otherwise we would still be there judging us , says Nikolaou. As water gushed into the ship and the three other crew members jumped overboard, Royer stayed in the wheelhouse to make a frantic mayday call and give the ship's position to the Coast Guard. "You need someone on the ship to communicate with them, to command the people who are on the ship, to help get the passengers off and to guide the rescuers.". "[12][13], Captain Alevizos Klaudatos, head of Epirotiki Line, was quoted in The Star as saying: "Of course the crew members assigned to the boats have to enter first in order to assist the embarkation of the passengers", "as regards the captain abandoning the vessel, this is untrue and he has maintained his position throughout in assisting the rescue in the most effective way". 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. Two more were added to these later. [5], Earlier repairs to the waste disposal system had not been completed, which meant that a vital ventilation pipe which ran through the watertight aft bulkhead and the non-return valves were not replaced. The cruise ship had sailed with seven beauforts. [9], A Greek board of inquiry found Avranas and four officers negligent in their handling of the disaster. In 1994, his English wife Davina published a book about the sinking, titled The Oceanos Tragedy. It was an event that ended with the sinking of a family cruise shi. Some countries, like Italy, have included it in national laws. Do you think anyone was weighing in the boats.. Epirotiki Line. One of the most famous involved the HMS Birkenhead, which wrecked off the coast of South Africa in 1852 while transporting British troops to war. International standards for sea captains vary. The Oceanos crew was referred to disciplinary inspection for withdrawal of diploma or grade, but they were all acquitted.. 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. Abandonment is for everybody, if some people want to stay, they can stay. The 402 passengers and 179 crew members all survived . At any time when you have an incident similar to Concordia, there is nevera single causal factor, says Brad Schoenwald, a senior marine inspector at the United States Coast Guard. Receive the latest AI investment news, offers, and updates from Rebellion Research. Smith was accused of ignoring ice warnings from other ships and failing to reduce the ships speed to fit the conditions at hand. August 3, 1991: An explosion shakes the engine room of the Greek cruise ship, Oceanos, as it sails off the South African coast. 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. Although Smith had ordered the boats uncovered some 40 minutes earlier, he didnt give the order to begin loading and lowering them until Second Officer Charles Lightoller reminded him by asking, Hadnt we better get the women and children into the boats, sir?. Without a driving force, however, he had to find another solution., The captain broadcast SOS. Evidence introduced in Schettinos trial suggests that the safety of his passengers and crew wasnt his number one priority as he assessed the damage to the Concordia. Special Section: Italian Cruise DisasterCruise ship to port: It's just a blackoutPressure mounts on cruise ship divers. Realising the fate of the ship, the crew reportedly fled in panic, neglecting the standard procedure of closing the lower deck portholes. Royer, however, died after suffering a head injury when he finally left the ship. Ten minutes later, by the surviving operators estimate, he returned and gave them the order to send out a CQD, the universal distress call that was soon replaced with an SOS. When his "death-glorious ship" sinks, Ahab mourns that he's been denied the "pride" of having gone down with her. Those who did earned instant infamy, like the captain of the Greek luxury liner Oceanos, which sank in rough seas off South Africa in 1991. 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. After the required decompression runtimes, the divers surfaced, and the team returned to shore. Moss and Tracy, who now live in Liverpool, continued working as cruise ship entertainers for many years. It was also around 12:45 a.m. that crewmen lowered the first of the Titanics lifeboats to the ocean surface. 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 . Must a captain be the last one off a sinking ship? READ MORE: Why Nobody Remembers America's Worst Maritime Disaster. The weather forecast was predicting a strong northeasterly wind by morning, a factor that could easily mean the end of the expedition. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yiannis_Avranas&oldid=1133434367, This page was last edited on 13 January 2023, at 19:56. Ralph White/Corbis/Getty Images. It is this forward section of the wreck that incurred the wrath of the ocean floor as the bow slammed into the seabed. The reaction of the first engineer sabotaged the captains original plan. Creating equal decompression profiles for the two systems was a difficult task for Barry that took many hours of calculation. The captain goes down with the ship is a maritime tradition suggesting that a captain is honor-bound to stay on a sinking ship until all passengers and crew members have been safely evacuated. January 19, 2012 / 3:02 PM The Agulhas shifts an estimated volume of 70 x 106m3/s down the East Coast of South Africa, making it the most powerful current on the globe. / Updated May 22, 2010 / 12:42 PM PDT 20 PHOTOS . At sea he had no kindness. The American inquiry was only slightly harsher in its judgment. 