It’s fitting that in a video about naval incompetence I had a spelling mistake in the original video title 🤦♂️ I intend this to be a new series! Do you have more nominations for terrible captains? Let me know in the comments!
It's so difficult to get away from Francesco Schettino. Running his own ship aground simply by showing off, and then "accidentally falling" into a lifeboat while his passengers and crew were still struggling to abandon ship, seems to cover so many bases.
@@apinakapinaBro he ran from his sinking ship with thousands still on board, and it's already been over a decade, how much longer do you need to wait????
@@IgnoredAdviceProductions I think some court cases are still ongoing. But yeah I agree, he's most probably The Shittiest Captain of all history. EDIT: and there's pretty much no excuses because he grounded the fucking ship for pure vanity. I mean the coast guard telling him to get back there and do it right now... That's something, and I have not heard that kind of thing happening, ever.
@@dfuher968 this wasn't always the attitude of IJN commanders and sailors, who in WW2 were as likely to gun down Allied sailors as to rescue them or just leave them alone. But Hashimoto wasn't a war criminal and had some actual honor, so that's to his credit.
Captain Hashimoto actually had real honor, unlike many other military commanders on all sides during World War II. I’m an American and I would gladly take Hashimoto over some of the American commanders who bungled the response to the sinking of the USS Indianapolis and those involved in covering it up and unjustly persecuting Captain McVay.
I want to make it clear, Captain McVay didn't just 'die'. He shot himself after not being able to take the guilt of having lost his ship and the CONSTANT and unyielding inflow of letters from the families grieving their lost sons. McVay's wife used to hide these letters from her husband, but when she passed away of brain cancer there was no one to keep those vicious letters from McVay. I'd go as far as to say that the US Navy is not only pretty transparently responsible for the loss of the USS Indianapolis and those who sank with her, but additionally for the death of Captain Charles McVay.
The US Navy of that era was being run by some of the lowest lifeforms on this planet. Most were career admirals that were so full of self-serving crap they hardly knew what was going on around them!
Navy likes finding scapegoats for their incompetence. There were no destroyer escorts and he was told there was little chance of encountering the Japanese. Think it's also worth noting that the Japanese commander of the sub testified that he would have hit the ship whether it was zig-zagging or not.
@@mh53j If you wanna see more recent examples of the Navy covering up their own mistakes at the cost of innocent lives, check out the U.S.S. Iowa explosion
There is also the fact, that Captain McVay was also the son of Admiral Charles B. McVay Jr., who officially reprimanded a junior officer for sneaking women onboard ship. Unfortunately, that junior officer was future Admiral and Chief of Naval Operations Ernest King, who overturned Admiral Nimitz's decision to just reprimand the Captain (it's also worth noting, that McVay was actually forced out of the Navy and only restored to duty after Nimitz succeeded King) and pushed for court martial.
Perhaps a dishonourable mention could be the captain of the Sewol Ferry in South Korea. When his overloaded ferry capsized due to making a turn that the ship couldn't handle in calm waters, he was one of the first to leave the ship.Even tough there were hundreds of passengers, including a lot of children whom were part of school trip in their cabins. While he left his ship, the intercom on the ship repeated an automatic message demanding passangers to stay in their cabins, instead of leaving the vessel. The shitshow rescue operation by the korean government, which had a bigger focus on pretending to do something, instead of actually rescuing the passengers, didn't help either. 299 people died on the vessel.
South Korea do have a lot of corruption and social structures from 800 years ago behind this thin layer that make it seems like a democratic and civilized country.
In fairness, I think the coast guard and the government shares a significant amount of the blame and guilt for compounding the sinking into a massive tragedy by (1) refusing assistance from foreign vessels on the scene, and (2) refusing to board _Sewol_ before she capsized to look for passengers while they were still fairly easy to get to. The only people ever rescued were those who appeared on deck, and who could get to a waiting boat, and many of those were rescued by civilians who managed to get to the ship, not by the coast guard. But then again, the captain also insisted everyone had gotten off, despite having to know that a repeating message was instructing them to stay in their cabins and await further instructions.
It seems it sat on his heart for all those years. War is a funny thing. I'm sure he felt guilt for all the lost souls and knew that one small way he could make things right was to help clear the name of McVay. The Japanese are big on honor.
I knew a black gentleman who was a twenty-some year old Sargent in WWII. Fought in all the worst battles of the pacific. He was on the Indianapolis when it went down. He spent an hour telling me about his time, including the sinking. How they would reach out to pull someone asleep in the life jacket into their group, only for them to flip over because their legs were eaten away. Some went crazy from fear. After that he got up and went out to do some yard work. His wife told me that I'm the only person he ever told that to. Mad respect Louis. RIP.
Yes, the horrors faced by the Indianapolis survivors are the stuff of nightmares. Honestly, I think I'd have rather drowned in the sinking than become prey for hungry sharks, never knowing if your next moment would be your last.
This was the first time I've heard of the _Jeddah_ and what amazes me most is how the passengers came together and actually managed to get the ship to harbor mostly with just consulting the second engineer and remaining crew they were holding.
That Jeddah, as I learned to know, had been portrayed by Joseph Conrad twice - as the Patna in Lord Jim, and - according to some sources - as the Nan Shan in Typhoon. ♍
@@marvindebot3264 The most surprising part to me is they didn't succumbed to panic and managed to quickly organize themselves to do what was needed to survive. I imagine in such dire circumstances mass panic and fear can completely overtake any rationality of thoughts, actions and intentions and destroy any chance of survival.
@@kosmosyche That is actually incredibly impressive, with no formal or even informal command structure or hierarchy the whole thing could have gone incredibly badly with fear and egos getting in the way but somehow they pulled it off.
McVay may have led the ship in dangerous waters, but the Navy truly used him as a scapegoat to cover their own asses for their own failures that led to the tragedy. The people that were in charge of doing so deserve nothing but hell for ruining a man's life and career.
Wait! So you’re saying that the U.S. Navy would stoop to using scapegoats to cover up their leadership mistakes? I find that hard to believe! Lol. Notwithstanding battleship turrets exploding, and paint/debris fires that wrecked the BHR. Also, Remember that Halsey really never got punished for typhoon X2.
And Captain McVay was man enough not to try to push that shit further downhill to those under his command as the Navy had done to him. Seems like a good man.
I was surprised we didn't hear the story of Captain Pedersen of the Eastland disaster, who abandoned his ship when it capsized while moored in the Chicago River, and then had the nerve to try and stop rescuers from cutting holes in the upturned hull to access victims.
What often gets left out of the story about the Eastland is that her owners *knew damn well* she was unstable, too. She’d been a disappointment and a poor sea boat from the day she went down the ways. She went through a series of fly by night operators in a few seasons, always changing markets once her reputation caught up with her: in my local paper, years before the sinking, the owners were offering a hefty reward for the information on who was spreading the “slander” she was unsafe! Needless to say she didn’t stay on any run for very long. Once the Navy cut her down, she made a decent gunboat... but I don’t know if I’d have wanted to serve on the USS National Tragedy!
@@Redshirt214There are so many shady captains, especially in the earlier maritime history, that one could probably make an iceberg out of it. The Batavia, Le Joola, The Sultana, the list goes on of ships that due to negligence, greed, hubris, etc, cost so many lives. There could be another disaster in the works now, and we wouldn't know about it until it happens. Like Titan. Le Joola is not old, but whatever captain allowed over 1.5x passengers over capacity should be shamed, even if the government was okay with it.
I will always be impressed by this kind of stories of righteousness and honesty among military officiers. Also impressive, he was only 35 and already at the command of his own ship. According to wikipedia (no source), he lived until 2000, long enough to learn about McVay's exoneration. A small serving of justice, way too late.
@@Straswa My father joined the Coast Guard in 1935 and s around 1936 or so I had a picture of a whaleboat race of his cutter vs the Indianapolis. In the background was the Indianapolis, made a great picture. Lost that picture in hurricane Katrina.
What a terrible injustice to the Indianapolis' captain. Individuals being blamed for systematic problems. Even sadder that practice is still very much used. Aren't we supposed to learn from history? Thank you for telling his story and helping to restore his name. What a shame he died before he was officially cleared
Charles Butler McVay III, while he left the sinking Indianapolis before all of the crew could be accounted for, did his absolute best to keep up the morale of his group of survivors. McVay’s group was in the best condition of all the survivors collected, thanks to his actions.
@@Tsumami__Why? For following his orders and then being scapegoaded by the higher ups? Come on, the survivors of his command even formed an official organization to exonerate him. If you want to start blaming every captain that was caught in an unfortunate situation in WW2, there are far, far better candidates available.
@@Tsumami__ Except every single subsequent investigation showed that not only could the captain have done nothing to save the ship and was also misinformed about the presence of IJN, but also because the Chief of Naval Operations had personal grudge with McVay, because when King was a junior officer he was publicly reprimanded for sneaking women onboard the ship he was serving on and had this place into King's record. Which many see as the reason King (ab)used his rank as Chief of Naval Operations to overturn Admiral Nimitz's decision to merely reprimand McVay and pushed for trial and severe sentencing of McVay - something that infuriated Nimitz to such an extent that he had actually restored and retracted the sentence as soon as he had succeed King.
Hashimoto was an honorable man. He respected his former enemy enough to take the time to restore his honor. Not many people would do that. I can respect that.
Indianapolis' Captain McVay's conviction was overturned by Secretary James Forrestal and Captain McVay was promoted to Rear Admiral prior to his retirement. Still he never got over it and committed suicide. It is truly a disgrace how the USN treated him.
It didn't help that he received a cacophony of letters from families of the deceased sailors blaming him for their loss. I don't blame the families, of course, but rather the corrupt officials who swept their involvement under the rug using McVey.
