Nautical Prayers
15/01/12 05:41
The island of Giglio is one of seven in what is called the Tuscan archipelago. It is located 18 km from the Tuscan coast and is reached by a 30-minute ferry from Porto Santo Stefano. There is a port, beaches, and an ancient hilltop village. This morning at its Catholic Church there was an unusual procession. In addition to the usual items carried forward for the celebration of mass, altar boys and girls brought forward a life vest, a rope, a rescue helmet, and a plastic tarp as well as a loaf of bread. Don Lorenzo, the parish priest told those gathered together that each one was endowed with symbolic meaning in the little church that on Friday night opened its doors to the survivors of the luxury cruise liner Costa Concordia after it ran aground off of the shore of the island. Father Lorenzo spoke of the bread that multiplied to feed the survivors, the rope that pulled people to safety, the life vest and helmet that protected them, and the plastic tarp that kept cold bodies warm. “Our community, our island will never be the same.”
The parish church is not a grand cathedral. It is not brimming with members. Most of the time only a dozen or so local people gather to celebrate mass, with a few tourists visiting from time to time.
This weekend, however, things are very different on the island and at the church. The eyes of the world are upon them and the island is full of reporters, camera crews and others trying to get interviews and stories and find out just what happened. More than 36 hours after the accident occurred, it still isn’t clear just what has happened. With nearly 40 people still unaccounted for, energies are rightly focused on rescue and recovery efforts. With the ship listing and nearly half of it submerged, the process of searching is difficult and dangerous. It is a big ship. Over 4,200 people were aboard when it set off on a routine cruise over a well-charted route that it had taken many times.
No one knows for sure why the ship was nearly 50 nautical miles off course when it struck a reef and the hull was breached with a huge gash. What followed is also not completely clear. It appears that the captain, knowing that the ship was badly damaged and that rescue efforts would be difficult at night, ordered the ship to be intentionally grounded as close as possible to the island. Nearly 45 minutes after the initial impact, with the main lights of the ship off, passengers panicked as the ship rolled onto its side. Chaos ensued. Some of the lifeboats could not be launched due to the angle of the ship. Water was rising in many interior areas. Some passengers, seeing the lights of the island, opted to jump into the water. The process that appears orderly in a lifeboat drill fell apart and no one could keep track of all of the people.
All in all the tragedy is not as severe as it might have been. So far only three fatalities have been confirmed. The Internet is full of rumors. There have been reports of as many as eight fatalities and it is likely that the death count will go up as the search of the ship is completed.
I have several books about rescues at sea. I didn’t get caught up in the craze over the Titanic movies a few years ago. The lovely Irish music, the romantic love story, and the investment of millions of dollars in models to simulate the crash didn’t seem to me to tell enough of the story. I was far more interested in the underwater explorations that brought back video footage of the giant ship resting on the bottom of the ocean. Even more interesting that stories told a century later are the stories I have of dramatic ocean rescues. I have spent many hours at the National Maritime Hall of Fame in Baltimore and the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon. There are some grainy black and white photographs of heroic rescues as ships founder in high seas in windy and stormy conditions and rescue crews battle currents, waves and other dangers to rescue people from ships that are being lost at sea.
The scene off of Giglio Island was much different. The blue waters of the Mediterranean were calm. It wasn’t grey and angry with small boats tossed up and down and threatening capsize in waves looming higher than the tiny craft with their heroic crews. No doubt many of the crewmembers of the Costa Concordia were well-disciplined seamen and responded to the crisis honorably, but the media is now portraying the captain as an incompetent who fled the ship long before the rescue was complete. It is hard to get an accurate picture from the media coverage.
Since the first sailors took to the sea, we have been fascinated with the ocean and with the building of boats. Each generation, it seems, develops technologies to construct larger and larger vessels capable of carrying more, doing more, and weathering heavier storms. Modern cruise ships like the Costa Concordia are floating cities. The Costa Concordia had a casino, a movie theatre, multiple restaurants and theatres. It had a bridge that was loaded with the latest navigational equipment. It was designed with luxury and safety in mind. The ship was designed to take the hugest of waves on the open ocean. But it wasn’t designed to have its hull scraped across a rocky reef in water too shallow to support the flotation of such a giant craft.
