A guitarist, his wife the bassist, and a magician

[Dave W]

30 year old incident, story just published today.

The guitarist who saved hundreds of people on a sinking cruise liner

[westen44]

That is an excellent example that truth really is stranger than fiction.  Obviously, the events that occurred could be made into an exciting movie.  But it seems the people involved must have not wanted that to happen. 

[uwe]

Oh my, what a story. Unlikely happy ends are the best.

[gearHed289]

That was an amazing story.

[Dave W]

I had never heard the story but it's well enough known in some quarters to have its own Wikipedia page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTS_Oceanos

Her captain, Yiannis Avranas, and some of the crew were convicted of negligence for fleeing the ship without helping the passengers, ...

[uwe]

Allora, much like Capitano Schettino then,



that fearless seaman currently still doing time of a 15-year sentence for manslaughter - dereliction of duty when the Costa Concordia capsized in 2012 after a reckless close-to-coast maneuver (to impress the passengers).



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Schettino

The good Capitano claimed he inadvertently "slipped and fell" into one of the earliest life boats leaving the ship and then wished to proceed organizing the evacuation of the cruise ship from the mainland (even though Italian authorities implored him to return to the ship). The cruise ship had more than 4.200 people on board (a quarter of them crew) and 32 of them died due to the delayed, botched and de facto unsupervised (by Schettino) emergency evacuation, which is ironic given how close the ship was to the mainland (weather conditions were fine).

Now of course you can't force someone to be a hero. But if you're not cut out for it, perhaps you shouldn't choose to be Captain of a cruise liner. Had he stayed on the ship until the end (the bridge was never flooded), he'd have been a tragic hero trying to make good on a serious mistake and I doubt that he would have been sent to prison (his professional career would have most likely been over though). Instead he ended as the coward with a long sentence.

[Dave W]

The only Americans among the Costa Concordia fatalities were Jerry and Barb Heil, a retired couple from a St. Paul suburb taking the first big trip of their lives. There was a lot of local coverage.

[lowend1]

His wife could have paddled away with that thing she's playing...

[Dave W]

His wife could have paddled away with that thing she's playing...

Even faster if it had been a Gibson 20/20. 

[Rob]

From Wiki "Epirotiki Lines had lost two other ships within the three years preceding the sinking: the company's flagship Pegasus only two months before, and MV Jupiter, three years before.[1]"

I'm thinking that they had a poor crew qualification process.

[uwe]

I'll have to let that info sink in - especially as regards future cruise vacation plans.