You forgot to add Captain Lee Joon-seok, the captain of the MV Sewol ferry. While his ship sank, he abandoned ship by being one of the first to be rescued. He pretended to be a passenger by taking off his uniform and wearing only his shirt and underwear. Out of 476 passengers that were on board, a lot of which with students, 306 perished. He is currently serving a life sentence.
@@SoaringSuccubus They got off with him. No, seriously. They were in the same damn lifeboat. They directed the students to remain in their cabins then immediately abandoned ship at the first opportunity. Leaving the passengers to their fates with the PA announcement to remain in their cabins left on repeat. Only 3 crew members stayed behind to physically go below decks and direct passengers off the boat. They made many trips down into the ship to get people out assisted by some of the teachers. They ultimately went down with the ship, as did the teachers. What happened that day was truly disgusting. The ship sank fairly slowly in temperate waters early in the day and there weren't very many passengers, there was no need for anyone to die that day. And yet over 300 people died because passengers were essentially told to go down with the ship. And go down with the ship they did. The vast majority of passengers who DID survive were the ones who ignored the order to remain in their cabins and bailed.
Leslie E. Gehres of the USS franklin is another dishonorable mention, he was abusive to his crew during normal operations, failed to bring the ship to general quarters during an air raid, when the ship was bombed and caught fire, the admiral on board transferred to another ship and recommended that the crew abandon ship, they managed to fight the fire, but several of the crew who went overboard to escape the fire or under the recommendation of the admiral were charged with desertion, the navy dropped these as soon as they found out what was going on, and finally, when the ship limped into pearl harbor, he insisted on taking the ship in himself despite policy requiring a local pilot, rammed the dock and blamed the mooring crew.
Compare that to Father Joseph T. O'Callahan, who organized DC parties and directed the tossing of ammunition overboard to get it away from the flames. He was allegedly denied the Medal of Honor after higher-ups thought it would make Gehres look bad, and only received it after President Truman intervened.
It still baffles me that this isn't the thing being referenced in the last Star Trek movie with their USS Franklin given that it would be fitting in so many ways
He wasn't a captain, but a dishonourable mention should also go to L. Ron Hubbard. Yep, THAT L. Ron Hubbard. The Scientology founder. He joined the US navy during WWII, and was recalled from duty twice: once after he mistook a rock formation for an enemy submarine, and used all his depth charges a day after leaving port, and then again after he used what he believed was an uninhabited American island for target practice. The island was very much inhabited, and was not American, but Mexican. Mexico was deeply unimpressed, and he spent the rest of the war faking medical conditions to get out of active service: something the US Navy was only too happy to let him do, as he'd managed to be a total liability. The Church of Scientology claims he had a stellar naval career, and that he was qualified to pilot any vessel in the navy. Neither claim is true.
There an awesome documentary on YT about the USS Indianapolis. They interviewed all the survivors. It’s heart breaking to listen to their stories. All the men they interviewed-including interviews with the Japanese submarine captain’s family-said nothing but good things about the captain and even got together to help get the captains court marshal over turned. The captain actually committed suicide over everything.
I'm surprised to see that Capt James C Mason, of the steamer Sultana, wasn't included in this list. Mason's actions in agreeing to take on more persons than his ship was ever designed for, in exchange for giving a kickback to Capt Reuben Hatch, was deplorable. His greed led to the deaths of almost 1,200 people, with many of those being recently released Union army prisoners.
I agree, that Captain knowingly did a slipshod repair on boilers of a type known for exploding, so he could cram all those POWs on his ship. Then the boilers exploded. So much disregard for human life in that story. When you have to tell the passengers not to move around to much for fear the ship will capsize...
Yeah, I was expecting him here, although there most certainly have been quite a few terrible captains in history. The title, in my opinion, is misleading, as the video only deals with two bad captains.
I would love to hear about ships that had to use their emergency watertight doors and when they worked as intended. We always hear about when their design failed or couldn't be deployed in time or other circumstances. Hearing about when they worked, what the captains did, and how they survived and/or got out of danger would be great and give credibility to their popularization at the time.
The _Olympic's_ collision with the HMS _Hawke_ is the most immediate example. Likewise, while the SS _Arctic_ sank, the ship she collided with, the SS _Vesta,_ was able to survive because of her compartments. The SS _Arizona,_ meanwhile, had a head on collision with an iceberg and survived because of her compartments (hence the speculation on whether or not _Titanic_ would have survived if she did so too)
When something such as watertight doors work it gets a shoulder shrug because it did what it was designed to do. Failure is noteworthy. A couple of examples The Stockholm which lost their bow in the collision with the Andrea Doria. another was the cruiser which lost it's bow in one of Halseys typhoons. Both cases where W/T doors did their job.
Another fact about the captain of the Japanese submarine I-58, Mochitsura Hashimoto, who sank the Indianapolis. It was the last Japanese naval victory of the war. When I-58 sailed back to port after the sinking, the war had ended and Hashimoto learned his entire family was killed in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 7. It truly was a terrible war for all.
That's awful. I can't imagine getting an ultimately worthless victory, only to find out that everything was destroyed while trying to achieve it. And then to find out the captain of the other ship was scapegoated so hard he commited unaliving.
He is even more honorable considering that. Not only did he defend his adversary, he put aside what must have been a lot of complex emotions and disdain to do so
He is even more honorable considering that. Not only did he defend his adversary, he put aside what must have been a lot of complex emotions and disdain to do so
I don’t feel like McVay should be mentioned in a list of bad captains. He followed the orders that were given to him and was exonerated. This video should be titled “2 of the WORST… and 1 that is MISREMEMBERED”
@@ItsJustLisa- Captain McVay's story is very similar to that of Captain Turner of the Lusitania... it's almost a certainty that the Admiralty allowed Lusitania to become a victim and then turned Captain Turner into a scapegoat.
The captain of the Seawol also deserves a mention - I think Brick Immortar did a very good video on that tragedy… have to admit these are 3 ships I’ve never heard of - love how you guys always find new ways to interest us!!
_MV Sewol_ is only partly due to the captain. The coast guard and the government both have massive parts of the responsibility, though. If we're just focusing on captains as being mainly responsible, then _Oceanos_ 's belongs on this list way more than either _Sewol_ 's or Schettino of the _Costa Concordia_ .
I don't know the Captain of Oceanos and Costa are tied for me as worst captains ever. The differece being that in the Oceanos case he was never held accountable, while Schettino is in jail. But that also has to do with there being no fatalities, not that the Captain helped with that, while under Schettino seceral dozen died.
Also incredibly lucky, no matter how busy of a seaway the gulf of Aden was/is, they were lucky to be found while they were still able to keep the ship afloat
Poor Captain McVay, he doesn't deserve to be called a bad captain. Reports state McVay was denied a destroyer escort which led to Indianapolis' sinking. Nice vid Oceanliner Designs.
Imagine being the captain of SS Jeddah, you think you're one of the only survivors, lying to the officials, just to get almost a thousand of angered witnesses arriving on the very ship you fled😂😂
Sinking Oceanos off the coast of South Africa. August 16, 1991 . The captain was one of the first ones to leave. Showing up in a passenger area wearing a lifejacket before he left. All of the crew left. A passenger and a coast guard swimmer somehow managed to expedite the rescue of all the passengers. All the passengers were transferred to a Hotel nearby were the Captain ended up, and all of the passengers had plenty of time to voice their displeasure at his performance.
For those who want to learn more about USS Indianapolis, Captain McVay, and those who sought his exoneration: "Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man" by Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic is a GREAT book!
Mike, you are one of several young men and women whose channels I have come to appreciate. The focus of each ranges from maritime, military or local history to various kinds of natural or applied sciences, and you share the same traits. True curiosity in your areas if interest, an ability to thoroughly research a topic and consisely present it, and an infectious enthusiasm that avoids the overdramatic and ill-informed clickbait that some rely on. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of TH-cam elders I find inspiring for the same reasons, but I find it particularly reassuring to see kids (i.e. people younger than my own spawn, so no offense meant) stepping up and being educators and mentors of the first order. If I customarily wore a hat I'd doff it in respect to you any day. Thanks, and cheers,
Captain of the SS El Faro deserves a dishonorable mention here. Sailing your old ro-ro freighter straight into a hurricane because you don’t check the updated weather forecasts, thinking you have to exceed your company’s time expectations even after they’d previously told you it’s fine to divert to safer waters in a storm, and plowing ahead with pathological optimism right up until the moment you all die. “Well There’s Your Problem” did a whole episode on it, which I recommend!
Not just any old ro-ro but a poorly mentained rusted out hull barely being kept together that was being allowed to sail when it shouldn't have, I rememeber seeing her and her sister come to Old San Juan and how badly they looked and wondering why that was allowed to sail around, oh and don't get me started on the way that the cars being transported were being held as shown during the investigation into El Yunque.
This also includes his Soviet colleague, captain of the ro-ro "Mechanic Tarasov" Alexander Bylkin. He also ignored the weather report and on February 13, 1982, got caught in a storm on the way from Trois-Rivieres to Hamburg. For almost a day and a half, he refused the help of Canadian rescue helicopters located nearby, which could have saved people from the ship while it was still afloat, and when the ship sank, the sailors of the Faroese fishing trawler managed to save only 9 of the 37 people on board. By the way, there is also a version that Bylkin also decided to go to help the Ocean Ranger platform, which was sinking in the same area.
He gets a few minor brownie points for being on the black box staying to save a fellow sailor. In the end I guess they both perished, but at least the scared sailor knew someone cared and the captain showed bravery in that moment. I guess he was brave to go into the storm, which was a mistake, but he was also brave to stay and help a guy who was trapped and nearly drowning.
