Pretty much everyone has probably seen the haunting images of the massive cruise ship Costa Concordia laying on its side just off the small Italian island of Giglio. The 950 foot long ship apparently somehow got off course, scraped a rock, and was sliced open just as the Titanic was almost exactly 100 years ago.
While the crew managed to get the liner close enough to land to essentially beach her, the fact is that the Costa Concordia sank. Had she been in deep water, she would have vanished beneath the sea within hours. Just like the Titanic.
So for all the talk about technological and safety advances since the Titanic in 1912, and with all the immeasurably more sophisticated electronics and sensors, the Costa Concordia still sank, and just by scraping a rock. And once again, life boats couldn't be lowered because of tilt, and everyone was woefully unprepared. Had the ship not been beached, the death toll would have been substantial.
As a scuba diver I am fascinated with wrecks. I've been swimming through them at depth, taking pictures, even 3D video. It's stunning to see what happens to a sunken ship after just a short while. The sense I get every time I dive a wreck is "how could this thing ever float?"
Fact, of course, is, it can't float. Steel doesn't float. Ships only float because a comparatively fragile skin keeps the water out. And, as the vast number of wrecks at the bottom of the ocean shows, eventually water will find a way in. All the talk of locks and compartments and safety measures notwithstanding.
I mean, it's really just high school physics: determine the force of a ship hitting an immovable object, and the immovable object will always win. Cruise ships probably could be built a lot safer, but the cost would be prohibitive, and so it all boils down to calculated risk.
I am glad almost everyone was saved when the Costa Concordia sank, but it sure showed how unable we are to avoid the eventually unavoidable.
While the crew managed to get the liner close enough to land to essentially beach her, the fact is that the Costa Concordia sank. Had she been in deep water, she would have vanished beneath the sea within hours. Just like the Titanic.
So for all the talk about technological and safety advances since the Titanic in 1912, and with all the immeasurably more sophisticated electronics and sensors, the Costa Concordia still sank, and just by scraping a rock. And once again, life boats couldn't be lowered because of tilt, and everyone was woefully unprepared. Had the ship not been beached, the death toll would have been substantial.
As a scuba diver I am fascinated with wrecks. I've been swimming through them at depth, taking pictures, even 3D video. It's stunning to see what happens to a sunken ship after just a short while. The sense I get every time I dive a wreck is "how could this thing ever float?"
Fact, of course, is, it can't float. Steel doesn't float. Ships only float because a comparatively fragile skin keeps the water out. And, as the vast number of wrecks at the bottom of the ocean shows, eventually water will find a way in. All the talk of locks and compartments and safety measures notwithstanding.
I mean, it's really just high school physics: determine the force of a ship hitting an immovable object, and the immovable object will always win. Cruise ships probably could be built a lot safer, but the cost would be prohibitive, and so it all boils down to calculated risk.
I am glad almost everyone was saved when the Costa Concordia sank, but it sure showed how unable we are to avoid the eventually unavoidable.
