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The ship began taking on water after a main engine exploded damaging the hull. The 80-knot winds hurled the powerless 7554-ton ship through 30-foot seas. Waters flooded it from deck to deck to deck. The great ship with 571 innocents aboard listed to one side. It was doomed.
It was August of 1991. The cruise ship Oceanos had embarked from Durban, South Africa and was heading to Cape Town when the spectacular storm hit.
About 400 of the passengers scurried to the lifeboats. That left 170 onboard. During the worst of the storm's fury, helicopters appeared brandishing the insignias of the South African Air Force; wheely-bird heroes who chanced horrendous conditions to methodically pluck every remaining passenger from the sinking ship.
The first to be lifted to safety? Captain Yiannis Avranas. Yes, you read that right. The captain of the Oceanos rudely stepped in front of an elderly passenger and demanded to be lifted first. The diver, who had lowered himself from the helicopter, thought he had misunderstood him and turned to help the passenger, only to turn back around to see the captain already in the sling and being hoisted off.
Captain Avranas was a Greek-licensed master with 30 years at sea. As he explained later: "When I order abandon ship, it doesn't matter what time I leave. Abandon ship is for everybody. If some people like to stay, they can stay."
Really. And the 170 he left behind were still onboard because they "like to stay"!
The Costa Concordia that ran aground off the coast of Italy last week lies helplessly on its side as I write this. We don't yet understand all of the details, but one thing seems clear, Captain Francesco Schettino left the ship before his passengers and crew did.
And there is an outcry.
It must be understood that captains abandoning their passengers is a betrayal of the worst kind. When innocents board a ship, they put their lives in the hands of the captain. The captain is responsible for their well-being from the moment they walk on-ship to the moment they disembark.
A captain does not have to go down with his ship, but he does have to be the last one off. (You might recall Captain "Sully" Sullenberger in 2009 who, after his plane went down in the Hudson River, walked the length of his water-laden craft one last time so he could be absolutely certain he was the last one leaving.)
It's not simply noble for the captain to be the last one off, it's his or her job. From a practical standpoint, he or she should have the greatest knowledge and experience of anyone aboard and should therefore be able to best direct people in a crisis. Plus, his or her example as the highest ranking officer is imperative to establishing order in the chaos and keeping morale up.
This has parallels on Wall Street. Most of the venom aimed at the leaders of that sinking ship in recent years was reserved for those who cut and run. Leaders who ruined businesses and lives, but came out without a scratch. There is something so humanly disgusting about it.
Thus the groundswell of disdain for Captain Schettino last week that began with the Coast Guard official who swore over the maritime radio, screaming at him to get back on his ship. That same venom has rightly carried over to people everywhere. Proper leadership is not cultural, it's universal.
In the case of the Oceanos in 1991, though Captain Avranas abandoned the 170 still awaiting rescue on the sinking ship, there was a hero who stepped forward. According to a 1992 article by Craig H. Allen, Robin Bolton was a magician hired to entertain passengers on the trip. He did much more than that.
"At first using music and comedy to keep up morale," Allen wrote, "Bolton and his fellow entertainers later guided the passengers to the sloping, spray-soaked deck when their turn to be hoisted finally came. Then, recognizing that a string of lights was going to interfere with the helicopter's access to the ship, Bolton climbed aloft to cut the lights away. Throughout the rescue he coordinated the operation with helicopters using the ship's radio."
"In the end," wrote Allen, "it was Robin Bolton, not the ship's captain, who was the last to leave the Oceanos."
All 571 aboard survived. Indeed, real leadership is not conferred by title.
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