By Joyce Alexander, RNP (retired)
The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia wrecked a few days ago and early reports said that it had hit some rocks. Quickly though, reports came out that the captain, Francesco Schettino, had driven the ship closer than normal to those rocks on the way out of port in order to show off the ship to the residents. An article from the New York Times gives more details.
More bodies found on ship, as transcripts reveal rebuke to captain
Interviews from some of the over 4,020 passengers of the liner stated in news reports that it was “like the Titanic.”
Only shortly after the shipwreck it was determined that the captain had left the ship early on, and also that he had been seen drinking on the bridge with a young, attractive woman at the time of the crash, and that he had been drinking at dinner before the crash. This indicates to me that the man may have been drunk at the time he made the decision to go closer than was safe to the reef.
Rescue crews had reportedly told the captain to “go back to the ship” and at that time they were in command with the authority to demand that he return. He didn’t return and was subsequently branded a “coward,” as well as taken into custody by authorities for not doing his duty in the time of the wreck. I have a feeling this man’s professional life as a sailor is over, and that he will become an international pariah.
Videos taken showed the passengers lined up, going down the side of the overturned boat on one rope, like a line of ants going to a food source.
The captain finally came up with a story that he somehow believed would show that he was not at fault for leaving the ship early (excuse me if I laugh). He said he had “accidentally fallen into a lifeboat while trying to help rescue efforts.” This single statement, to me, branded the man a psychopath. Dr. Robert Hare said in his book, Without Conscience, that the psychopath’s brain doesn’t work like other brains when it comes to lies. They will tell a lie when there is evidence to show it is a lie right in front of them, they will tell a lie that is so unbelievable that no one would believe it, but they do not “get it” that their lie is totally unbelievable.
Of course a psychopath would also put his own well-being above those of his responsibility, such as the passengers, and would desert a sinking boat on the first available lifeboat. Capt. Schettino leaving first, by itself, would not brand someone a psychopath, when maybe they would only be a coward, or so terrorized that he became unglued and deserted the sinking ship. But being told to “get back on the ship!” and refusing to do so does seem to indicate that he was either totally unglued or had no concern for the passengers.
The other things that the captain did that were irresponsible, like drinking at dinner, and drinking at the time of the crash with the rocks, and steering the boat close to the rocks so that he could show off, all of those things might have just been a day of poor judgment, and would not necessarily make me brand someone with the term psychopath. But those things, in concert with the unbelievable lie, make me think that this man has not only no conscience, but that his brain is unable to distinguish a believable lie from one that is so unbelievable that only a psychopath would tell it.
I’m not sure that there is a lie that would be believable or that would not damn any captain who deserted his ship like Capt. Schettino did. However, a man who was not a psychopath, who had simply panicked and deserted his ship, who otherwise had a moral compass, would show some remorse for what he had done. He would at least show some shame at having failed in a pivotal moment in his life, in which he should have showed some courage and concern for the more than 4,000 lives in his charge.
I think that anyone can “fail” in a moment of horrible terror, in combat or accident. The overwhelming terror of something like a ship capsizing, the panic of the passengers, and possibly also the man being drunk, could account for him deserting the ship early and refusing to do his duty, or letting go of his responsibility. But the unbelievable lie is the one thing, that taken with all the others, that makes me think this man is truly a psychopath.
Here’s another article about the captain by a former commander of the U.S. Coast Guard on CNN.com:
I am not so sure he thrilled in the thought of killing people. Nor did I think bringing the ship too close to shore was for thrills.
Rather, the grandiose side of many sociopaths was demonstrated by him using the ship to impress a friend.
Joanie,
Newt Gingrich is not a spath.
He’s the anti-christ.
I don’t know if most politicians are born spaths, but I think the power can certainly predispose them to becoming spathological.
Star,
I was watching TV at the health club and this blurb came on, (don’t know which commentator said it), “Most of the members of congress are obstructionists who are willing to sacrifice any benefit to the american people in order to advance their own agenda for power.”
I can’t remember the exact wording. But if you substitute the word “SPATHS” for “obstructionists”, the sentence makes perfect sense. In fact, it is almost the definition of spaths. The only additional word I would add is, “gleefully”.
So it would read, “Most of the members of congress are SPATHS who are GLEEFULLY willing to sacrifice any benefit to the american people in order to advance their own agenda for power.”
And then end it with, “because they can.”
SKYLAR
You said something to Henry. You said
“They love to take what you give and then throw it in your face that they aren’t going to reciprocate. TOTAL CLASSIC SPATH.”.
Well, that was surely what my spath did. I lectured him, I told him, I paved the road, and he never reciprocated. Ever.
I bent over backwards.
Is this really classic spath? I haven’t heard you or anybody else say it quite this way before.
Athena
Ah, yes, Athena.
Oxy told of a good story with her egg donor. I can’t remember it perfectly but it had to do with Oxy nursing the eggdonor and her step father while he was ill. And the egg donor said, “but Oxy, who will do this for YOU when you are old?”
Oxy went home slimed.
Did I get it right Oxy?
Unreal.
BBE: Let me reiterate. I don’t think the captain was out to directly kill people per se. But the chaos he invoked no doubt brought him sadistic pleasure.
Kinda like akin to the Emperor Nero sitting back and watching the burning of Rome.
As others have said, he got drunk and let the mask slip then one lie led to another. The ship was in chaos yet there was no second in command to take over the ship and order the crew to mutiny. If so many lives could have been saved. For an hour he feigned the cause of the shipwreck by denying it.
In that course of time people could have been evacuated from the ship and lives saved. Cruise companies should make new regulations where if the 2nd in command doesn’t like the captain’s decision he can overstep orders.
This is what happens when human resources get overlooked and a spath get’s put in control to the peril of several hundred lives.
You got it right Skylar, and every time she said it, she said it in a way to act like she was sooooo grateful for what I was doing…but then add the (even though I had two sons neither of which was in prison) jab that while I was doing this for her there would be no one to care for me. LOL As it turned out there are only hired caregivers for her now as I’m sure not there.
I agree with Joanie, I don’t think the cruise ship capt. intended to kill anyone I think he was just out to “show off” like a 16 year old boy driving too fast and taking a chance with his shiny new car…but when he crashed, as in this case, he went into DENIAL during the critical part of the crash during which time the entire ship could and should have been evacuated….and HE got off shortly afterward, before it became almost impossible to escape with the ship on its side, thus making ALL life boats useless and impossible to access. At the point he realized the ship was sinking, he no longer, I think, cared about anyone else, only his OWN survival. He knew what his duty was, but he didnt’ care. The booze may have also contributed to his decisions, his denials, etc. but I think booze only brings out what is already there by dis-inhibiting the person and allowing the REAL them to emerge.
I haven’t been through all of he comments yet, but one of the reports I heard, said that when the ‘captain’ fell into the lifeboat he ‘accidentally’ knocked an elderly woman OFF the lifeboat, into the water and she drowned as a result. WTH? I don’t knowif there is any truth to this, but if so, it just speaks volumes to the lengths the ‘captain’ and his crew went to to bail out on their responsibilities.
Also there have been reports of an unknown number of passengers on board the ship for a ‘day trip’ where they are allowed on board, but are not part of the actual cruise. Since there is no record of the unpaid passengers- there is no idea how many were on the ship when this happened.
Oxy- The book you mention sounds like it holds a lot of truth. After being on a cruise and speaking with some of the crew members, their lifestyle is not exactly glamourous or anything like that portrayed on The Love Boat series.