Cruise ship Concordia meets its own Scylla & Charybdis at Giglio

Our Galveston maritime accident attorneys note that the considerable dangers of navigating along the coasts and among the islands of the Mediterranean Sea have been known from ancient times. Scylla and Charybdis, which personified the very essence of difficult navigation in ancient Greek legend, were off the Italian coast. More properly, these navigation hazards lie in the Strait of Messina off of Sicily.

Giglio Island, off of which the cruise ship Concordia met its fate, rises from the Tyrrhenian Sea not far from the Isle of Elba, famous as Napoleon’s place of exile. The Tyrrhenian Sea lies near the intersection of the European and African tectonic plates. Interaction between the plates has generated active volcanoes and mountain ranges beneath the Sea. The coast is noted for its navigational challenges and rocky hazards.

For these reasons, the ancient Romans had access to very few natural ports along the coast of Italy. Some of their renowned engineering skill developed in efforts to excavate, enlarge, and create ports both natural and artificial.

The Tyrrhenian Sea was named for Prince Tyrrhenus, leader of the Etruscans in Greek legend. The sea was also known as the Etruscan Sea. Because of the many dangers presented by submerged rocks, reefs, mountains, volcanoes, and even shipwrecks, the Sea and its coastal waters have been extensively mapped over and over again. Seasoned navigators of these waters know the danger spots. Or at least they should. The Concordia captain’s claim of ignorance defies belief. Surely such ignorance in the captain of a large cruise ship that regularly plied these waters could be criminal.

Witnesses to the last cruise of the Concordia state that the captain was “showing off” when he steered the ship into the rocks that caused its demise through an extensive gash in the hull. Residents of Giglio, many of them experienced seamen and some of them captains of their own vessels, maintain that the captain was foolhardy in attempting to thread such a whale of a vessel through such a narrow passage between the rocks. They say that the ship was too big for that close-in passage and that some former captains used to take the ship close enough to shore to constitute a nautical salute of sorts to the island. But they say that these other captains never went nearly so close as the man who captained the Concordia on the day of its sinking.

The antics of the captain of the Concordia in bringing the massive cruise ship in so close to the Giglio shoreline at speed cannot be excused. The act was beyond foolhardy and almost guaranteed to bring about disaster. His shocking lack of judgment and failure to observe nautical precedent in many ways cost several passengers and crewmembers their lives, endangered thousands of others, stretched the resources of the tiny shore towns who succored refugees, and cost the Costa cruise line its largest and most luxurious vessel.

News accounts of the tragedy haven’t mentioned a blood toxicology test on the captain, but our Galveston maritime accident attorneys wonder if one might not be ordered for this incident. The sheer magnitude of this hazard taken by an experienced captain seems almost inexplicable under ordinary conditions.

If you’ve been injured or lost a loved one at sea, feel free to contact our Galveston maritime accident attorneys with your questions. We offer a free consultation to discuss your case. If you have questions; we have answers.