Yeah, I'd imagine there were quite a few folks on the Titanic who went back to their cabin to pick up some trivial item, rather than having the sense to stay somewhere safe until they could get off the ship and into somewhere safer.

This time it was not a duck boat in Philadelphia.

I hope he took a glass of brandy with him.

"We are dressed in our best and ready to go down like gentlemen".

A heroic line that I have shamefully used out of context many times.

gweilo8888: Yeah, I'd imagine there were quite a few folks on the Titanic who went back to their cabin to pick up some trivial item, rather than having the sense to stay somewhere safe until they could get off the ship and into somewhere safer.

A violinist's violin is not a trivial item. That said, it is replaceable.

Besides, doesn't wood float??? Shouldn't it have been a floatation aid??

Waiter! More champagne! ...and plenty of ice.

Nothing sadder than a violint death.

He got caught up in the crowd of people entering a life boat and could not get out....you know how those women and children can be with their me first attitudes. This man is clearly in distress.

Captain Stubing I presume......

Attila the Bun: Waiter! More champagne! ...and plenty of ice.

I should do something very extroverted and vengeful to you. Honestly, I'm too tired.

RexTalionis: In the chaos of the sinking Friday night, witnesses said he went back to his cabin to retrieve his beloved violin. He was never seen again.

Another musician, Italian rock drummer Giuseppe Girolamo, is among the two dozen people still missing. He reportedly gave up his seat in a lifeboat to a child before vanishing into the crowd on deck.

They're good people.

Meanwhile, the captain was one of the FIRST off. His latest excuse was that he fell overboard.

6655321: This time it was not a duck boat in Philadelphia.

The Concordia also wasn't run over by a barge piloted by a captain who was too busy with a phone call to bother navigating.

gilgigamesh: gadian: Not enough seats on the life boats? I thought there were regulations for this sort of thing.

I think the fact that the boat tipped made the lifeboats on the high side of the ship unuseable. They couldn't be lowered into the water.

All the good lifeboats had already been tripped in by the officers.

RexTalionis: In the chaos of the sinking Friday night, witnesses said he went back to his cabin to retrieve his beloved violin. He was never seen again.

Another musician, Italian rock drummer Giuseppe Girolamo, is among the two dozen people still missing. He reportedly gave up his seat in a lifeboat to a child before vanishing into the crowd on deck.

They're good people.

Unlike the captain, who apparently "tripped" into a lifeboat and refused to go back & aid the search for good people like these two folks.

joninaz: All the good lifeboats had already been tripped in by the officers.

Exactly.

So nearer, his God, to thee is he?

Where is the violin???

I appoint you the title of Honorary Captain.

gweilo8888: Yeah, I'd imagine there were quite a few folks on the Titanic who went back to their cabin to pick up some trivial item, rather than having the sense to stay somewhere safe until they could get off the ship and into somewhere safer.

Hindsight tells us he should've let it go, man... but he's looking at losing something worth several months, or even years, salary... hardly trivial. Or the violin may have been in his family for generations. And we're not just talking sentimental baubles like great-grandmother's necklace, here... musicians spend thousands of hours working with and coaxing expression from their instruments, and may not have entirely rational feelings about them.

But, heck. Even without all that, things probably just didn't seem that dire and he probably thought he had two minutes to run down a flight of stairs and fetch his axe. We already know that the communications from the ship's crew were next to useless, and even during the event probably lacked much credibility.

It will be interesting to read the final report and learn how fast the ship went from 20 degree heel to 80 degree heel, which I presume is what trapped people like him.

Approves.

I've worked as a musician on cruise ships before, I spent several months last winter on the Carnival conquest, off of which the Concordia class is based. to get to the musician's cabins should have been a quick trip with many different escape routes, so I can definitely see going back for your instrument, it becomes a part of you, and you're not going to give it up that easy.

He died because he went back to retrieve the violin, not because he helped the kids.

funkyflashfive: I've worked as a musician on cruise ships before, I spent several months last winter on the Carnival conquest, off of which the Concordia class is based. to get to the musician's cabins should have been a quick trip with many different escape routes, so I can definitely see going back for your instrument, it becomes a part of you, and you're not going to give it up that easy.

It's an inanimate object. You can replace it. Your life, not so much.

Calm Down You Spaz: A violinist's violin is not a trivial item. That said, it is replaceable.

gilgigamesh: As a musician, I can understand taking a risk that you can save your prized instrument before getting to safety. Also, he helped a bunch of kids into life vests before going to retrieve his violin.

I'm not disputing whether he did anything heroic. I'm just lamenting the fact he followed it with something this ill-advised.

gilgigamesh: More importantly, how much of a villainous douche does the captain look like at this point? Jesus.

No kidding. The coastguard audio is beyond damning -- the man's a total coward.

EddyKilowatt: Hindsight tells us he should've let it go, man... but he's looking at losing something worth several months, or even years, salary... hardly trivial. Or the violin may have been in his family for generations. And we're not just talking sentimental baubles like great-grandmother's necklace, here... musicians spend thousands of hours working with and coaxing expression from their instruments, and may not have entirely rational feelings about them.