Brick Immortar covered El Faro, too - good to see other people covering some of these less well-known incidents. (I've disliked ro-ro ferries ever since the Herald of Free Enterprise capsized in the 1980s because they didn't close the bow doors. I know Fascinating Horror did an episode on that, I don't know if anyone else has yet.)
I saw your post too late I just made a comment about Captain Davidson. I was on a sea going tug left Jacksonville the same day but we went down the Florida coast so in the lee of the Bahamas then took a left at Cuba and only had about 6' seas at any time enroute to San Juan. Returning to Jacksonville we passed through the debris field, a sad time to see the flotsam.
I remember just about everyone was comparing the Costa Concordia to the Titanic as that occured just three months before the Titanic's 2012 centennial, but when I heard about Captain Francesco Schettino's actions during the disaster, I actually compared the Costa Concordia to the Oceanos, considering how negligent Captain Yiannis Avranas was during her August 1991 sinking, but there is one captain I know of that no crewmember was happy with as far as I know: George Worley of the disappeared USS Cyclops.
You're is an excellent resource on historical naval, both commercial and national, on t'interwebs! Thanks for all you and your crews, hard work. Be safe and always, stay free.
At the time of Captain McVey’s court martial it was regarded as a low blow to bring in the Japanese sub captain as a prosecution witness. That said and as you mentioned, he became quite an advocate for McVey in the future. Also at the court martial the navy brought in their own submarine expert, fresh from the Pacific War, who also corroborated the Japanese captain’s testimony; zigzagging was of little to no use. Lastly, Indianapolis was the first Allied ship sighted by the Japanese sub. They had a full complement of torpedoes, something like four kamikaze torpedo men who would have piloted their weapons into the ship and if all that had failed then the captain would have rammed Indianapolis with his sub as per the sub captain’s testimony. Ultimately, McVey’s conviction was a massive injustice and his exoneration decades later didn’t help him as he had taken his own life nearly thirty years before.
That is one of the shortcoming of the military justice system in general. A Courts Martial is supposed to be independent and free of pressure from above but when it is the CNO who wants the Courts Martial there is that pressure on the board not to displease the CNO.
@@glennrishton5679 yes, and the time of Captain McVey’s court martial there was a Naval Board of Enquiry looking at command failures in the lead up to Pearl Harbor. Ex Admiral Husband Kimmel was being looked at. There was a general blame finding vibe in the press and the public discourse.
Mike, great video as always. As the other comments state, there's a lot more grist to grind in the "bad captains and scapegoats" mill. Costa Concordia, Sewol Ferry, Eastland, Oceanos, Sultana all as mentioned by others here, as well as Jeddah, Eastern Oriental Star, Yarmuth Castle and Scandinavian Star to name just a few others.
And even on the subject of good captains who were set up for war crimes for political reasons-the British government, for example, would much rather people didn't remember what they did to William Turner and James Clarke Anderson in 1915.
Thank you for another fascinating video, Mike. Lax and corrupt safety standards were themic in the USA around the Edwardian period. Offhand, as well as the General Slocum, I can think of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York, and the Iriquois Theatre disaster in Chicago as 2 equally horrific events, with similar causation. We learn, but often far too slowly.
On the General Slocum, many passengers and crew knew the ship was on fire well before the Captain was. A boy ran into the bridge and said "Hey mister, the ship is on fire!". The Captain called him a pesky prankster and ordered him to go away. No words for that.
My grandfather and his brother were to go on the fatal voyage, they did not go, they were one of the few children who did not die, The life preservers were filled with lead weights, the hoses rotten, a young boy tried to warn the crew but was not listened to and had his ears boxed. , the neighborhood was decimated, many including my great grandparents moved, l have the passes and the tokens for this voyage,as always Mike perfect, you should have added the captain of RMS Atlantic, oh my grandfather also survived the Wall Street Bombing of 1919
Fascinating video, Mr. Brady. As someone who has spent a fair amount of time on the water, much of it under the command of my late father, who tought sailing and ran charters, among other things, I have a visceral disgust for captains and crew that forsake their duties and flee their ships, leaving the passengers to fend for themselves. The bloody cowards should be keelhauled and made to walk the plank. Edit: Ok, I'm still shaking my head at the Killer Lifejackets. That is just disgraceful. I mean, Iron? Couldn't they have at least used something that sort of floats? As opposed to using a material that, running a close second to Lead, is commonly used as ballast? Yikes.
Oh man, that Roosevelt's letter at 12:00. That's some hard core diss track shit from back in the day. And not aimed at the captain, but the swindlers who made the safety equipment.
Clive Cussler recreates that scene in his second Sea Hunters book; one of the wrecks he surveyed was the General Slocum. TR was not a subtle person when angry; when he was the president of the New York City police commission (back then there wasn't a singular "commissioner" of the NYPD) he would go out at night looking for cops drunk or asleep on duty.
Not only was Clark's reputation ruined in itself, but also, the not-wreck of the _Jeddah_ inspired Joseph Conrad's 1900 novel _Lord Jim,_ which at the time was far better-known than it is today, and kept the matter in the public mind for longer than it might otherwise have remained there.
I'm surprised Francesco Schettino didn't make this list. He was the captain of the Costa Concordia, and was found guilty of manslaughter in 2016 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Francesco Schettino was given 10 years for multiple manslaughters, 5 years for causing a shipwreck, and 1 year for abandoning the passengers at the time of the sinking.
I'd like to nominate the captain of the MTS Oceanos, a cruise ship that went down off South Africa in 1991. Despite the ship sinking, the order to abandon ship was not relayed to the passengers or very many crew. It was only after one of the entertainers went to the bridge to find out what was going on and found it empty were distress signals sent out.
Putting actual IRON BLOCKS into LIFEJACKETS to reach the specified weight.... my god that is some of the worst piece of greedy negligence i've ever heard.
Here's another, very recent, who hasn't been named by the journalists yet. He's the captain of Greek ferry M/S Blue Star Horizon (belonging to one of the subsidiaries of Attica Group), who was arrested, along with his First Officer and two other crew members. Why? Before the ship left port, a 36yo passenger from Crete went to shore, possibly to purchase something. When he returned, the ship was just about to leave, and he barely made it onto the ramp. Mind you, although it's not considered safe for ferries to depart with their ramps still open, it's VERY common practice in Greece "to save time". Anyway, although the passenger had a ticket and was returning to the ship, he was pushed overboard by the First Officer and a boatswain. To make matters worse, the captain did NOT stop the ship and did NOT start the MOB procedures. No one threw a lifesaver to the passenger, who drowned in the ship's wake. Instead, the captain went on his merry way, ignored angry passengers who were telling him to return and rescue the man, and was ordered to return by the Port Authorities, which were alerted by the passengers. Note here that the Port Police/Coast Guard were absent from the ship's boarding process and departure, as ludicrous as it seems. So, yes, they had to be informed of the homicide by other passengers - the captain was all too willing to just let it pass. Press coverage: apnews.com/article/greece-ferry-passenger-death-arrests-travel-crete-a1c8bb9b0ab89751fa1e662aee0dcbe2 maritime-executive.com/article/anger-builds-in-greece-after-man-is-pushed-to-his-death-by-ferry-s-crew Meanwhile, Attica Group's subsidiaries are reportedly illegally imprisoning asylum seekers in their ships and sending them back to where they came from: ecre.org/greece-company-accused-of-locking-up-migrants-below-deck-implicated-in-death-of-a-passenger-non-assistance-non-response-delayed-assistance-and-pushbacks-continue-alliance-with-italy-to-strengthen/ www.lighthousereports.com/investigation/detained-below-deck/ As an aside, the ship in question has a dark history: according to Greek press coverage, two passengers went missing and were never heard from again - one in 2015 and one in 2018. And an engineer was killed in an engine room explosion: www.iefimerida.gr/ellada/blue-horizon-exafaniseis-thanatoys-anartisi I wonder if the captain who abandoned the passenger who was pushed overboard and into the ship's wake was also captaining the ship in these prior lethal incidents...
Side note: the stereo photography showing the aftermath of the New York accident is really cool to see. I paused the video several times to look at them-crossing eyes to align each so that the illusion of depth was created. It’s a surreal look into the past.
The cork filled life jackets being partially filled with iron instead is almost too outrageous to believe! How could ANYONE working for that company who were in the know not have ratted them out before this tragedy occurred???
Except for the 25yrs in the USN I'm a lifelong resident of Indianapolis, the closer you get to the top you run into very senior officers that get their feelings hurt over nonsense, shift blame and hold grudges. Being related to or at least friends in high places goes a long way in too many cases.
Francesco Schettino should definitely be on this list. Not only did he risk his ship, and all souls onboard simply to be a showoff. He also abandoned his post, left the ship, and flatly refused to get back onboard. That "man" is incompetence and cowardice incarnate.
I'd add Charles Limbor and the cowardly crew of the troopship Leopoldville to this list. Refused to communicate instructions after they were torpedoed, failed to maintain crew discipline, and left 800 people to die. At least he had the decency to pay for his mistake with his life.
We have to remember Captain Yiannis Avranas of the Oceanos as well. When the ship started sinking, he was the first to leave with his crew in order to "coordinate the rescue from the shore". The ship's entertainers actually coordinated the rescue from the bridge, and there's ironic footage of the comedian on the radio to the Navy. Afterwards, Captain Dickwad Avranas was quoted as saying "When I order abandon the ship, it doesn't matter what time I leave. Abandon is for everybody. If some people like to stay, they can stay." He even left his dog behind. And his canary.
