what happened to the captain of the oceanos

On the front page was a Kostas Mitropoulos cartoon that lampooned the Captain, it read: Where to take you captain?the helicopter pilot asked him as he rescued him from the sinking ship named Ocean of failures. Brett and Paul penetrated the portside corridor behind the on-deck pool while Barry singularly explored the large dining hall area. "But that would come after the ship has been evacuated," he added. is University of Washington a good school. "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.". [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. In Greece the case was referred to the High Council of Maritime Accidents of the Ministry of Maritime. Becky Little is a journalist based in Washington, D.C. Steen Brodersen, a retired Danish captain, said that every single crew member, from the chief mate to the cooks, has a designated role in an emergency on a cruise ship. The avoidable disaster killed 32 people and seriously injured many others, and left investigators wondering: Why was the luxury cruise ship sailing so close to the shore in the first place? Both he and Paul had to carry stage cylinders for Brett that would be required at specific depths, so the team had to remain together throughout the dive. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), https://www.history.com/news/titanic-captain-edward-smith-final-hours-death. Avranas at the time defended his actions, saying he left the ship to direct rescue operations. On schedule, the shallow-water backup team left the boat and descended toward the decompressing divers. 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. Thomas Andrews, the Titanics head designer, reported that his inspection revealed flooding in at least five of the Titanics 16 watertight compartments. 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 . Havent you forgotten, sir, that all those glass windows are closed? a passenger gently reminded him. Spouse. Heres some good live video when it happened!!! But witnesses said he appeared on the bridge of the Titanic just moments . Smiths final moments arent definitively known, but reports varied widely. Stranger still are several widely publicized reports that he didnt die at all. Captains accused of leaving prematurely often claim they can manage the situation better from the safety of a lifeboat, rescue vessel or on shore. The expedition required diligent and intense preparation. After more than three hours in the water, they were rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. Davina Avrana. After rescuing passengers and crew followed by interrogations in Durban, South Africa. Under charter by TFC Tours,[1] Oceanos initially delayed by a bomb threat set out from East London, South Africa on 3 August 1991, and headed for Durban. Captain of White Star Liner, RMS Titanic, Commander Edward J. Smith, c. 1911. Industries; War and Militaries; However, an Italian naval admiral testified in court that even though the helmsman was late in executing the captains orders, the crash wouldve happened anyway. (The helmsman was one of the four crew members convicted in court for contributing to the disaster. [2] Usually, there would have been a "sail-away" party on deck. The Oceanos lies at a depth between 92m and 97m, about 5km offshore, on the western edge of the mighty Agulhas current. Schettino reportedly said he ended up in a life raft after he tripped and fell into the water. The World witnessed an ugly scene back on 03 August 1991 when MTS Oceanos sunk in 1991 because of uncontrolled floods. The nearest, RMS Carpathia, replied that it would change course and hurry to the Titanics position. "He's given the industry a bad name, he's made us all look bad. "I'm totally embarrassed by what he did," he said of Schettino. hide caption. He said the export to the electric generators had been opened by a surge and water was pouring in. It's shameful. The Worst Christmas Story Ever: The Sinking of SS Leopoldville on 24 December 1944, How AI is Transforming Personal and Professional Investing, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, UC Berkeleys Financial Innovation Conference, Why did Titanic Sink : A Scientific Analysis. At 12:05 a.m. Smith gave orders to uncover the lifeboats and alert the passengers. Smith now knew the Titanic was doomed. UK Retailer Simply Scuba Goes Into Administration For Good This Time, Dive Curaao Launches New All-In-One Vacation Platform. dontpanik, July 2, 2007 in What Ever Happened To..??? Michael O Mahoney, a passenger remembers at least 30 crew members got on the first boat, while the captain left on a helicopter while passengers were still on deck. He speaks five foreign languages, originally from Kasos, but was born in Egypt. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. He hit the bottom, got back up, side of the fault and was swallowed by the sea forever.. The open-circuit diver is therefore restricted in terms of profile and dive time due to the chosen static supply of gas content and quantity carried. On August 3, 1991, Oceanos set sail for East London, South Africa and headed north for Durban, led by Captain Yiannis Avranas. http://www.aolvideoblog.com/2007/08/21/crew-bails-on-passengers-of-sinking-cruise-liner/. Being one of the worlds most difficult wrecks to reach and successfully dive, the Oceanos offers great rewards for technical divers at the top of their game. READ MORE: Why Nobody Remembers America's Worst Maritime Disaster. If some people like to stay, they can stay. She came to rest on her starboard side almost perpendicular to the coastline, with her bow facing seaward. Why did the captain go down with the ship? In his characteristic style, he managed to weave a comical moment into his narrative of the tumultuous events, telling reporters that he had started singing "Bye Bye Miss American Pie", when he suddenly realised that the next line was going to be "Thisll be the day that I die" - and quickly switched to another song[14][15], Hills later said that searching for Captain Avranas, he had discovered him smoking on the fantail and he said "I think he was in deep, deep shock. [5] The generators were shut down because the rising water would have short circuited them. [5] The final minutes of her sinking were captured on video and broadcast by ABC News. 19952023, The Independent Traveler, Inc. Captain Yiannis Avranas who left passengers to die? All 571 passengers and crew survived. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), 5 Maritime Disasters You Might Not Know About, Titanic By the Numbers: From Construction to Disaster to Discovery, Why Nobody Remembers America's Worst Maritime Disaster, https://www.history.com/news/costa-concordia-cruise-ship-disaster-sinking-captain, The Costa Concordia Disaster: How Human Error Made It Worse. And the second boat was only cooks. He said he supervised the . After the sinking, Avranas attracted extensive media coverage, often being vilified and used as an example of poor professional behaviour while in command. Maritime officials who did not want to be quoted said it was . A coast guard member angrily told him on the phone to Get back on board, damn it!a recorded sound bite that turned into a T-shirt slogan in Italy. Diving The Oceanos. Unbelievable but true - an account of the terrifying conditions on the OCEANOS on 4 August 1991 when it became obvious that not only was the position of the ship unknown, but the whereabouts of the captain and some crew as well. Special Section: Italian Cruise DisasterCruise ship to port: It's just a blackoutPressure mounts on cruise ship divers. After the required decompression runtimes, the divers surfaced, and the team returned to shore. He in consultation with the international federation fled Nikolaou to Greece. Passengers remained ignorant of the events until they witnessed the first signs of flooding on the lower decks. The success of the 1988 cruise season in South Africa was the motivation for her return in 1991 on an eight-month charter for TFC Tours of Johannesburg. Click here to reload the page in order to enable certain features. The weather forecast was predicting a strong northeasterly wind by morning, a factor that could easily mean the end of the expedition. This page is not available in other languages. The first engineer along with some of the engine room got on a boat and left. At first it appeared as if Smiths luck was going to hold. None of the 571 passengers drowned. ", the captain of the wrecked cruise ship Costa Concordia. In 1976, she was acquired by Epirotiki Lines of Greece and registered under the name of Oceanos.[2]. Oceanos headed into 40-knot winds and 9 m (30 ft) swells. How did the Oceanos go into the sea? The wind was still blowing, and large swells were visible on the horizon. Must a captain be the last one off a sinking ship? Has the old idea that captains should not abandon ship itself been abandoned? August 3, 1991: An explosion shakes the engine room of the Greek cruise ship, Oceanos, as it sails off the South African coast. The captain of the Oceanos was alerted to the problem after receiving reports of water entering some of the cabins on board. I just watched national geografic program about the Oceanos tragedy. Outwardly, Smith seems to have kept up a brave front, appearing captain-like to the last, at least to most observers. I have made a mess and practically the whole ship is flooding, Schettino told Ferrarini while the ship was sinking. In the time of need, however, the crew found that everything was useless. The crew said that likely saved their lives, because the ship's emergency beacon didn't work. The 402 passengers and 179 crew members all survived, but Captain Yiannis Avranas and other officers left the ship while some passengers were still on board. On one occasion the 200-liter drum we used as a marker buoy was pulled down to 34m by the current. There was no reply to either. "That is the responsibility of the captain, that's why all privileges are given to him but he has together with that an equal burden of responsibility," Pacheco said. A captain and his crew needlessly endangered the lives of those on board. ", "Costa Concordia Tragedy: Capt. 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. In the middle of the 19th century, there were a number of incidents in which ships foundered and captains and their crews were either celebrated for leading the rescue or reviled for saving themselves while passengers drowned. 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. 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. How does the braking system work in a car? Jim Staples, a captain for 20 years, who spoke Wednesday from a 1,000-foot cargo vessel he was captaining near New Orleans, said captains are duty-bound to stay with the ship until the situation is hopeless. Oceanos was briefly featured in the 1985 film Sky High and with another Epirotiki ship, Apollon XI, in the 1986 film Hardbodies 2. Originally built as a passenger/cargo vessel, the Oceanos underwent massive reconstruction by the time she came to operate as a cruise liner for Epirotiki Lines of Greece. An In Memoriam vintage postcard featuring the Titanic which sank after hitting an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on April 14, 1912 and commemorating her captain, Edward Smith and brave bandsmen, published in Redruth, c. May 1912. . [9][11][16][17] Avranas's emergency management was again widely cited after the Costa Concordia disaster in 2012. Lee Jun-Seok, who was one of the first to flee from the ferry as it sank on Wednesday. Avranas was charged with misconduct after it was discovered that he and numerous crew members left the ship while the passengers remained behind. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWGXa8QivR4. After Capt. All Rights Reserved. But the weather was so bad that the helicopter crew advised against boarding". I saw Captain Smith getting excited; passengers would not have noticed, but I did, May Sloan, a surviving Titanic stewardess, wrote in a letter shortly after the disaster. Francesco Schettino had handed himself in to the Rebibbia prison in Rome after the verdict, his lawyer said. MTS Oceanos was a French-built and Greek-owned cruise ship that sank in 1991 when she suffered uncontrolled flooding. Within eight minutes I closed the waterproof doors. All Rights Reserved. And he did not lighten his position after the accident when he told a foreign television station: The ships abandonment applies to everyone. Its captain was accused of manslaughter and abandoning the 4,200 passengers and crew on the night of the wreck. [2] Divers have visited her, but strong currents make the dive difficult. Will this discovery change our understanding of Titanic's final moments? 1940) had been an officer for twenty years and a seaman for thirty. But when it deviated from its planned path to sail closer to the island of Giglio, the ship struck a reef known as the Scole Rocks. 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. Smith was accused of ignoring ice warnings from other ships and failing to reduce the ships speed to fit the conditions at hand. It is believed[by whom?] The decision was to be his last as captain of the Oceanos. Gas exchanges with backup divers at set points during the ascent worked flawlessly, and the divers surfaced on schedule without incident. Captain Yiannis Avranas told reporters in Durban that he did not desert the ship but left to coordinate rescue efforts from shore. What happened to the Italian cruise ship captain? Pryal was no ordinary crank, but a highly regarded local businessman who claimed to have been an officer aboard the White Star liner Majestic some 30 years before, when Smith was its captain. Then 15 minutes later, the bubbles returned, and there was a sigh of relief. The team retired for the night, hoping that conditions would improve. After twenty-seven minutes at 90m and thirty-four minutes on run time, an orange submersible marker buoy broke the surface, and the deep-water back divers bailed into the water. "When they go bad, they're evil," Shealy says. He says he lowered the switches, stopped the power generators and the ships engines. All Rights Reserved. The remaining members of the team waited on the boat; some recalled the video footage they had seen of the previous dive made on Monday afternoon and tried to imagine themselves being down there on the wreck with them. While we were busy on one hand throwing the boats they went the other way and left, says Nikolaou. Bubbles moved toward the stern and then back again to amidships. When his "death-glorious ship" sinks, Ahab mourns that he's been denied the "pride" of having gone down with her. [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. Here's a link if you want to see a video of the story. What happened to the crew and captain? For a villain, there was J. Bruce Ismay, the White Star chairman, who got off in a lifeboat and was accused of pressuring Smith to maintain a reckless speed. A Greek board of inquiry found Avranas and four officers negligent in their handling of the disaster. I never saw the captain among us helping, he says.. Passengers remained ignorant of the events taking place until they witnessed the first signs of flooding in the lower decks. Passengers thought the captain had left the ship. He wanted to see where they were taking the crew to land. But the Carpathia was 58 milesor some four hoursaway. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. [5], Oceanos sank bow first approximately 45 minutes after the last person was airlifted from the deck. After ramming into the sea floor, the Oceanos slipped silently beneath the waves. "His duty as the highest authority available short of God himself was to make sure his crew was safe before he left the ship," says Craig Symonds, a retired Naval Academy historian. On 3 August 1991, the Oceanos - initially delayed due to a bomb threat - set out from East London, South Africa and headed for Durban.Captain Yiannis Avranas (born ca. The ocean had reached the point where the sea was 81 meters deep. The unethical, unprofessional prick are working as a Captain of a ferry in Greece. According to the International Herald Tribune, "Avranas said he had known when he left the ship that there were 170 passengers and crew still aboard [but this was] the only way [to] ensure the safety of all those aboard", furthermore "after checking the situation from the shore, he said, he flew back to the ship on a helicopter, intending to go back on board. Family members of passengers on a South Korean ferry that sank look at lists of survivors on Wednesday. By the next morning rescuers found Oceanos adrift just off Coffee Bay, on the Wild Coast. That was one of several incidents that have led some historians to question whether Smith had gone into a state of shock. [16] A South African Navy Diver testified that the captain had insisted on being taken ashore by the first helicopter. 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. Something strong wind, something the helicopter pilot, they didnt let me down he said. / Updated May 22, 2010 / 12:42 PM PDT 20 PHOTOS . Whether or not Captain Francesco Schettino was trying to impress his girlfriend is debatable. