News here in merry ole' England is all but ablaze with the COSTA CONCORDIA story ... from being off course to the Captain leaving too soon and to emptying the ship's safe as a first priority ... Carnival Corp, which owns Costa Cruises as part of its 100-liner empire, has now had a 16% drop in stock value (in London, of course) and, while there are questons about the $650 million CONCORDIA, they forsee a minimum of $100 in claims, rescue, expensses, etc ... the 114,000-ton ship was insured, as of Friday, for $515 million ... and of course there has been an immediate drop in general bookings, and not only for the 14-ship Costa fleet, but all others ... vacationers momentarily loose faith, some quickly scuttling travel plans.
But aspects of the story are not entirely new: when the American liner EXCALIBUR left NY in June 1950, for example, she went off course, just off Brooklyn no less, rammed a freighter & soon flooded and all but sank herself. The Captain, it was said, in the later investigation, wanted to wave goodbye to his wife & so veered off course ... and when the big liner CONSTITUTION was arriving, again in NY harbor, in March 1959, she sliced a Norwegian tanker in two in foggy conditions. Seems the liner was going far too fast because the Captain wanted to make an 11am dentist appm't in Manhattan ... and when the cruise liner RIVIERA was burning & sinking off Cuba in April 1966, the Italian capt & his officers were in the first 2 lifeboats, with the ship's safe onboard no less and, it was said, the monies were already divided among them before even reaching shore. There are many other tales as well.
Today, I have been tracked down & asked to appear on a TV show in nearby Manchester (that's England too, of course) and a live radio show in London, and of course all regarding & commenting on the COSTA CONCORDIA tragedy.
Photo of COSTA CONCORDIA in Lisbon on her maiden cruise, July 2006.
Texto de Bill Miller e imagens LMC /Text by Bill Miller and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia
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