We should get a video that is the opposite of this as well. I'd like to know about Carpathia's captain and the Captain of the Ile De France during the Andrea Doria rescue.
The problem with the lifejackets on the General Slocome was compounded by the fact that they were far too old, and had been simply left hanging on the deck instead of stored properly. Not only was there iron bars in the cork, but the little cork there was had disintegrated. This fact was used by the company that manufactured them, suggesting that if they were stored properly and checked/replaced frequently, it wouldn't have been so bad. Many mothers put lifejackets on their children then tossed them overboard, assuming they would just float nearby whilst they attended to other children and themselves.
In another video about the same subject, can you talk about James Cass Mason, the captain of the Sultana? Through greed and negligence, he had about 2,300-2,400 people on a boat that was legally allowed to carry 376. On April 27, 1865, at two a.m., three of the Sultana's boilers exploded and she caught on fire and sank on the Mississippi River, seven miles north of Memphis, Tennessee. Over 1,800 people lost their lives, and Captain Mason was also lost in the sinking. It was America's worst maritime disaster and it happened 12 days after President Lincoln died. Thank You.
Because he wasn't the only one at fault. Schettino was a massive scapegoat. It wasn't just him being an idiot. It was Costa (the company) and the whole crew, with a good example being the person at the helm steering the ship the opposite direction Schettino ordered to. Is Schettino to blame? Absolutely. Is he to blamed to everything? No.
Because that poor excuse of a captain is nowhere near the level of someone worthy to be mentioned in this types of videos. History is filled with horrible captains and for an example the captain of Sewol would be a better choice or the Captain of Donapaz or Scandinavian Star or if you want an oldie the Commander of the Swedish ship of the line Kronan.
he and that sinking have been covered to death elsewhere? But also, while he was a bad captain and behaved fairly cowardly during the sinking and rescue efforts, maybe he still wasn't AS BAD as the captains mentioned in this video?
When the photo of the USS Indianapolis first showed up, did anyone else immediately think, "Oh no you don't, Mike! Captain McVay does NOT belong on this list!". (Only to have Mike's voiceover indicate that he was wrongly accused a few seconds later...)
Many of the General Slocum's other non-iron filled lifejackets were completely rotted, sometimes falling apart on touch. Others appeared intact, but their cork had turned into dust. When people put them on and jumped overboard, the cork turned into cement and dragged them down. When the trial started, the Knickerbocker Steamboat Company had their secretary acid erase old ledgers and checkbooks recording orders of new lifejackets for her sister ship, Grand Republic, and write in General Slocum instead. The lifeboats were also wired in place to prevent them from rattling in the wind, and a decade's worth of paint on the boats and chocks had welded them in place even if the wires were removed. Adella Liebenow's one surviving aunt remembered how she tried to help free one of boats, and ended up breaking off all of her fingernails before the fire pushed her back.
My dad served on the USS Wilson, a destroyer that was assigned to the search effort for the Indianapolis. He never liked to talk about his war experiences, and I only learned about this particular effort very near the end of his life when he was interviewed by a historian researching the Solomon Islands campaign.
From a historical perspective it is a shame so many men were unable to make themselves talk about their wartime experiences. Understandably they wanted to keep those memories sealed off. So much first hand knowledge though of those men who actually fought the war is now gone.
This should have been a "5 Worst Ship Captains" list and include Schettino (of the Costa Concordia infamy) and the captain of that Korean ship "Sewol" where passengers were tragically left to die in their cabins (tho that one went much deeper than just a negligent captain - the whole system has failed in Sewol's case).
I'm very late to the conversation but for terrible captains, I would nominate Michael Davidson. Capt of the El Faro, he drove his ship and crew directly into the eye of a category four hurricane, despite every opportunity to do quite literally anything else, and refused to acknowledge how badly his ship was damaged to the coast guard until it was too late to rescue or evacuate. His sheer insanity on this trip cost everyone their lives.
They crew of the Indianapolis were in the water for four days because the Navy ship tracking system lost the ship and it was two or three days before the Navy even realized it was missing.
The best book I ever read is called Fatal Voyage by Dan Kurzman. It’s about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. I read it long before the captain had been cleared posthumously. Subsequent printings may include this fact. You will NOT regret reading this. I could hardly put it down.
I’m glad that you didn’t put Captain James Luce in here. While the SS Arctic was one of the greatest tragedies in history of not just shipwrecks but the entire world, Luce himself did practically everything he could to limit the damage, cowardice, fear and a ton of bad luck ended up dooming them.
304 deaths in total. About 250 of them were children. It is truly colossal storm of ineptitude when local fishers are there performing rescue way before those who should be there rescuing people. No worry. Captain got long term in jail and I'm certain reception wasn't too friendly. Over 300 corpses and with incompetence instead of personal effort to cause them?
One added fold to the tragedy of the General Slocum is that many passengers were robbed of their valuables right before or after they died, becasue ships coming to the wreck saw their jewelry and New York never changes.
McVay was not a terrible captain: He was acting based on the intelligence the Navy gave him and the Navy scapegoated him for their fuck up. Between not providing the Indianapolis a single destroyer escort , the poor intel about the activity of Japanese subs to failing to notice when the Indianapolis failed to arrive to its final destination on time. He was only officially exonerated in 2000.
Maybe this channel didn’t include him here because both Internet Historian and Well There’s Your Problem already did 90-minute-plus videos on him and the Costa Concordia sinking, in Australian and Philadelphian accents respectively
Mike good video. I would certainly add, most certainly, Joseph Hazelwood(1946-2022). He was the captain of the Exxon Valdez and was reportedly drunk on duty. That hull breach caused much wildlife death and environmental damage that's still being dealt with.
He got a lot of unfair criticism. He had had a few beers in port but my understanding was not drunk. My understanding too that in the area they were transiting it was normal procedure for the Mate on watch to handle the transit just as if they were in open seas. It was not a channel where both a captain and a local pilot would be on the bridge.
Very neat that this wasn't just a straight list of bad Captains but one of them being a Captain who received a bad, but more then likely unearned, reputation. The story of the Jeddah sounds just plain fascinating, how the passengers managed to survive the storm that the experienced crew felt they could not.
I have heard the tragic story of the USS Indianapolis and I can tell you it wasn't the captain at fault here it was a failure in the chain of command they knew another ship sank in the area and they should have informed them of that information.
It’s fitting that in a video about naval incompetence I had a spelling mistake in the original video title 🤦♂️ I intend this to be a new series! Do you have more nominations for terrible captains? Let me know in the comments!
It's all good, brother! You have some of the finest videos on YT. We can live without the R!
It's so difficult to get away from Francesco Schettino. Running his own ship aground simply by showing off, and then "accidentally falling" into a lifeboat while his passengers and crew were still struggling to abandon ship, seems to cover so many bases.
The captain of the El Faro perhaps?
Nice that you got 13:37 being the time. Leet
There's also a spelling discrepancy, where "anyway" is pronounced "anyone". Tsk tsk!
No list of horrible Captains would be complete without the captain of the Costa Concordia. What a disaster he turned out to be!
Good point, altho I think we still have to wait a few years to have this kind of story. You know, to have the perspective.
@@apinakapinaBro he ran from his sinking ship with thousands still on board, and it's already been over a decade, how much longer do you need to wait????
@@IgnoredAdviceProductions Furthermore, when ordered to return turn to his ship he flatly refused.
@@IgnoredAdviceProductions I think some court cases are still ongoing. But yeah I agree, he's most probably The Shittiest Captain of all history. EDIT: and there's pretty much no excuses because he grounded the fucking ship for pure vanity.
I mean the coast guard telling him to get back there and do it right now... That's something, and I have not heard that kind of thing happening, ever.
That and the captain of the Oceanos. Enough captains out there to warrant a part 2
I love how Captain Hashimoto backed up Captain McVay despite being his enemy. That's true professionalism right there.
Ive heard it said several times, that they do not consider themselves enemies, but adversaries. Their aim is to sink ships, not to kill men.
@@dfuher968 Frank O'Flaherty and Bruno Gaido much? The Japanese were not honorable.
@@dfuher968 this wasn't always the attitude of IJN commanders and sailors, who in WW2 were as likely to gun down Allied sailors as to rescue them or just leave them alone. But Hashimoto wasn't a war criminal and had some actual honor, so that's to his credit.
All the more impressive because he was brought in to the court-martial as a witness for the Prosecution, and flipped the script to defend McVay.
Captain Hashimoto actually had real honor, unlike many other military commanders on all sides during World War II.
I’m an American and I would gladly take Hashimoto over some of the American commanders who bungled the response to the sinking of the USS Indianapolis and those involved in covering it up and unjustly persecuting Captain McVay.
I want to make it clear, Captain McVay didn't just 'die'. He shot himself after not being able to take the guilt of having lost his ship and the CONSTANT and unyielding inflow of letters from the families grieving their lost sons. McVay's wife used to hide these letters from her husband, but when she passed away of brain cancer there was no one to keep those vicious letters from McVay. I'd go as far as to say that the US Navy is not only pretty transparently responsible for the loss of the USS Indianapolis and those who sank with her, but additionally for the death of Captain Charles McVay.
The US Navy of that era was being run by some of the lowest lifeforms on this planet. Most were career admirals that were so full of self-serving crap they hardly knew what was going on around them!
Navy likes finding scapegoats for their incompetence.
There were no destroyer escorts and he was told there was little chance of encountering the Japanese.
Think it's also worth noting that the Japanese commander of the sub testified that he would have hit the ship whether it was zig-zagging or not.
@@mh53j If you wanna see more recent examples of the Navy covering up their own mistakes at the cost of innocent lives, check out the U.S.S. Iowa explosion
@@richardcline1337What makes you think it's any different today?