I’m willing to wait for the reports. I’m willing to let the experts ask the questions about why this accident occurred. This morning, I’m just adding my prayers to those of Don Lorenzo as he serves his tiny parish. We give thanks to God for the many who were rescued and that so many were able to make it to safety. We pray for those who are missing and for their families as the anxiety mounts. We know God is with those who suffer and we would stand in communion with God in these moments.
And while we’re at it, we hope that investigators will find some clue that might help prevent such an event in the future. In the back of my head, I’m singing the hymn:
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
The parish church is not a grand cathedral. It is not brimming with members. Most of the time only a dozen or so local people gather to celebrate mass, with a few tourists visiting from time to time.
This weekend, however, things are very different on the island and at the church. The eyes of the world are upon them and the island is full of reporters, camera crews and others trying to get interviews and stories and find out just what happened. More than 36 hours after the accident occurred, it still isn’t clear just what has happened. With nearly 40 people still unaccounted for, energies are rightly focused on rescue and recovery efforts. With the ship listing and nearly half of it submerged, the process of searching is difficult and dangerous. It is a big ship. Over 4,200 people were aboard when it set off on a routine cruise over a well-charted route that it had taken many times.
No one knows for sure why the ship was nearly 50 nautical miles off course when it struck a reef and the hull was breached with a huge gash. What followed is also not completely clear. It appears that the captain, knowing that the ship was badly damaged and that rescue efforts would be difficult at night, ordered the ship to be intentionally grounded as close as possible to the island. Nearly 45 minutes after the initial impact, with the main lights of the ship off, passengers panicked as the ship rolled onto its side. Chaos ensued. Some of the lifeboats could not be launched due to the angle of the ship. Water was rising in many interior areas. Some passengers, seeing the lights of the island, opted to jump into the water. The process that appears orderly in a lifeboat drill fell apart and no one could keep track of all of the people.
All in all the tragedy is not as severe as it might have been. So far only three fatalities have been confirmed. The Internet is full of rumors. There have been reports of as many as eight fatalities and it is likely that the death count will go up as the search of the ship is completed.
I have several books about rescues at sea. I didn’t get caught up in the craze over the Titanic movies a few years ago. The lovely Irish music, the romantic love story, and the investment of millions of dollars in models to simulate the crash didn’t seem to me to tell enough of the story. I was far more interested in the underwater explorations that brought back video footage of the giant ship resting on the bottom of the ocean. Even more interesting that stories told a century later are the stories I have of dramatic ocean rescues. I have spent many hours at the National Maritime Hall of Fame in Baltimore and the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon. There are some grainy black and white photographs of heroic rescues as ships founder in high seas in windy and stormy conditions and rescue crews battle currents, waves and other dangers to rescue people from ships that are being lost at sea.
The scene off of Giglio Island was much different. The blue waters of the Mediterranean were calm. It wasn’t grey and angry with small boats tossed up and down and threatening capsize in waves looming higher than the tiny craft with their heroic crews. No doubt many of the crewmembers of the Costa Concordia were well-disciplined seamen and responded to the crisis honorably, but the media is now portraying the captain as an incompetent who fled the ship long before the rescue was complete. It is hard to get an accurate picture from the media coverage.
Since the first sailors took to the sea, we have been fascinated with the ocean and with the building of boats. Each generation, it seems, develops technologies to construct larger and larger vessels capable of carrying more, doing more, and weathering heavier storms. Modern cruise ships like the Costa Concordia are floating cities. The Costa Concordia had a casino, a movie theatre, multiple restaurants and theatres. It had a bridge that was loaded with the latest navigational equipment. It was designed with luxury and safety in mind. The ship was designed to take the hugest of waves on the open ocean. But it wasn’t designed to have its hull scraped across a rocky reef in water too shallow to support the flotation of such a giant craft.
I’m willing to wait for the reports. I’m willing to let the experts ask the questions about why this accident occurred. This morning, I’m just adding my prayers to those of Don Lorenzo as he serves his tiny parish. We give thanks to God for the many who were rescued and that so many were able to make it to safety. We pray for those who are missing and for their families as the anxiety mounts. We know God is with those who suffer and we would stand in communion with God in these moments.
And while we’re at it, we hope that investigators will find some clue that might help prevent such an event in the future. In the back of my head, I’m singing the hymn:
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!