Poll: If you were a captain of a ship, how many of you would go down with your ship?

I would have single-handedly carried all 3,000 passengers and 1,000 crew off the ship. That's just the kind of guy I am.

brogan1 wrote:

Letsrun Gunner wrote:

I am staying until everyone else is off. Plain and simple it is your job. I teach school and if there is a fight I jump in it to break it up. I am not nearly as big as most of the guys but it is my job.

Attending a sinking ship and breaking up a high school fight are not similar. Do not even try to compare the two.

When one of the kids has a knife I don't think it is all that different. You are doing something that puts yourself in danger but protects someone else. Lets be honest that ship wasn't in that deep of water and you could easily swim to shore.

You never said anything about them fighting with knives, only that they are bigger than you. That is a big difference.

Mark Wahlberg wrote:

I would have single-handedly carried all 3,000 passengers and 1,000 crew off the ship. That's just the kind of guy I am.

I wouldn't have sank the d@mn boat in the first place.

It could take 8 hours to get everyone off the ship safely. No Italian EVER works at ANYTHING for 8 straight hours. Why should evacuating a ship be any different?

If the ship' name was Carrie Underwood, of course I'd go down..... D'uh.

I would be the f*&% out

Weak, pathetic people! Get off the ship and prove your DNA's worth. Selfishness is the golden rule of the strong!

My ships never run aground.

Nobody can possibly know the answer to this. Honesty is not the issue. There is a great deal of research documenting the fact that how people honestly believe they would behave in a hypothetical situation and how they actually do behave in said situation are vastly different.

Mark Wahlberg wrote:

I would have single-handedly carried all 3,000 passengers and 1,000 crew off the ship. That's just the kind of guy I am.

You made hot earl gray tea shoot out of my nose on my keyboard.

You guys, cut the guy a break. It was dark outside.

—De Falco (Italian Coast Guard): “Are you refusing to go aboard commander? Can you tell me the reason why you are not going?”

—"Captain" Schettino: “I am not going because the other lifeboat is stopped.”

—De Falco: “You go aboard. It is an order. Don’t make any more excuses. You have declared ‘abandon ship.’ Now I am in charge. You go on board! Is that clear? Do you hear me? Go, and call me when you are aboard. My air rescue crew is there.”

—Schettino: “Where are your rescuers?”

—De Falco: “My air rescue is on the prow. Go. There are already bodies, Schettino.”

—Schettino: “How many bodies are there?”

—De Falco: “I don’t know. I have heard of one. You are the one who has to tell me how many there are. Christ.”

—Schettino: “But do you realize it is dark and here we can’t see anything...”

—De Falco: “And so what? You want go home, Schettino? It is dark and you want to go home? Get on that prow of the boat using the pilot ladder and tell me what can be done, how many people there are and what their needs are. Now!”

BCT wrote:

Nobody can possibly know the answer to this...

True, it's easy to imagine that you will do the right thing and a completely different thing to actually do it when your scared sh#tless.

Quite simple really. I would know the terms of my employment agreement and the law of the area the ship wrecked in (or original port, whichever supersedes) and fulfill my legal and professional commitment to the bare minimum all the while keeping a detailed record of my actions, including witnesses to support said detail. Then I would exit the ship as quickly as possible, and have my attorney waiting for me on the coast.

It's only a job. Sailors can quit anytime. New Orleans policemen quit when Katrina was roaring in since they didn't want to get killed. It's a free country.

Keith Stone wrote:

He got out of there and on shore so fast you'd think he was French.

Keith Stone, what a jerk you are.

Euros wrote:

It's only a job. Sailors can quit anytime. New Orleans policemen quit when Katrina was roaring in since they didn't want to get killed. It's a free country.

Maritime law is quite different, and captains of seafaring vessels have a much, much, much higher standard to uphold than city cops. And they have a hell of a lot more authority as well. That comes with a cost.

Cruise ship captains are responsible for thousands of lives. That's what this guy is being charged with, and if accounts are accurate will be convicted of, manslaughter and other charges. If he didn't want the responsibility, he shouldn't have taken the job. He can rot in jail, then rot in hell. His actions directly caused people to die.

You want an honest answer? Absolutely. One morning on my way to work many years ago I saw smoke coming from a 3 floor apartment. Long story short, I pulled over ran up to the 3rd floor and warned the young couple on the top floor and the elderly couple on the 2nd floor that their building was on fire. All made it out alive before the fire trucks came. I left for work before the newspapers arrived. A fearless, anonymous, super hero (kidding), that possibly saved the lives of complete strangers. The firemen saved the cat. True story.

Not only would I be the last one down on that ship. It would a great honor to do so. Although I'd like to think I wouldn't be stupid enough to showboat (no pun intended) and run the ship aground in the first place.

It has be law for centuries that the captain goes down with his ship. He must be the last to leave a sinking vessel. This captain is in deep trouble. In fact the cruise line will probably be sued out of existence.