There is also the fact, that Captain McVay was also the son of Admiral Charles B. McVay Jr., who officially reprimanded a junior officer for sneaking women onboard ship. Unfortunately, that junior officer was future Admiral and Chief of Naval Operations Ernest King, who overturned Admiral Nimitz's decision to just reprimand the Captain (it's also worth noting, that McVay was actually forced out of the Navy and only restored to duty after Nimitz succeeded King) and pushed for court martial.
Perhaps a dishonourable mention could be the captain of the Sewol Ferry in South Korea. When his overloaded ferry capsized due to making a turn that the ship couldn't handle in calm waters, he was one of the first to leave the ship.Even tough there were hundreds of passengers, including a lot of children whom were part of school trip in their cabins. While he left his ship, the intercom on the ship repeated an automatic message demanding passangers to stay in their cabins, instead of leaving the vessel. The shitshow rescue operation by the korean government, which had a bigger focus on pretending to do something, instead of actually rescuing the passengers, didn't help either. 299 people died on the vessel.
South Korea do have a lot of corruption and social structures from 800 years ago behind this thin layer that make it seems like a democratic and civilized country.
Holly smokes... this is freaking next level stuff.
@@themauwie8933 The MV Sewol sinking is one of those events that simply keeps getting worse the more you learn about it.
In fairness, I think the coast guard and the government shares a significant amount of the blame and guilt for compounding the sinking into a massive tragedy by (1) refusing assistance from foreign vessels on the scene, and (2) refusing to board _Sewol_ before she capsized to look for passengers while they were still fairly easy to get to. The only people ever rescued were those who appeared on deck, and who could get to a waiting boat, and many of those were rescued by civilians who managed to get to the ship, not by the coast guard.
But then again, the captain also insisted everyone had gotten off, despite having to know that a repeating message was instructing them to stay in their cabins and await further instructions.
@@subduedreader5627 It led to a pretty massive unravelling of the government at the time, and I think the effects are still being felt today.
Salute to Captain Hashimoto, a good man and an adversary with honor.
Well said.
It seems it sat on his heart for all those years. War is a funny thing. I'm sure he felt guilt for all the lost souls and knew that one small way he could make things right was to help clear the name of McVay. The Japanese are big on honor.
Indeed
I knew a black gentleman who was a twenty-some year old Sargent in WWII. Fought in all the worst battles of the pacific. He was on the Indianapolis when it went down. He spent an hour telling me about his time, including the sinking. How they would reach out to pull someone asleep in the life jacket into their group, only for them to flip over because their legs were eaten away. Some went crazy from fear. After that he got up and went out to do some yard work. His wife told me that I'm the only person he ever told that to. Mad respect Louis. RIP.
What about a purple or any other color?
Reminds of that scene from Jaws, pretty sure it was based on accounts such as you have mentioned here.
Yes, the horrors faced by the Indianapolis survivors are the stuff of nightmares. Honestly, I think I'd have rather drowned in the sinking than become prey for hungry sharks, never knowing if your next moment would be your last.
“A black gentleman”
I guess that’s pertinent to the story.
@@stevegreiner3618 Why does the mention of a black man serving his country trigger you?
This was the first time I've heard of the _Jeddah_ and what amazes me most is how the passengers came together and actually managed to get the ship to harbor mostly with just consulting the second engineer and remaining crew they were holding.
'CAPTAIN:' Ship's goin' down, nobody can save it. I'm outta here.
PASSENGERS: Fine, we'll do it ourselves.
That Jeddah, as I learned to know, had been portrayed by Joseph Conrad twice - as the Patna in Lord Jim, and - according to some sources - as the Nan Shan in Typhoon. ♍
In a crowd of 1000 people there are bound to be a handful with experience in steam and engineering. The passengers certainly did a marvellous job.
@@marvindebot3264 The most surprising part to me is they didn't succumbed to panic and managed to quickly organize themselves to do what was needed to survive. I imagine in such dire circumstances mass panic and fear can completely overtake any rationality of thoughts, actions and intentions and destroy any chance of survival.
@@kosmosyche That is actually incredibly impressive, with no formal or even informal command structure or hierarchy the whole thing could have gone incredibly badly with fear and egos getting in the way but somehow they pulled it off.
McVay may have led the ship in dangerous waters, but the Navy truly used him as a scapegoat to cover their own asses for their own failures that led to the tragedy. The people that were in charge of doing so deserve nothing but hell for ruining a man's life and career.
In McVay's court martial Navy Command did the unheard step of having the Japanese Captain who sank him testify.
@vilstef6988 and the Japanese captain pretty much said 'Once I saw him, it was all over'
@@haerfgvbag7050, that we’ll established history and has been very well documented in many, many places.
Wait! So you’re saying that the U.S. Navy would stoop to using scapegoats to cover up their leadership mistakes? I find that hard to believe! Lol. Notwithstanding battleship turrets exploding, and paint/debris fires that wrecked the BHR.
Also, Remember that Halsey really never got punished for typhoon X2.
And Captain McVay was man enough not to try to push that shit further downhill to those under his command as the Navy had done to him. Seems like a good man.
I was surprised we didn't hear the story of Captain Pedersen of the Eastland disaster, who abandoned his ship when it capsized while moored in the Chicago River, and then had the nerve to try and stop rescuers from cutting holes in the upturned hull to access victims.
What often gets left out of the story about the Eastland is that her owners *knew damn well* she was unstable, too. She’d been a disappointment and a poor sea boat from the day she went down the ways. She went through a series of fly by night operators in a few seasons, always changing markets once her reputation caught up with her: in my local paper, years before the sinking, the owners were offering a hefty reward for the information on who was spreading the “slander” she was unsafe! Needless to say she didn’t stay on any run for very long.
Once the Navy cut her down, she made a decent gunboat... but I don’t know if I’d have wanted to serve on the USS National Tragedy!
@@Redshirt214There are so many shady captains, especially in the earlier maritime history, that one could probably make an iceberg out of it. The Batavia, Le Joola, The Sultana, the list goes on of ships that due to negligence, greed, hubris, etc, cost so many lives. There could be another disaster in the works now, and we wouldn't know about it until it happens. Like Titan.
Le Joola is not old, but whatever captain allowed over 1.5x passengers over capacity should be shamed, even if the government was okay with it.
Two things stand out. Hashimoto was an honorable man and the Indianapolis was a beautiful ship.
I will always be impressed by this kind of stories of righteousness and honesty among military officiers.
Also impressive, he was only 35 and already at the command of his own ship. According to wikipedia (no source), he lived until 2000, long enough to learn about McVay's exoneration. A small serving of justice, way too late.
Agreed, I like the look of the Northampton/Portland class cruisers as well.
@@Straswa My father joined the Coast Guard in 1935 and s around 1936 or so I had a picture of a whaleboat race of his cutter vs the Indianapolis. In the background was the Indianapolis, made a great picture. Lost that picture in hurricane Katrina.
What a terrible injustice to the Indianapolis' captain. Individuals being blamed for systematic problems. Even sadder that practice is still very much used. Aren't we supposed to learn from history? Thank you for telling his story and helping to restore his name. What a shame he died before he was officially cleared
Charles Butler McVay III, while he left the sinking Indianapolis before all of the crew could be accounted for, did his absolute best to keep up the morale of his group of survivors. McVay’s group was in the best condition of all the survivors collected, thanks to his actions.
Ah, reminds me of the Hitchcock film Lifeboat. They should have been grateful he was a vile POS, right?
Screw that guy.
@@Tsumami__Why? For following his orders and then being scapegoaded by the higher ups? Come on, the survivors of his command even formed an official organization to exonerate him. If you want to start blaming every captain that was caught in an unfortunate situation in WW2, there are far, far better candidates available.
Spit on the naval command leader grave instead for that and not the Captain
@@Tsumami__ Except every single subsequent investigation showed that not only could the captain have done nothing to save the ship and was also misinformed about the presence of IJN, but also because the Chief of Naval Operations had personal grudge with McVay, because when King was a junior officer he was publicly reprimanded for sneaking women onboard the ship he was serving on and had this place into King's record. Which many see as the reason King (ab)used his rank as Chief of Naval Operations to overturn Admiral Nimitz's decision to merely reprimand McVay and pushed for trial and severe sentencing of McVay - something that infuriated Nimitz to such an extent that he had actually restored and retracted the sentence as soon as he had succeed King.
@@Tsumami__ ok...
I believe that a certain caption of Oceanos and Costa Concordia deserve a mention. Thanks for another video Mike!
Agreed
Trying to salute a guy that isn't even on the island at full speed and fleeing the sinking ship immediately is kinda a dick move.
Agreed. I thought for sure Oceanos would be here.
Agreed. Francesco Schettino should be mentioned.
He'd been too predictable. I'm glad Mike decided to focus on less known people.
“Painful lack of will” is a very artful way of calling him a coward.
Hashimoto was an honorable man. He respected his former enemy enough to take the time to restore his honor. Not many people would do that. I can respect that.
Indianapolis' Captain McVay's conviction was overturned by Secretary James Forrestal and Captain McVay was promoted to Rear Admiral prior to his retirement. Still he never got over it and committed suicide. It is truly a disgrace how the USN treated him.
It didn't help that he received a cacophony of letters from families of the deceased sailors blaming him for their loss. I don't blame the families, of course, but rather the corrupt officials who swept their involvement under the rug using McVey.
You forgot to add Captain Lee Joon-seok, the captain of the MV Sewol ferry. While his ship sank, he abandoned ship by being one of the first to be rescued. He pretended to be a passenger by taking off his uniform and wearing only his shirt and underwear. Out of 476 passengers that were on board, a lot of which with students, 306 perished. He is currently serving a life sentence.
