From the Boathouse: Pondering a hero — and a cautionary tale
Ahoy.
Two maritime news items this week: the loss of a huge friend of recreational boaters and the fate of the captain of the Costa Concordia, the disasterous wreck casting a cloud over the profession.
Sadly, Boat Owners of the United States (BoatUS) has lost its chairman and founder, Richard Schwartz, at the age of 85. Schwartz retired a couple of years ago after 47 years of building BoatUS to more than 500,000 members. He was well known for representing recreational boating on Capitol Hill and helping to start funding programs that targeted boating and fishing.
Hundreds of thousands of recreational boaters across the nation utilize BoatUS for on-the-water towing services, marine insurance and boater education. Locally, you may remember that the BoatUS marine retail store was sold to West Marine and that Vessel Assist towing services joined the BoatUS national towing program. Vessel Assist still has a fleet of towboats in Orange County harbors.
Schwartz’s accomplishments are too numerous to list, as are the organizations he served as board member or active participant. Throughout the almost five decades at the helm of BoatUS, he received commendations and awards from the U.S. Coast Guard, United States Power Squadrons and National Safe Boating Council, just to name a few.
Schwartz, who was raised in the Bronx, is survived by his wife, Beth, and seven children. BoatUS is asking anyone who would like to send condolences to do so at BoatUS.com/Richard. As is tradition with the passing of a sailor, eight bells should be rung at his memorial service.
News of the week is that we can close the final chapter on the cruise ship Costa Concordia, which I have mentioned in previous columns in regard to the cowardly captain who abandoned the ship before the passengers.
I wrote July 18, 2014, “Do you remember on Jan. 13, 2012, when the cruise ship Costa Concordia hit the rocks, breaching the hull with a huge gash under the ship’s waterline? After hitting the rocks off the Italian island of Giglio, the ship eventually drifted toward shore to become grounded and partially submerged while resting on its starboard side just outside Giglio Harbour. The navigational error, which caused 32 people to lose their lives, would have claimed more lives if the ship had sunk completely offshore.”
A little over two years after the grounding, the 60,000-ton ship was tilted up onto a specially designed underwater platform and towed for scrap. However, the captain, Francesco Schettino, was facing charges in Grosseto for abandoning the ship during the disaster, leaving passengers and crew members in peril.
Italian courts convicted Schettino and sentenced him to 16 years, which includes only one year of abandoning the ship (too low in my captain’s book), five years for the disaster and grounding and 10 years for manslaughter counts.
Additionally, other crew members working aboard the ship were charged and convicted.
I think the courts were too lenient with a captain who put his ship in harm’s way to impress others, causing the most expensive ship recovery in history.
As always, just keep an eye to the weather for any changes. Please be boat smart and boat safe. Lastly, please boat responsibly and look behind you before you turn the wheel at the helm.
The original boating program, “Boathouse TV & Radio Shows,” has stretched from coast to coast for more than two decades. See the details at https://www.boathousetv.com, https://www.facebook.com/boathouseradio and https://www.twitter.com/boathouseradio.
Safe voyages!
MIKE WHITEHEAD is a boating columnist for the Daily Pilot. Send marine-related thoughts and story suggestions to mike@boathousetv.com or go to https://www.boathousetv.com.