An absolute outrage! Inside the Costa Concordia’s RECKLESS DETOUR—And the Real Reason the Captain Steered 4,200 Lives Into Total Disaster

A lot went wrong after the Costa Concordia hit a rock formation in 2012 — but had the cruise ship stayed on its original itinerary, it might not have crashed at all.

Netflix’s Shipwrecked at Sea looks back on all that went wrong on Jan. 13, 2012, when the Italian cruise ship capsized after it struck a rock formation off the coast of Giglio Island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, subsequently killing 32 people. Giglio Island — which is well-known for its unique rock outcroppings along the coastline — was not on the voyage’s original itinerary, but Captain Francesco Schettino deviated from the route to perform a sail-by salute.

In the aftermath, Schettino was charged with multiple counts of manslaughter and abandoning ship. In February 2015, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison following a 19-month trial, per ABC News.

During the trial, Schettino argued that his decisions amid the disaster saved lives, and also shared that there were several reasons why the ship had deviated from the original route.

“I wanted to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 three birds with one stone,” he said on the first day of his testimony, per BBC.

Here’s everything to know about why the Costa Concordia deviated from its planned route.

What was the original route of the Costa Concordia?

The ‘Costa Concordia’ on January 2012 as seen in ‘Shipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea’.

Courtesy of Netflix

The Costa Concordia was on a seven-day voyage of the Mediterranean Sea, with an itinerary that included stops in Italy, France and Spain, the same route it had been going on for nearly six years, per Brittanica.

A few days after the Jan. 13, 2012, disaster, Costa Cruises’ chairman and chief executive Pier Luigi Foschi spoke at a press conference and said that Schettino had deviated from the route without permission, also noting that alarms sound when Costa ships go off their programmed routes, per The Guardian.

“This route was put in correctly,” he said. “The fact that it left from this course is due solely to a manoeuvre by the commander that was unapproved, unauthorised and unknown to Costa.’’

Why did the Costa Concordia go off route?

In Netflix’s Shipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea, former Costa Concordia hotel manager Manrico Giampedroni said that the ship deviated from its planned course to pass closer to Giglio Island for a maritime “salute,” which is a common ceremonial gesture in which a cruise ship sounds its horns. As Giampedroni explained, the head waiter on board had made a special request to the captain a few days earlier for the sail-by salute, as his sister and mother both lived on Giglio Island.

During the first day of Schettino’s testimony, the former Costa Concordia captain maintained that he partly did the sail-by salute as a favor to the ship’s head waiter — but it wasn’t the sole reason.

According to BBC, Schettino said he also wanted to please the passengers with a dramatic view of the rocky outcrop and salute a retired captain who lived on the island.

Meanwhile, he denied the rumors that he had intended to impress a woman on board at the helm, per the outlet.

What went wrong when the Costa Concordia deviated from its route?

Captain Francesco Schettino ; The cruise ship ‘Costa Concordia’ lies stricken off the shore of the island of Giglio, Italy, on Jan. 14, 2012.

Photonews via Getty; MAURIX/Gamma-Rapho via Getty

Sail-by salutes were not uncommon among cruises and the Costa Concordia had performed several in the past, per Brittanica. In fact, Schettino told a judge that he wasn’t using the computer navigation system and was rather relying on his eyesight, as he had “done the move” several times and “knew those seabeads,” per the Wall Street Journal.

However, a lot went wrong on the night of Jan. 13, 2012.

In the Netflix documentary, Giampedroni said that the captain had asked if he’d like to join him on the bridge for the sail-by, which he thought was “unusual” because it was nighttime and there “wasn’t much to see” in the dark. However, Giampedroni noted that he and other crew members “complied” as it was the “captain’s decision.”

Once a rock formation was noticed in the ship’s path, Schettino ordered a change in course, per Brittanica. However, there was a language barrier between him and a helmsman, who steered the boat in the opposite direction. It reportedly took 13 seconds to correct the maneuver, and at 9:45 p.m., the stern of the Costa Concordia collided with one of the granite reefs. As a result, the left side of the ship suffered a nearly 174-foot tear, and over time, the ship titled on to its side.

Chaos ensued in the hours to follow, as the captain significantly downplayed the ship’s damage both to passengers and to the Italian coast guard and delayed rescue efforts. Just over three years after the disaster, Scettino was convicted of causing the shipwreck and abandoning ship before his passengers, receiving a 16-year prison sentence in February 2015, per BBC.