Did his own officers not recognize him without his uniform?
@@SoaringSuccubus They got off with him. No, seriously. They were in the same damn lifeboat. They directed the students to remain in their cabins then immediately abandoned ship at the first opportunity. Leaving the passengers to their fates with the PA announcement to remain in their cabins left on repeat. Only 3 crew members stayed behind to physically go below decks and direct passengers off the boat. They made many trips down into the ship to get people out assisted by some of the teachers. They ultimately went down with the ship, as did the teachers.
What happened that day was truly disgusting. The ship sank fairly slowly in temperate waters early in the day and there weren't very many passengers, there was no need for anyone to die that day. And yet over 300 people died because passengers were essentially told to go down with the ship. And go down with the ship they did.
The vast majority of passengers who DID survive were the ones who ignored the order to remain in their cabins and bailed.
Leslie E. Gehres of the USS franklin is another dishonorable mention, he was abusive to his crew during normal operations, failed to bring the ship to general quarters during an air raid, when the ship was bombed and caught fire, the admiral on board transferred to another ship and recommended that the crew abandon ship, they managed to fight the fire, but several of the crew who went overboard to escape the fire or under the recommendation of the admiral were charged with desertion, the navy dropped these as soon as they found out what was going on, and finally, when the ship limped into pearl harbor, he insisted on taking the ship in himself despite policy requiring a local pilot, rammed the dock and blamed the mooring crew.
Compare that to Father Joseph T. O'Callahan, who organized DC parties and directed the tossing of ammunition overboard to get it away from the flames. He was allegedly denied the Medal of Honor after higher-ups thought it would make Gehres look bad, and only received it after President Truman intervened.
It still baffles me that this isn't the thing being referenced in the last Star Trek movie with their USS Franklin given that it would be fitting in so many ways
":the navy dropped these as soon as they found out what was going on," And when they realized that one of the "deserters" was the admiral.
He wasn't a captain, but a dishonourable mention should also go to L. Ron Hubbard. Yep, THAT L. Ron Hubbard. The Scientology founder.
He joined the US navy during WWII, and was recalled from duty twice: once after he mistook a rock formation for an enemy submarine, and used all his depth charges a day after leaving port, and then again after he used what he believed was an uninhabited American island for target practice. The island was very much inhabited, and was not American, but Mexican. Mexico was deeply unimpressed, and he spent the rest of the war faking medical conditions to get out of active service: something the US Navy was only too happy to let him do, as he'd managed to be a total liability.
The Church of Scientology claims he had a stellar naval career, and that he was qualified to pilot any vessel in the navy. Neither claim is true.
There an awesome documentary on YT about the USS Indianapolis. They interviewed all the survivors. It’s heart breaking to listen to their stories. All the men they interviewed-including interviews with the Japanese submarine captain’s family-said nothing but good things about the captain and even got together to help get the captains court marshal over turned. The captain actually committed suicide over everything.
Captain Francesco Schettino also deserves a honourable mention.
I'm surprised to see that Capt James C Mason, of the steamer Sultana, wasn't included in this list. Mason's actions in agreeing to take on more persons than his ship was ever designed for, in exchange for giving a kickback to Capt Reuben Hatch, was deplorable. His greed led to the deaths of almost 1,200 people, with many of those being recently released Union army prisoners.
I agree, that Captain knowingly did a slipshod repair on boilers of a type known for exploding, so he could cram all those POWs on his ship. Then the boilers exploded. So much disregard for human life in that story. When you have to tell the passengers not to move around to much for fear the ship will capsize...
Yeah, I was expecting him here, although there most certainly have been quite a few terrible captains in history.
The title, in my opinion, is misleading, as the video only deals with two bad captains.
He was the first one I thought of when I read the title
Yes! He was one bad captain I immediately thought of. Horrible, horrible behavior.
I would love to hear about ships that had to use their emergency watertight doors and when they worked as intended. We always hear about when their design failed or couldn't be deployed in time or other circumstances. Hearing about when they worked, what the captains did, and how they survived and/or got out of danger would be great and give credibility to their popularization at the time.
I think it´s hard to find those stories. after all. the worst the accident is. the more are pepole affected.
The _Olympic's_ collision with the HMS _Hawke_ is the most immediate example. Likewise, while the SS _Arctic_ sank, the ship she collided with, the SS _Vesta,_ was able to survive because of her compartments. The SS _Arizona,_ meanwhile, had a head on collision with an iceberg and survived because of her compartments (hence the speculation on whether or not _Titanic_ would have survived if she did so too)
When something such as watertight doors work it gets a shoulder shrug because it did what it was designed to do. Failure is noteworthy. A couple of examples The Stockholm which lost their bow in the collision with the Andrea Doria. another was the cruiser which lost it's bow in one of Halseys typhoons. Both cases where W/T doors did their job.
The captain of the Costa Concordia must have been on the shortlist for this
Another fact about the captain of the Japanese submarine I-58, Mochitsura Hashimoto, who sank the Indianapolis. It was the last Japanese naval victory of the war. When I-58 sailed back to port after the sinking, the war had ended and Hashimoto learned his entire family was killed in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 7. It truly was a terrible war for all.
That's awful. I can't imagine getting an ultimately worthless victory, only to find out that everything was destroyed while trying to achieve it. And then to find out the captain of the other ship was scapegoated so hard he commited unaliving.
That said at least he was able to whack the ship that transported the components for one of the bombs.
He is even more honorable considering that. Not only did he defend his adversary, he put aside what must have been a lot of complex emotions and disdain to do so
He is even more honorable considering that. Not only did he defend his adversary, he put aside what must have been a lot of complex emotions and disdain to do so
Captain McVay committed suicide about 15 minutes north of my home. RIP Sir.
I don’t feel like McVay should be mentioned in a list of bad captains. He followed the orders that were given to him and was exonerated. This video should be titled “2 of the WORST… and 1 that is MISREMEMBERED”
This would have been more accurate.
More like “Two of the Worst Sea Captains and One Who Was a Scapegoat”.
@@ItsJustLisa- Captain McVay's story is very similar to that of Captain Turner of the Lusitania... it's almost a certainty that the Admiralty allowed Lusitania to become a victim and then turned Captain Turner into a scapegoat.
The captain of the Seawol also deserves a mention - I think Brick Immortar did a very good video on that tragedy… have to admit these are 3 ships I’ve never heard of - love how you guys always find new ways to interest us!!
_MV Sewol_ is only partly due to the captain. The coast guard and the government both have massive parts of the responsibility, though. If we're just focusing on captains as being mainly responsible, then _Oceanos_ 's belongs on this list way more than either _Sewol_ 's or Schettino of the _Costa Concordia_ .
I don't know the Captain of Oceanos and Costa are tied for me as worst captains ever. The differece being that in the Oceanos case he was never held accountable, while Schettino is in jail. But that also has to do with there being no fatalities, not that the Captain helped with that, while under Schettino seceral dozen died.
Hashimoto was a real chad, defending his former enemy like that.
Jeddah’s passengers sound like absolute chads for keeping it afloat despite zero formal training
Also incredibly lucky, no matter how busy of a seaway the gulf of Aden was/is, they were lucky to be found while they were still able to keep the ship afloat
Poor Captain McVay, he doesn't deserve to be called a bad captain. Reports state McVay was denied a destroyer escort which led to Indianapolis' sinking. Nice vid Oceanliner Designs.
Imagine being the captain of SS Jeddah, you think you're one of the only survivors, lying to the officials, just to get almost a thousand of angered witnesses arriving on the very ship you fled😂😂
Sinking Oceanos off the coast of South Africa. August 16, 1991 . The captain was one of the first ones to leave. Showing up in a passenger area wearing a lifejacket before he left. All of the crew left. A passenger and a coast guard swimmer somehow managed to expedite the rescue of all the passengers. All the passengers were transferred to a Hotel nearby were the Captain ended up, and all of the passengers had plenty of time to voice their displeasure at his performance.
Mike, I enjoy your work very much. The logical follow-up to this video is one on the best captains. Hope that is forthcoming.
You know you've made a mistake when even the enemy captain petitions you to re-evaluate a court martial.
For those who want to learn more about USS Indianapolis, Captain McVay, and those who sought his exoneration:
"Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man" by Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic is a GREAT book!
Mike, you are one of several young men and women whose channels I have come to appreciate. The focus of each ranges from maritime, military or local history to various kinds of natural or applied sciences, and you share the same traits. True curiosity in your areas if interest, an ability to thoroughly research a topic and consisely present it, and an infectious enthusiasm that avoids the overdramatic and ill-informed clickbait that some rely on. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of TH-cam elders I find inspiring for the same reasons, but I find it particularly reassuring to see kids (i.e. people younger than my own spawn, so no offense meant) stepping up and being educators and mentors of the first order. If I customarily wore a hat I'd doff it in respect to you any day. Thanks, and cheers,
Captain of the SS El Faro deserves a dishonorable mention here. Sailing your old ro-ro freighter straight into a hurricane because you don’t check the updated weather forecasts, thinking you have to exceed your company’s time expectations even after they’d previously told you it’s fine to divert to safer waters in a storm, and plowing ahead with pathological optimism right up until the moment you all die. “Well There’s Your Problem” did a whole episode on it, which I recommend!
Not just any old ro-ro but a poorly mentained rusted out hull barely being kept together that was being allowed to sail when it shouldn't have, I rememeber seeing her and her sister come to Old San Juan and how badly they looked and wondering why that was allowed to sail around, oh and don't get me started on the way that the cars being transported were being held as shown during the investigation into El Yunque.
