George Stroumboulopoulos, the host of the popular CBC tv show The Hour, did a terrific interview with Natasha Carruthers, a sail trainee/student aboard the high school tall ship Concordia when it sank off the coast of Brazil on February 17, 2010. The video is a little jumpy but the audio does the job. Carruthers tells an amazing first hand account of what happened. She’s joined by Class Afloat instructor Ryan Cleland who had recently gotten off the ship and tells what transpired in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia, Canada, the ship’s homeport.
Here is the first interview I have been able to locate with tall ship Concordia’s Captain Bill Curry regarding the sinking. (via CBC Radio – Feb. 24, 2010)
It’s always good to hear directly from the person in charge.
It wouldn’t be unreasonable to ask why have I gone to great lengths to create this long post about the high school tall ship Concordia sinking. There are lots of reasons.
Personal – I spent my high school years on a tall ship called Tabor Boy and launched The Tabor Boy Project, a website/living history project/social network, about that experience. So as a product of a long established, successful sail training program, I passionately believe in the power to transform young lives.
Professional – I was the executive director of the American Sail Training Association from 2001 to 2008. During that period I had the opportunity to work with hundreds of different sail training vessels and tall ships from around the world.
Professional/Personal – When speaking with the public or media at big tall ships events, I was invariably asked which was my favorite. As ASTA executive director, the only answer could be that “Like parents love their children, I love them all equally.” (politically correct) However, each sail training vessel and tall ship is unique in its own way and back on April 2, 2008, I wrote “I had the great fortune to spend my 4 years of high school sailing on a tall ship. If there was one educational sailing experience I could be jealous of, this (Class Afloat on Concordia) would be it.” By the way, I still feel that way today.
Leadership – Over the years, I had the opportunity to work with Class Afloat’s founder Terry Davies and believe that it would be difficult to find another educational leader more professional and caring about young people and more knowledgeable about ships. Similarly, my experience working with various captains and crew members of the Concordia was always very positive. Leadership defines the success of a program and Terry Davies charted a proper course for Class Afloat.
Reference – Today modern technology and media allow information to be distributed fast, far and wide. Unfortunately, accuracy isn’t always one of the characteristics but that might be a fair trade under many circumstances. Over time, inaccurate reports are generally weeded out and tossed aside. I’ve attempted to collect as many of the stories told to and by the media as possible. Going back later and trying to find this kind of information would be a gargantuan task. Doing it in real time is slightly easier. This is the web and many of these links will die but overall the post can serve as a pretty comprehensive reference for anyone interested in learning more about the casualty.
Lessons to Be Learned – The Concordia sinking is a sad story with a happy ending. And while it’s very early days in the investigation, it presents a great opportunity to try to figure out what happened without the usual high emotion that surrounds an incident involving casualties or fatalities. In some respects, this is similar to the Miracle on the Hudson. As Sergeant Joe Friday used to say, “All we want are the facts” and there are more than 64 individual stories that can be told today but which over time will consolidate into one overall narrative from which we will hopefully learn some valuable lessons for the future.
Up to this post, I’ve avoided editorializing, analyzing or making any judgement about what actually happened on the Concordia on February 17, 2010. I think that I’ll continue to leave the technical analysis to the professional investigators and others with more direct experience and knowledge about these things. I will continue to collect links about the sinking but anticipate (and hope) the pace of stories slows down so that I can get back to Sea-Fever’s regularly scheduled programming. I will also try to interpret/translate some of the technical findings so that non mariners can get a better understanding of the issues. I believe my Tabor Boy and ASTA experiences leave me well suited to the task. Finally, I will continue to champion sail training because I believe more than ever that there is no greater teaching platform than the tall ship and or campus than the sea.
West Island College International began with a leased vessel and had the Concordia built in 1992. A second ship was leased to handle an extra-large enrolment last year, but the Concordia was the only vessel the company operated this school year, Mr. McCarthy said.
He would not say how much the lost ship was insured for, but noted that the tall ship Prince William, which is for sale, was a roughly comparable vessel.
Chris Law, chief executive of the U.K.-based Tall Ships Youth Trust, said the trust hopes to get about £4.5-million for the nine-year-old Prince William. She noted that building a new version of such a ship would cost nearly four times as much.
The Prince William needs a new home and Class Afloat needs a ship if it plans to continue. Makes sense to me.
The following message appeared this evening on the Class Afloat website:
Our Students Teachers and Professional Mariners mustered together this morning for their final colors led by the Captain of the Concordia.
The whole crew arrived at the hotel last night. According to an Alumni parent who was on scene for the evening our students were bedraggled but happy and full of energy. First step off the bus was into the dining hall where all were well fed. From there, they moved into a large conference room that had been set up with chairs and tables. Small groups were then taken to a side room where they were first screened and quickly assessed for medical checkups and/or a chat with a trained psychologist. There were two doctors and two psychologists who attended to all.
Boxes of clothes were brought in by the Embassy that had been contributed by the Brazilian Navy and today, through the ship’s agent, additional clothes will be distributed for the trip home.
The story that is slowly emerging from our students and professional staff is of the heroic communal effort that saved all aboard. Students, well drilled in the emergency procedures of the vessel, helped one another and the professional crew in the extraordinary evacuation. That all were saved is a testament to the training, equipment and professionalism of our shipboard community.
Arrival of the Canadian contingent of the crew cannot yet be confirmed by our office. Class Afloat understands the need of the press to continue to tell this story; however, it should be clear to all concerned that when the children arrive, that reuniting with their parents must be first and foremost.
I will continue to update this post with articles about the sinking of the Concordia. There’s a lot of duplicate content out there so I’ll do my best to curate the best, most relevant. While I am a huge fan of the Class Afloat program you may see posts with different opinions since I think examining this incident from different perspectives can be valuable and instructive. Thanks for visiting and please feel free to leave your thoughts in a comment below.
Updated Feb. 19, 2010 – 10:00 PM EST There is still so little information available about what happened but the following story at least let’s us know that some communication has occurred with the captains of both the Concordia and the rescuing ship and that there are no serious injuries. The rest at this point is all speculation and conjecture. One thing that we do know for sure is that going to sea has always been and will always be fraught with risk and that’s one of the reasons why the experience can be so powerful.
Very sad news today about the sinking of the high school tall ship Concordia sinking off the coast of Brazil in heavy weather. Thankfully all students and crew were rescued.
This story is still developing so not a lot of details are available; however, here are a few news reports.
I’ve posted aboutConcordia’s amazing program in the past and know the former owner and several of the captains and crew from my American Sail Training Association days. If you are not familiar with the Concordia or Class Afloat, please take a few minutes to watch this video about their amazing life forming programs for young students.
During a time when so many sail training vessels and tall ships are experiencing challenges, this is even more sad news. Concordia was a wonderful ship that did great work over the years and she will be sorely missed.
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