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. Without valves to close on the holding tank, the water coursed through the main drainage pipes and rose like a tide within the ship, spilling out of every shower, toilet, and waste disposal unit connected to the system. Heres some good live video when it happened!!! TRY ASKING HOST DOUGhe usually knows those things. Copyright 19952023 The Independent Traveler, Inc. 1940) [1] is a Greek former sea captain who commanded the cruise ship Oceanos when she sank off the Wild Coast of the Transkei, South Africa, on Sunday 4 August 1991. [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. It is generally a sequence of events, things that line up in a bad way that ultimately create that incident., READ MORE: 5 Maritime Disasters You Might Not Know About. On 3 August 1991, the Oceanos set out from East London, South Africa and headed to Durban. Making the most of the break, the team took some time out from the daily diving routine to explore the remarkable area with its beautiful landscapes and majestic sea views. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. But witnesses said he appeared on the bridge of the Titanic just moments . By "They were to stand at attention on the sinking ship until the women and children their wives and children were led off the boats.". For many years, seasoned technical diver, Barry Coleman, has had one consuming desire: to dive the Oceanos. Towards the end, passengers had to jump into . 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. Sunk by uncontrolled flooding on 4 August 1991 off the coast of South Africa. He was 46 years old. [citation needed], While trying to make up lost time, Oceanos encountered rough seas. Costa Concordia disaster, the capsizing of an Italian cruise ship on January 13, 2012, after it struck rocks off the coast of Giglio Island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Spouse. Passengers thought the captain had left the ship. From Times Wire Services. In more than 40 years at sea he had rarely been involved in an accident and never held accountable for one. One of the divers, Karl van der Merwe, commented, The current was so strong that it would rip your mask off your face and your regulator out of your mouth. Moving toward the bow, bad visibility and a substantially more damaged part of the wreck greeted the divers. [2] Photographs taken in 2002 show that the bridge section has collapsed. The ship was built in France and owned by a Greek cruise ship company. ", the captain of the wrecked cruise ship Costa Concordia. Realizing the ships fate, the crew fled in panic, neglecting to close the lower deck portholes, which is standard policy during emergency procedures. "In Anglo-American law, you would lose your license and make yourself liable.". Has the old idea that captains should not abandon ship itself been abandoned? Barry and Paul were on closed-circuit rebreathers, a Buddy Inspiration rebreather, and a CIS-Lunar MK5P rebreather, respectively. that after a series of freak waves slammed against the ship, the pipe's shell plating burst open and began filling the compartment with seawater. After five days of staying at the hotel, the other Greek sailors with the assistance of the Greek consular authorities also escaped. But is it realistic to expect skippers only human after all to suppress their survival instinct amid the horror of a maritime disaster? The divers had penetrated 70m into the wreck with the aid of the scooters. Share; Posted May 23, 2010. A very small loss of hull integrity caused a storage tank in the lower machine spaces to fill with sea water. For the mythological figure, see, "Owner of Lost Greek Cruise Ship Has History of Maritime Mishaps", "A Captain's Tale: 'The Rescue Was Perfect Everybody Is Safe', "Oceanos Captain Insisted On Early Rescue, Diver Says", "The guitarist who saved hundreds of people on a sinking cruise liner", "Hero plays music to calm terrified passengers", "South Africa probes cause of luxury liner's sinking", "The inimitable Alvon Collison, the wind beneath our wings", "Must a captain be the last one off a sinking ship? ", "Costa Concordia Tragedy: Capt. Is there confession in the Armenian Church? 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. 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. According to Boltman, "later in the morning, Captain Avarnasi [sic] even contacted me from shore to ask how things were going. Greg Daugherty, alongtime magazine editor and frequent contributor to HISTORY.com, has also written on historical topics for Smithsonian, National Geographic Traveler, and other outlets.
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