This also includes his Soviet colleague, captain of the ro-ro "Mechanic Tarasov" Alexander Bylkin. He also ignored the weather report and on February 13, 1982, got caught in a storm on the way from Trois-Rivieres to Hamburg. For almost a day and a half, he refused the help of Canadian rescue helicopters located nearby, which could have saved people from the ship while it was still afloat, and when the ship sank, the sailors of the Faroese fishing trawler managed to save only 9 of the 37 people on board.
By the way, there is also a version that Bylkin also decided to go to help the Ocean Ranger platform, which was sinking in the same area.
He gets a few minor brownie points for being on the black box staying to save a fellow sailor. In the end I guess they both perished, but at least the scared sailor knew someone cared and the captain showed bravery in that moment. I guess he was brave to go into the storm, which was a mistake, but he was also brave to stay and help a guy who was trapped and nearly drowning.
Brick Immortar covered El Faro, too - good to see other people covering some of these less well-known incidents. (I've disliked ro-ro ferries ever since the Herald of Free Enterprise capsized in the 1980s because they didn't close the bow doors. I know Fascinating Horror did an episode on that, I don't know if anyone else has yet.)
I saw your post too late I just made a comment about Captain Davidson. I was on a sea going tug left Jacksonville the same day but we went down the Florida coast so in the lee of the Bahamas then took a left at Cuba and only had about 6' seas at any time enroute to San Juan. Returning to Jacksonville we passed through the debris field, a sad time to see the flotsam.
I remember just about everyone was comparing the Costa Concordia to the Titanic as that occured just three months before the Titanic's 2012 centennial, but when I heard about Captain Francesco Schettino's actions during the disaster, I actually compared the Costa Concordia to the Oceanos, considering how negligent Captain Yiannis Avranas was during her August 1991 sinking, but there is one captain I know of that no crewmember was happy with as far as I know: George Worley of the disappeared USS Cyclops.
Can you tell me more about George Worley? I'm curious
You're is an excellent resource on historical naval, both commercial and national, on t'interwebs! Thanks for all you and your crews, hard work. Be safe and always, stay free.
Great video as always! I think James Cass Mason, Captain of the paddle steamer Sultana deserves a mention on this list as well.
At the time of Captain McVey’s court martial it was regarded as a low blow to bring in the Japanese sub captain as a prosecution witness. That said and as you mentioned, he became quite an advocate for McVey in the future. Also at the court martial the navy brought in their own submarine expert, fresh from the Pacific War, who also corroborated the Japanese captain’s testimony; zigzagging was of little to no use. Lastly, Indianapolis was the first Allied ship sighted by the Japanese sub. They had a full complement of torpedoes, something like four kamikaze torpedo men who would have piloted their weapons into the ship and if all that had failed then the captain would have rammed Indianapolis with his sub as per the sub captain’s testimony.
Ultimately, McVey’s conviction was a massive injustice and his exoneration decades later didn’t help him as he had taken his own life nearly thirty years before.
That is one of the shortcoming of the military justice system in general. A Courts Martial is supposed to be independent and free of pressure from above but when it is the CNO who wants the Courts Martial
there is that pressure on the board not to displease the CNO.
@@glennrishton5679 yes, and the time of Captain McVey’s court martial there was a Naval Board of Enquiry looking at command failures in the lead up to Pearl Harbor. Ex Admiral Husband Kimmel was being looked at. There was a general blame finding vibe in the press and the public discourse.
Hashimoto flipped the script and advocated for McVey. The only low blow was to the USN's pride.
Well made video, mate.
Drach did another great video on the Indianapolis.
I love yous guys.
Mike, great video as always. As the other comments state, there's a lot more grist to grind in the "bad captains and scapegoats" mill. Costa Concordia, Sewol Ferry, Eastland, Oceanos, Sultana all as mentioned by others here, as well as Jeddah, Eastern Oriental Star, Yarmuth Castle and Scandinavian Star to name just a few others.
And even on the subject of good captains who were set up for war crimes for political reasons-the British government, for example, would much rather people didn't remember what they did to William Turner and James Clarke Anderson in 1915.
The MV Oceanos also had a terrible captain, but thanks to the heroism of the entertainment crew, everyone miraculously survived!
Thanks, well researched and spoken as always.
Captain McVay story gives me so much hope... people can be good people if we just allow them to be.
Rest In Peace... McVay and Hashimoto.
Thank you for another fascinating video, Mike.
Lax and corrupt safety standards were themic in the USA around the Edwardian period. Offhand, as well as the General Slocum, I can think of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York, and the Iriquois Theatre disaster in Chicago as 2 equally horrific events, with similar causation. We learn, but often far too slowly.
I would add Yiannis Avranas of the Oceanos. The efforts of the entertainment staff are the only reason no one died that day.
Inspired by your videos I took my kids on the paddle steamer waverly. Was truly amazing.
On the General Slocum, many passengers and crew knew the ship was on fire well before the Captain was. A boy ran into the bridge and said "Hey mister, the ship is on fire!". The Captain called him a pesky prankster and ordered him to go away.
No words for that.
My grandfather and his brother were to go on the fatal voyage, they did not go, they were one of the few children who did not die, The life preservers were filled with lead weights, the hoses rotten, a young boy tried to warn the crew but was not listened to and had his ears boxed. , the neighborhood was decimated, many including my great grandparents moved, l have the passes and the tokens for this voyage,as always Mike perfect, you should have added the captain of RMS Atlantic, oh my grandfather also survived the Wall Street Bombing of 1919
Fascinating video, Mr. Brady. As someone who has spent a fair amount of time on the water, much of it under the command of my late father, who tought sailing and ran charters, among other things, I have a visceral disgust for captains and crew that forsake their duties and flee their ships, leaving the passengers to fend for themselves. The bloody cowards should be keelhauled and made to walk the plank.
Edit:
Ok, I'm still shaking my head at the Killer Lifejackets. That is just disgraceful. I mean, Iron? Couldn't they have at least used something that sort of floats? As opposed to using a material that, running a close second to Lead, is commonly used as ballast? Yikes.
Oh man, that Roosevelt's letter at 12:00. That's some hard core diss track shit from back in the day. And not aimed at the captain, but the swindlers who made the safety equipment.
Clive Cussler recreates that scene in his second Sea Hunters book; one of the wrecks he surveyed was the General Slocum. TR was not a subtle person when angry; when he was the president of the New York City police commission (back then there wasn't a singular "commissioner" of the NYPD) he would go out at night looking for cops drunk or asleep on duty.
Good morning Captain 😁 happy to say we have a competent one around here!
Not only was Clark's reputation ruined in itself, but also, the not-wreck of the _Jeddah_ inspired Joseph Conrad's 1900 novel _Lord Jim,_ which at the time was far better-known than it is today, and kept the matter in the public mind for longer than it might otherwise have remained there.
I'm surprised Francesco Schettino didn't make this list. He was the captain of the Costa Concordia, and was found guilty of manslaughter in 2016 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Francesco Schettino was given 10 years for multiple manslaughters, 5 years for causing a shipwreck, and 1 year for abandoning the passengers at the time of the sinking.
I'd like to nominate the captain of the MTS Oceanos, a cruise ship that went down off South Africa in 1991. Despite the ship sinking, the order to abandon ship was not relayed to the passengers or very many crew. It was only after one of the entertainers went to the bridge to find out what was going on and found it empty were distress signals sent out.
this channel has the best content!!!! keep giving us marine/ air ship history!!!
Putting actual IRON BLOCKS into LIFEJACKETS to reach the specified weight.... my god that is some of the worst piece of greedy negligence i've ever heard.
Very interesting video as usual 👍🏻
Here's another, very recent, who hasn't been named by the journalists yet. He's the captain of Greek ferry M/S Blue Star Horizon (belonging to one of the subsidiaries of Attica Group), who was arrested, along with his First Officer and two other crew members. Why? Before the ship left port, a 36yo passenger from Crete went to shore, possibly to purchase something. When he returned, the ship was just about to leave, and he barely made it onto the ramp. Mind you, although it's not considered safe for ferries to depart with their ramps still open, it's VERY common practice in Greece "to save time". Anyway, although the passenger had a ticket and was returning to the ship, he was pushed overboard by the First Officer and a boatswain.
To make matters worse, the captain did NOT stop the ship and did NOT start the MOB procedures. No one threw a lifesaver to the passenger, who drowned in the ship's wake. Instead, the captain went on his merry way, ignored angry passengers who were telling him to return and rescue the man, and was ordered to return by the Port Authorities, which were alerted by the passengers. Note here that the Port Police/Coast Guard were absent from the ship's boarding process and departure, as ludicrous as it seems. So, yes, they had to be informed of the homicide by other passengers - the captain was all too willing to just let it pass.
Press coverage:
apnews.com/article/greece-ferry-passenger-death-arrests-travel-crete-a1c8bb9b0ab89751fa1e662aee0dcbe2
maritime-executive.com/article/anger-builds-in-greece-after-man-is-pushed-to-his-death-by-ferry-s-crew
Meanwhile, Attica Group's subsidiaries are reportedly illegally imprisoning asylum seekers in their ships and sending them back to where they came from:
ecre.org/greece-company-accused-of-locking-up-migrants-below-deck-implicated-in-death-of-a-passenger-non-assistance-non-response-delayed-assistance-and-pushbacks-continue-alliance-with-italy-to-strengthen/
www.lighthousereports.com/investigation/detained-below-deck/
As an aside, the ship in question has a dark history: according to Greek press coverage, two passengers went missing and were never heard from again - one in 2015 and one in 2018. And an engineer was killed in an engine room explosion: www.iefimerida.gr/ellada/blue-horizon-exafaniseis-thanatoys-anartisi
I wonder if the captain who abandoned the passenger who was pushed overboard and into the ship's wake was also captaining the ship in these prior lethal incidents...