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yiannis_Avranas&oldid=1133434367, This page was last edited on 13 January 2023, at 19:56. Usually, there would have been a "sail-away" party on deck with the ship's musicians and British . Nearby vessels responded to the ships SOS and were the first to assist. Back in the early 1990's came an incredible event, most now, don't remember or know about. Life seems to have been unaware that immediately after Silent Smiths death in 1915, the Lima News had identified the man as one Michael McKenna. Now he was about to preside over one of the worst sea disasters of all time. Ship Captain. Blowing in the same direction as the current, a strong northeasterly wind would slowly increase the rate of flow beyond that conducive for diving. The day of the first dive had dawned. "In this case there was more than enough time for the moment of panic to pass. Arriving at the dive site, the team was amazed by the conditions. "[10], Captain Avranas received extensive media coverage as an example of unprofessional behaviour whilst in command. But the report noted that some passengers testified that they didnt hear the alarm to proceed to the lifeboats. By The chief engineer reported to Captain Avranas that water was entering the hull and flooding the generator room. Smith, who evacuated the ship women and children first until there were no lifeboats left, and then perished with it. What happened to the captain and crew of the Oceanos? The Greek government is not doing anything about the incident. But with no sign of conditions improving, the captain eventually decided to lift anchor and the Oceanos, with 581 guests and crew on board, sailed off into 40-knot winds and 9m-high (30ft) waves. It had also had several sewerage-holding tank non-return valves stripped for repairs following problems with bilge water rising through showers and toilets on a recent trip to Mozambique. Everyone on board the cruise ship Oceanos was safe and accounted for Monday, but survivors angrily accused the . They accused the crew and the captain, but if there werent good moves with so much inconvenience and so much wave who would be saved? [10][failed verification], Avranas claimed that he left the ship first in order to arrange for a rescue effort,[11] and then supervised it from a helicopter. Three years later she wrote in her book entitled, The Tragedy of the Oceanos: Christos Nikolaou, an Oceanist, had a relative who was an executive at the Panhellenic Federation. In a matter of hours, more than 1,500 passengers and crew would be dead, including Smith himself. [7][failed verification] The NPR radio show and podcast Snap Judgment featured an account of the sinking by Moss Hills. But in interviews, Captain Avranas was unapologetic for leaving the ship ahead of others, saying he was better able to direct rescue efforts from shore. [15], Prior to the events of January 1991, Avranas had apparently given no interview to the media. [citation needed], While trying to make up lost time, Oceanos encountered rough seas. I will certainly avoid any Greek ferriesof course truth be known, I avoid all foreign ferries since I don't trust what they think an acceptable number of passengers is. No matter what time I leave. 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. More than 4,200 people were rescued, though 32 people died. It was also around 12:45 a.m. that crewmen lowered the first of the Titanics lifeboats to the ocean surface. Fleeing in a lifeboat, they were told by the captain of a rescue ship to go back and help their passengers. The ship's captain, Yiannis Avranas, had 30 years' experience at sea. [citation needed], Once the engines stopped, the ship began to roll so badly that in the lounge, which is where the passengers had gathered, crockery and cutlery began sliding off the tables and potted plants fell over. Other information if you google or youtube it. The notorious Master of the vessel was Captain Yiannis Avranas. According to Boltman, "later in the morning, Captain Avarnasi [sic] even contacted me from shore to ask how things were going. With hundreds of people on board, the ship springs a leak, then . [16][11][17][18] He stated that he left the ship first to arrange for a rescue effort, and then supervised the rescue from a helicopter because "the batteries on the crew's walkie-talkies had died, meaning that he had no communications with his crew or with other rescue craft". So began the worst night of Edward John Smiths otherwise charmed life. For many years, seasoned technical diver, Barry Coleman, has had one consuming desire: to dive the Oceanos. The reaction of the first engineer sabotaged the captains original plan. Meanwhile, he told the ships two wireless operators to get ready to transmit distress signals. Unable to spend sufficient time on the wreck, the Camera 7 team was forced to deploy a remote, surface-controlled camera to acquire the footage required for their investigation. From Times Wire Services. The team rushed to kit up and made their way to the launch site, eager to climb through the open window of opportunity while it lasted. Realising the fate of the ship, the crew reportedly fled in panic, neglecting the standard procedure of closing the lower deck portholes. South Korean authorities have arrested Capt. The captain broadcasted a distress signal as he tried to steer the ship towards shore in order for rescuers to reach them. The waves reached 14 meters. "He deeply regrets not being with his crew. The current, too, was very strong, and the team was worried. The Oceanos had been on its usual route along the South African coast when it encountered heavy rains and gale-force winds.

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