Captains Who Abandon Ship Before Every One of Their Passengers is Accounted For Should Be Charged With Crimes: Recent Cruise Line/Ferry Disasters Had Captains Who Left While Leaving Passengers to Their Fates on Sinking Ships

I do not expect captains of stricken ships to go to the bottom of the ocean with their vessels, but they should be leaving their ships on the last lifeboats, or jumping into the water along with the passengers that they’re responsible for.   In two major passenger disasters, the captain of the Costa Concordia and the captain of the recent South Korean ferry abandoned ship before all hands and passengers were safely off.

The captain of the Costa Concordia abandoned ship and refused an Italian Coast Guard order to re-board the ship and take charge of the evacuation of the rest of the passengers.  He was charged with crimes by Italian authorities.  The captain of the South Korean ferry left on the very first lifeboat.  Authorities are seeking his arrest.

Some other examples of captains evacuating themselves before their passengers (credit to Wikipedia):

• November 12, 1965: Captain Byron Voustinas of the SS Yarmouth Castle
• April 7, 1990: Captain Hugo Larsen of the Scandinavian Star.
• August 3/4, 1991: Captain Yiannis Avranas of the cruise ship MTS Oceanos.
• January 13, 2012: Captain Francesco Schettino of the Costa Concordia.
• April 16, 2014: Captain Lee Joon-seok of the "Sewol ferry." The Captain and all of the crew (except one) escaped first, abandoning nearly 300 junior high school students to drown.

Some examples of captains going down with their ships, or choosing to stay aboard when they realized there were people still on board (credit to Wikipedia):

• September 12, 1857: William Lewis Herndon was in command of the commercial mail steamer Central America when it encountered a hurricane. Two ships came to the rescue, but could only save a fraction of the passengers, so Captain Herndon chose to remain with the rest.
• April 15, 1912: Captain Edward Smith was in command of the RMS Titanic when it struck an iceberg. Smith knew within minutes that the ship was doomed and did all in his power to prevent panic. Smith did not survive the sinking. As the ship went down, Smith was seen walking towards the bridge, only a few minutes before it and the rest of the ship's forward superstructure were engulfed by the sea.^[3] When the ship's lamp trimmer Samuel Hemming entered the bridge seconds after Smith was seen walking towards it, he found the bridge apparently empty.^[4] There are conflicting accounts of what happened to Smith: Some, including second radio operator Harold Bride,^[5] claimed to have seen him jumping in the water, or in the water swimming either toward a lifeboat or near the capsized collapsible lifeboat "B," while others claimed he committed suicide by shooting himself.^[6] Others including first class passenger Robert Williams Daniel said that Smith entered the wheelhouse on the bridge and died there when it was engulfed.^[7][8] The actual fate of captain Smith will probably remain uncertain.
• February 7, 1943: Commander Howard W. Gilmore, captain of the American submarine USS Growler (SS-215), gave the order to "clear the bridge," as his crew was being attacked by a Japanese gunboat. Two men had been shot dead; Gilmore and two others were wounded. After all others had entered the sub and Gilmore found that time was critically short, he spoke his last order: "Take her down." The executive officer, hearing his order, closed the hatch and submerged the crippled boat, saving all of the crew from the attack of the Japanese convoy escort. Commander Gilmore was never seen again, but the submarine made repairs and returned to battle. Gilmore received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his "distinguished gallantry," the first submariner to receive this award.
• October 29, 2012: Captain Robin Walbridge of the Bounty, a replica of the HMS Bounty, stayed on the ship until it capsized during Hurricane Sandy. Fourteen crew members who made it to life boats survived the sinking of the sailing ship and were rescued by U.S. Coast Guard helicopters. Walbridge's last known words were to his crew: "Abandon ship."^[9]

In the case of the USS Growler, the captain sacrificed himself to save his crew, hence his Medal of Honor.  Smith of the Titanic and Walbridge of the Bounty sailing replica were heavily criticized for their command decisions prior to their ships going down, but they still stayed aboard their sinking ships.

The captains of the South Korean Sewol ferry and the Costa Concordia could have chosen to stay on board until the last minute, before jumping into the water or being rescued by local Coast Guard and military rescue crews. They chose to save their own skins.

Some thoughts:

--All cruise line and ferry crews should speak a common language.   On too many cruise ships (all of them?), the crews can’t understand the captain or officers because they speak their own languages.   In worldwide aviation, English is the spoken language.  This should be a cruise line standard as well. Crews and officers need to be able to communicate with each other instantly, and not just through a translator, IF they’re fortunate to have one on board.

--Captains need far more training than they currently get.  It might be better if captains have a naval background and possesses the military ethos on their responsibilities to their passengers and crew.

--Captains are not bystanders when a disaster strikes aboard their ship.   They need to do their duty and save the lives of others, AND STAY ABOARD THEIR STRICKEN VESSEL to do it.

Something has to change.  I hate hearing stories that captain and crew abandoned ship and left passengers behind when a disaster at sea strikes.  That isn’t right, and no amount of apologizing by the dishonored captain or crew members will be sufficient to make up for their bad decision making, or for the people who die because the captain decided to save his own neck and then watch his own ship sink from the safety of a life raft.