The media
coverage concentrated on a number of aspects about this tragedy. They stressed
the heroism of the captain of the Coast Guard ship, and the questionable behaviour of
Captain Francesco Schettino of the Costa Concordia.
The
concerns about an ecological disaster were also a daily concern of the media.
Reports about perceptions of the crew and passengers were covered to help
people understand the reality of the situation.
Let us now
take a brief look at the Costa Concordia from an ethical perspective.
The
nautical ethical responsibilities recognize the captain of any ship as the key
individual to oversee every aspect of keeping order. Since the captain left
early, the crew had no idea how to respond to the situation. The crew initially
suspected that there was simply a power outage. Since the captain is the person
who declares an emergency, the crew advised Coast Guard ships that they did NOT
require assistance. It was the captain's duty to inform the crew that there was
a serious situation. All ships near any ship in danger are to offer assistance.
We see this in WWII when the 330,000 Allied forces were evacuated from dunkirk by 800 small
ships transferring the troops to larger ships and then to the United Kingdom.
The
captain's ethical responsibility can be understood by the simple expression
"the captain goes down with the ship." This means that the captain
must ensure that absolutely everyone is off of the ship before the captain leaves.
This is an absolute essential requirement for any captain. There have been some
lapses in this essential ethical responsibility in the last few years. This
leads to the potential for a greater loss of life for passengers who are
unacquainted with the realities of how to react in large bodies of water. We
see this quite literally with Captain Edward John Smith, who remained on board
as the RMS Titanic as the ship sank with passengers and crew still on board.
When the
seriousness of the situation was evident the Coast Guard responded immediately.
Coast Guard Captain Gregorio De Falco commanded, "You get back on board!
That is an order! There is nothing else for you to consider. You have sounded
the 'Abandon Ship.' I am giving the orders now. Get back on board. Is that
clear?" This is the reason for the captain having ultimate responsibility
for the assistance of every passenger and crew member. Only the captain knows
the ship this thoroughly. This is another example of a seafarers' ethical
responsibility. We see this in the position of ship pilot, such as those who
are St. Lawrence pilots. These pilots take temporary command of the ships on
St. Lawrence River in order to assure safe navigation through the lower St.
Lawrence.
Let us
place all luxury cruise ships within the context of size. The capacity of the
Costa Concordia was 4,200 crew and passengers. This is essentially a large
village in size. There are all of the complex issues that a village has. People
are moving and interacting. There are small concerns to address for the crew.
These complexities require continuous updating since there are numerous changes
in the people residing in the ship. Cruise ships are designed for people to
stay for a short period of time. The crew needs to function with little
capacity to truly learn about their residents. Training is extremely important.
There appears to have been a deficiency in training relating to emergency
planning. This is an ethical issue since emergencies can happen at any time.
Staff training is essential and should always include emergency training.
There is a
great need for emergency training. The lights on the cruise ship went out
creating problems for evacuation of the passengers. The crew did not inform the
passengers that there was any problem. The crew actually sent the passengers to
their state rooms rather than the lifeboats as a precaution. When you are in
any large body of water, such as the Mediterranean Sea, you may be unable to
swim to safety. This is particularly insidious since there were a dozen
children on this cruise.
When we
forget about ethics, deaths can result. It can also be traumatic - just ask the
survivors.
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