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Cautionary Tales · January 10, 2025 · 42m

The Captain Who Abandoned His Ship

Tim Harford

The Costa Concordia disaster of January 2012: Captain Francesco Schettino steered his enormous cruise ship too close to the Italian island of Giglio to perform a 'salute' for a retired captain onshore. 32 people died. Harford uses the story to explore how ego, performative displays, and organizational culture enable catastrophic risk-taking.

Canon

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Environment shapes behavior — the cruise industry tolerated reckless sail-bys until one killed people
The Costa Concordia disaster wasn't caused by one reckless captain. It was caused by an industry culture that rewarded sail-by salutes and punished captains who refused to do them.
ClaudeChatGPTGemini

Highlights

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Performative competence is the enemy of actual competence
Schettino's 'salute' maneuver was a performance of seamanship — showing off his ship-handling skills. Actual seamanship would have kept the ship far from shore. The performance killed 32 people.
ClaudeChatGPTGemini