The Oceanos lies at a depth between 92m and 97m, about 5km offshore, on the western edge of the mighty Agulhas current. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Technical diving is an exact science, and every member of the team performed their tasks with efficiency and focus. It was abject cowardice.". And he did not lighten his position after the accident when he told a foreign television station: The ships abandonment applies to everyone. At sea, there's no question about who's in charge, so there's no doubt who is responsible for safety. Smith was back in the news in 1940, when a letter in Life magazine suggested that the captain had ended his days as an elderly derelict in Lima, Ohio, known as Silent Smith. Among the evidence: The man had arrived in town three years after the Titanic disaster, would only give his name as Smith, was about Smiths age and size, and bore the sort of tattoos common among seafarers. In a matter of minutes, the occupants returned with a very favorable report on conditions. The captain still had some hope of averting total disaster. "It is not just unseemly for a captain to leave a ship," Shealy says. "[16][19] In 1992, he and five other officers were convicted of negligence by a Greek board of inquiry for fleeing the ship without helping the passengers. "He deeply regrets not being with his crew. ":rolleyes: I don't know what ever happened to him. Italy's highest court has upheld the 16-year jail sentence given to the captain of the Costa Concordia, which capsized in 2012 killing 32 people. REBELLION RESEARCH ADVISORS, L.P. IS A REGISTERED INVESTMENT ADVISER AND NOT FOR PROFIT EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH THINK TANK. From that point on, Smiths activities become more of a blur. "I can't lift my face before the passengers and family members of those missing," Lee told reporters. [2], At the time of the accident, Yiannis Avranas had been an officer for twenty years and a seaman for thirty. [3] Entertainment manager Robin Boltman was credited with gathering the passengers in the lounge and playing music to calm them. Some early newspaper reports, allegedly supported by eyewitnesses, say he had shot himself with a pistol, though few historians give them any credence. A more recent example is Robert Royer, the captain of a fishing vessel that sank off Alaska in 2010. He was never incarcerated and Epirotiki gave him command of a ferry until his retirement. It was also around 12:45 a.m. that crewmen lowered the first of the Titanics lifeboats to the ocean surface. The bridge section, however, appeared to have collapsed, leaving a field of debris on the sand below. Back in the early 1990's came an incredible event, most now, don't remember or know about. Moving toward the bow, bad visibility and a substantially more damaged part of the wreck greeted the divers. The most famous, perhaps, is the captain of the Titanic, E.J. 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. 19952023, The Independent Traveler, Inc. Captain Yiannis Avranas who left passengers to die? The ships were used on the Marseilles Madagascar Mauritius service. He in consultation with the international federation fled Nikolaou to Greece. As soon as we reached seven degrees, we decided to lower the boats and start evacuation. The function of a rebreather is to re-circulate the unused oxygen in the exhaled breath whilst scrubbing it of all traces of carbon dioxide. / Updated May 22, 2010 / 12:42 PM PDT 20 PHOTOS . Navy Diver Says Oceanos Captain Demanded to Be One of First Rescued I am the captain. The first meet was a pool session where, for the first time in an underwater environment, the divers had a chance to meet all the team members and familiarize themselves with each others equipment. According to Boltman, "later in the morning, Captain Avarnasi [sic] even contacted me from shore to ask how things were going. When they bail early, everything falls apart. August 3, 1991: An explosion shakes the engine room of the Greek cruise ship, Oceanos, as it sails off the South African coast. A recording of his conversation with the Italian Coast Guard suggests he fled before all passengers were off, and resisted repeated orders to go back, saying the ship was tipping and it was dark. Family members of passengers on a South Korean ferry that sank look at lists of survivors on Wednesday. Such callous words were spoken by Yiannis Avranas, captain of the Greek luxury liner Oceanos, which sank off the coast of South Africa in 1991. Seamen have expressed almost universal outrage at Capt. In addition, Pryals doctor attested that he was absolutely sane and not given to hallucinations., In fact, Pryal said he had seen Smith twice, once on a Wednesday and again the following Saturday, when he returned to the same spot to look for him. We were preparing to eat when the first mechanic warned us. The notorious Master of the vessel was Captain Yiannis Avranas. Everyone who had been put into lifeboats was rescued by passing ships and remarkably no lives were lost. On 3 August 1991, the Oceanos set out from East London, South Africa and headed to Durban. Now he was about to preside over one of the worst sea disasters of all time. A magician who had been performing on the ship took over the bridge, monitoring rescue calls, as a fellow entertainer kept passengers calm by playing Beatles songs on his guitar. UK Retailer Simply Scuba Goes Into Administration For Good This Time, Dive Curaao Launches New All-In-One Vacation Platform. 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? "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. "If the master is simply looking out for himself or herself, you've breached your duty both legally and morally, to your ship, your crew and your passengers," says Allen, the University of Washington law professor. Abandonment is for everybody, if some people want to stay, they can stay. The 9 Worst Cruise Ship Disasters | Oyster.com The Oceanos lost power following a leak in the engine room's sea chest. Passengers remained ignorant of the events taking place until they witnessed the first signs of flooding in the lower decks. Two more were added to these later. Surviving wireless operator Harold Bride, a more reliable witness, said hed seen Smith dive from the bridge into the sea. Others said he was swept off by a wave orhaving been swept offswam back to the Titanic to meet his end. It was an event that ended with the sinking of a family cruise shi. Family members of passengers on a South Korean ferry that sank look at lists of survivors on Wednesday. As in August, throughout the two-week period of the expedition, they only managed to reach the wreck on two occasions with a maximum bottom time of eight minutes. On one occasion the 200-liter drum we used as a marker buoy was pulled down to 34m by the current. All 571 people on board were saved, following one of the worlds most dramatic and successful rescue operations of its kind. 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. A Greek board of inquiry found Avranas and four officers negligent in their handling of the disaster. . Captain Accused of Leaving Passengers on Sinking Ship