Side note: the stereo photography showing the aftermath of the New York accident is really cool to see. I paused the video several times to look at them-crossing eyes to align each so that the illusion of depth was created. It’s a surreal look into the past.
I was here when the title said WOST instead of WORST
Mine still says WOST
Took a screenshot of it lmao
Mine also still says WOST
@@NovaAgeme too
So, what's the wost that could happen
The cork filled life jackets being partially filled with iron instead is almost too outrageous to believe! How could ANYONE working for that company who were in the know not have ratted them out before this tragedy occurred???
Except for the 25yrs in the USN I'm a lifelong resident of Indianapolis, the closer you get to the top you run into very senior officers that get their feelings hurt over nonsense, shift blame and hold grudges. Being related to or at least friends in high places goes a long way in too many cases.
Francesco Schettino should definitely be on this list.
Not only did he risk his ship, and all souls onboard simply to be a showoff.
He also abandoned his post, left the ship, and flatly refused to get back onboard.
That "man" is incompetence and cowardice incarnate.
I'd add Charles Limbor and the cowardly crew of the troopship Leopoldville to this list. Refused to communicate instructions after they were torpedoed, failed to maintain crew discipline, and left 800 people to die. At least he had the decency to pay for his mistake with his life.
We have to remember Captain Yiannis Avranas of the Oceanos as well. When the ship started sinking, he was the first to leave with his crew in order to "coordinate the rescue from the shore". The ship's entertainers actually coordinated the rescue from the bridge, and there's ironic footage of the comedian on the radio to the Navy. Afterwards, Captain Dickwad Avranas was quoted as saying "When I order abandon the ship, it doesn't matter what time I leave. Abandon is for everybody. If some people like to stay, they can stay." He even left his dog behind. And his canary.
We should get a video that is the opposite of this as well. I'd like to know about Carpathia's captain and the Captain of the Ile De France during the Andrea Doria rescue.
Dude, you make awesome videos. Thanks making and thanks for sharing. 👍🇿🇦
The problem with the lifejackets on the General Slocome was compounded by the fact that they were far too old, and had been simply left hanging on the deck instead of stored properly. Not only was there iron bars in the cork, but the little cork there was had disintegrated. This fact was used by the company that manufactured them, suggesting that if they were stored properly and checked/replaced frequently, it wouldn't have been so bad.
Many mothers put lifejackets on their children then tossed them overboard, assuming they would just float nearby whilst they attended to other children and themselves.
Nonpareil Cork Works truly was "without equal"...in depravity.
bravo mike bravo your content has really reached its peak! tell the team I said thank you for their incredible efforts!
In another video about the same subject, can you talk about James Cass Mason, the captain of the Sultana? Through greed and negligence, he had about 2,300-2,400 people on a boat that was legally allowed to carry 376. On April 27, 1865, at two a.m., three of the Sultana's boilers exploded and she caught on fire and sank on the Mississippi River, seven miles north of Memphis, Tennessee. Over 1,800 people lost their lives, and Captain Mason was also lost in the sinking. It was America's worst maritime disaster and it happened 12 days after President Lincoln died. Thank You.
The Worst Captains of the world?
Francesco Schettino, Captain J.Smith and Ernst Lindemann.
This question, is a perfect psychological challenge.
How do we do this video and not include the captain of the Costa Concordia?
That seems like a no-brainer lol.
Too obvious a choice?
Because he wasn't the only one at fault. Schettino was a massive scapegoat. It wasn't just him being an idiot. It was Costa (the company) and the whole crew, with a good example being the person at the helm steering the ship the opposite direction Schettino ordered to.
Is Schettino to blame? Absolutely. Is he to blamed to everything? No.
Because that poor excuse of a captain is nowhere near the level of someone worthy to be mentioned in this types of videos.
History is filled with horrible captains and for an example the captain of Sewol would be a better choice or the Captain of Donapaz or Scandinavian Star or if you want an oldie the Commander of the Swedish ship of the line Kronan.
he and that sinking have been covered to death elsewhere? But also, while he was a bad captain and behaved fairly cowardly during the sinking and rescue efforts, maybe he still wasn't AS BAD as the captains mentioned in this video?
I love these ship stories. Also you have a gift for orating! Greetings from Canada!
When the photo of the USS Indianapolis first showed up, did anyone else immediately think, "Oh no you don't, Mike! Captain McVay does NOT belong on this list!". (Only to have Mike's voiceover indicate that he was wrongly accused a few seconds later...)
Yup, I was getting ready to get pissed.
President Roosevelt sure know how to deliver an eloquent smackdown.
Many of the General Slocum's other non-iron filled lifejackets were completely rotted, sometimes falling apart on touch. Others appeared intact, but their cork had turned into dust. When people put them on and jumped overboard, the cork turned into cement and dragged them down. When the trial started, the Knickerbocker Steamboat Company had their secretary acid erase old ledgers and checkbooks recording orders of new lifejackets for her sister ship, Grand Republic, and write in General Slocum instead.
The lifeboats were also wired in place to prevent them from rattling in the wind, and a decade's worth of paint on the boats and chocks had welded them in place even if the wires were removed. Adella Liebenow's one surviving aunt remembered how she tried to help free one of boats, and ended up breaking off all of her fingernails before the fire pushed her back.
My dad served on the USS Wilson, a destroyer that was assigned to the search effort for the Indianapolis. He never liked to talk about his war experiences, and I only learned about this particular effort very near the end of his life when he was interviewed by a historian researching the Solomon Islands campaign.
From a historical perspective it is a shame so many men were unable to make themselves talk about their wartime experiences. Understandably they wanted to keep those memories sealed off. So much first hand knowledge though of those men who actually fought the war is now gone.
This should have been a "5 Worst Ship Captains" list and include Schettino (of the Costa Concordia infamy) and the captain of that Korean ship "Sewol" where passengers were tragically left to die in their cabins (tho that one went much deeper than just a negligent captain - the whole system has failed in Sewol's case).
I'm very late to the conversation but for terrible captains, I would nominate Michael Davidson. Capt of the El Faro, he drove his ship and crew directly into the eye of a category four hurricane, despite every opportunity to do quite literally anything else, and refused to acknowledge how badly his ship was damaged to the coast guard until it was too late to rescue or evacuate. His sheer insanity on this trip cost everyone their lives.
They crew of the Indianapolis were in the water for four days because the Navy ship tracking system lost the ship and it was two or three days before the Navy even realized it was missing.
"Schettino! You may have saved yourself from the sea but I will really hurt you"
The best book I ever read is called Fatal Voyage by Dan Kurzman. It’s about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. I read it long before the captain had been cleared posthumously. Subsequent printings may include this fact. You will NOT regret reading this. I could hardly put it down.
I’m glad that you didn’t put Captain James Luce in here. While the SS Arctic was one of the greatest tragedies in history of not just shipwrecks but the entire world, Luce himself did practically everything he could to limit the damage, cowardice, fear and a ton of bad luck ended up dooming them.
4. Captain Francesco Schettino
5. Captain Jonas Grumby (aka "The Skipper")
Love your videos! They’re fascinating and your narration is so calming. Perfect thing to put on after a hard day at work. 💙🚢🌊⚓️
worst captain has got to be the one on the Sewol ferry. ordered 300 kids to stay in the boat while he himself escaped. 304 kids died.
304 deaths in total. About 250 of them were children. It is truly colossal storm of ineptitude when local fishers are there performing rescue way before those who should be there rescuing people. No worry. Captain got long term in jail and I'm certain reception wasn't too friendly. Over 300 corpses and with incompetence instead of personal effort to cause them?
One added fold to the tragedy of the General Slocum is that many passengers were robbed of their valuables right before or after they died, becasue ships coming to the wreck saw their jewelry and New York never changes.
McVay was not a terrible captain: He was acting based on the intelligence the Navy gave him and the Navy scapegoated him for their fuck up. Between not providing the Indianapolis a single destroyer escort , the poor intel about the activity of Japanese subs to failing to notice when the Indianapolis failed to arrive to its final destination on time.
He was only officially exonerated in 2000.
This clown implies it.
The captains of the Concordia and Oceanos deserve honorable mentions.
No mention of the captain of the Costa Concordia?
The Internet Histrorian did a great video about that event.
Maybe this channel didn’t include him here because both Internet Historian and Well There’s Your Problem already did 90-minute-plus videos on him and the Costa Concordia sinking, in Australian and Philadelphian accents respectively
Well done. as usual. Thanks, Mike !
Mike good video. I would certainly add, most certainly, Joseph Hazelwood(1946-2022). He was the captain of the Exxon Valdez and was reportedly drunk on duty. That hull breach caused much wildlife death and environmental damage that's still being dealt with.
He got a lot of unfair criticism. He had had a few beers in port but my understanding was not drunk. My understanding too that in the area they were transiting it was normal procedure for the Mate on watch to handle the transit just as if they were in open seas. It was not a channel where both a captain and a local pilot would be on the bridge.
Very neat that this wasn't just a straight list of bad Captains but one of them being a Captain who received a bad, but more then likely unearned, reputation. The story of the Jeddah sounds just plain fascinating, how the passengers managed to survive the storm that the experienced crew felt they could not.
I have heard the tragic story of the USS Indianapolis and I can tell you it wasn't the captain at fault here it was a failure in the chain of command they knew another ship sank in the area and they should have informed them of that information.
Always a good time when a video drops
*W O S T*
th-cam.com/video/q9RAZxNdCk8/w-d-xo.html