Yeah, he fairly clearly wasn't rational about it. I don't believe it cost "years" of salary, but even if it did, going back for it makes no sense. Either you believe the ship itself isn't a danger (in which case why go in there to get the violin? It's safe, get it later once you've confirmed your suspicion about the lack of danger), or the ship's a danger to your violin (in which case it's a danger to your life, which is far more important than a nice-sounding hunk of wood.)

Violins can be replaced. Lives can't. And honestly, if it was as valuable as you suggest and he made a living from it, it's almost certain to have been insured anyway.

The one thing we can agree on is that this is a sad story. Any item is trivial compared to one's own life.

What is it with Italian cruse lines? Captains abandon ship first, leaving the band to rescue the passengers.

PsyLord: He died because he went back to retrieve the violin, not because he helped the kids.

funkyflashfive: I've worked as a musician on cruise ships before, I spent several months last winter on the Carnival conquest, off of which the Concordia class is based. to get to the musician's cabins should have been a quick trip with many different escape routes, so I can definitely see going back for your instrument, it becomes a part of you, and you're not going to give it up that easy.

It's an inanimate object. You can replace it. Your life, not so much.

The problem is that it was sort of a slow-moving danger that took hours to unfold. It would be easy to underestimate the danger in such a situation, especially if the crew and captain were so disorganized that they weren't properly expressing the need to abandon ship quickly. I doubt he even thought "I'll risk my life for my violin", but rather he thought the ship had probably settled and it was just a matter of quickly retrieving the item.

I work with a guy who used to work for Costa, and I showed him this article, and immediately he gasped and said he knew this guy...

/-10 points for ruining said co worker's day :(

RexTalionis: he's going to have at least a mandatory 12 year sentence.

And not a minute too many. In fact, it's arguably not anywhere near long enough.

jabelar: I doubt he even thought "I'll risk my life for my violin", but rather he thought the ship had probably settled and it was just a matter of quickly retrieving the item.

But what's the point? If the ship has settled and isn't going anywhere, then the violin itself is safe. why go back to retrieve something that's safe? It's just illogical on any level, at least unless you're not thinking it through, which was obviously the case.

He went back for his violin because he was a Roma musician.

Oznog: [www.landcruiseinc.com image 288x167]

I appoint you the title of Honorary Captain.

I'll give you three Refined for it.

As someone who plays violin (albeit a *very* little*) and likes a heroic man, I salute Mr. Feher. I agree with those who say he probably wasn't thinking "my violin or my life" but thought he had time, due to poor communiciation from the crew.

Here is a 19th century shipwreck that my greatx3 grandmother, one of her daughters, and a granddaughter died on. Notice that the crew behaved pretty badly on that one, too. All the children and all but one woman died while the crew escaped.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_La_Bourgogne

They were going to visit family in France and going to pick up my great grandmother from Switzerland, where she had been staying with her Swiss grandmother. After the deaths of her New Orleans grandmother, aunt, and cousin, my greatx2s didn't want to bring her back so that great grandmother ended up spending most of her childhood in Switzerland. She ended up back in New Orleans and had such adventures as eloping with an Irishman and going to Mexico city by car in the 1930s.

Here is a picture of her little cousin who died. This picture was taken less than 2 years before the La Bourgogne. I'm sure she would've loved having a heroic violinist save her.



It even gets better. My greatx3 grandmother was on the La Bourgogne 5 years before it went down, bringing her husband's body back from France because he died on vacation and she dies on the same ship.

/cool story sis, tldr, etc. I know.

ashinmytomatoes: Here is a picture of her little cousin who died.

So sad. The world has so few Siamese twins, and it's a pity we lost a pair there.

This guy was a kiddie diddler. After "helping" all those kids with their life vests, he had head to bunk to grab a piece of wood.

The only thing I liked about the movie was that they got this moment and the fate of the engineers who kept the lights on historically correct. Simple heroism is the only thing that keeps me from giving up on the entire human race.

/Bravo, Mr Feher. The world is a better place for your having been in it.

//The band on the Titanic's last song was "Autumn", not "Nearer my God to Thee."

wolf_in_cheapclothing: This guy was a kiddie diddler. After "helping" all those kids with their life vests, he had head to bunk to grab a piece of wood.

PLONK

gilgigamesh: gadian: Not enough seats on the life boats? I thought there were regulations for this sort of thing.

I think the fact that the boat tipped made the lifeboats on the high side of the ship unuseable. They couldn't be lowered into the water.

I was on a cruise 2 years ago, and during the safety briefing they claimed that the lifeboats from a single side of the ship could accommodate all on board for this very reason.

gilgigamesh: gweilo8888: Yeah, I'd imagine there were quite a few folks on the Titanic who went back to their cabin to pick up some trivial item, rather than having the sense to stay somewhere safe until they could get off the ship and into somewhere safer.

As a musician, I can understand taking a risk that you can save your prized instrument before getting to safety. Also, he helped a bunch of kids into life vests before going to retrieve his violin.

More importantly, how much of a villainous douche does the captain look like at this point? Jesus.

Although not as a musician, I still make sure I have my prized instrument in my hand at all times.

/Did I tell you I am a 12" pianist?