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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAn Ill-Omen (Champagne failed to break during christening of Costa Concordia)
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-incidents/cursed-concordia-born-bad-ended-up-worse-20120116-1q1w2.html
Cursed Concordia 'born bad, ended up worse'
If maritime superstitions are to be believed, the Costa Concordia was doomed from the moment it was launched.
When a grand christening ceremony was held in July 2006 in the port of Civitavecchia, the ceremonial champagne bottle failed to smash against the hull of the luxury liner - now on its side in the sea as rescue workers hunt for missing passengers - and wet the bow.
In a video capturing the moment, some among the crowd - which included supermodel Eva Herzigová - can be heard gasping as the bottle is hurled from a height and bounces, unbroken, off the side.
It is a sign some seafarers consider to be a harbinger of bad luck. Ominously, the Titanic was never christened.
"It was born bad and ended up worse," the Italian newspaper Il Giornale pronounced in a headline about Friday's tragedy.
</snip>
Cursed Concordia 'born bad, ended up worse'
If maritime superstitions are to be believed, the Costa Concordia was doomed from the moment it was launched.
When a grand christening ceremony was held in July 2006 in the port of Civitavecchia, the ceremonial champagne bottle failed to smash against the hull of the luxury liner - now on its side in the sea as rescue workers hunt for missing passengers - and wet the bow.
In a video capturing the moment, some among the crowd - which included supermodel Eva Herzigová - can be heard gasping as the bottle is hurled from a height and bounces, unbroken, off the side.
It is a sign some seafarers consider to be a harbinger of bad luck. Ominously, the Titanic was never christened.
"It was born bad and ended up worse," the Italian newspaper Il Giornale pronounced in a headline about Friday's tragedy.
</snip>
(I looked for the video of the christening, but couldn't find it)
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An Ill-Omen (Champagne failed to break during christening of Costa Concordia) (Original Post)
Cooley Hurd
Jan 2012
OP
malaise
(267,784 posts)1. Just give thanks this didn't happen on
April 15th.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)2. or Friday the 13th n/t
malaise
(267,784 posts)3. It was Friday 13th...but was it the woman on the bridge?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9024768/Costa-Concordia-investigators-probe-role-of-young-Moldovan-woman-on-cruise-ship.html
<snip>
The 25-year-old blonde, identified as Domnica Cemortan, was invited onto the bridge as the cruise liner sailed perilously close to Giglio, in what was apparently a salute to an old friend of the captains and a favour to the ships head waiter, whose family were from the island.
She was reportedly the guest of one of the ships officers and may be the woman that passengers saw drinking and chatting with Capt Francesco Schettino on Friday evening, a few hours before the Costa Concordia ran aground.
Italian judicial authorities, who are investigating the accident and the captains conduct, want to interview Ms Cemortan, who according to her Facebook page was born in Chisinau, Moldova, and lives in Bucharest, Romania.
<snip>
The 25-year-old blonde, identified as Domnica Cemortan, was invited onto the bridge as the cruise liner sailed perilously close to Giglio, in what was apparently a salute to an old friend of the captains and a favour to the ships head waiter, whose family were from the island.
She was reportedly the guest of one of the ships officers and may be the woman that passengers saw drinking and chatting with Capt Francesco Schettino on Friday evening, a few hours before the Costa Concordia ran aground.
Italian judicial authorities, who are investigating the accident and the captains conduct, want to interview Ms Cemortan, who according to her Facebook page was born in Chisinau, Moldova, and lives in Bucharest, Romania.
malaise
(267,784 posts)4. Check these pics
opihimoimoi
(52,426 posts)5. Thank You very much for pictures :o)
malaise
(267,784 posts)10. Boston.com really has some of the best pics
on the planet
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)8. Amazing photos - thanks for the link!
JHB
(37,128 posts)6. And what is the non-breakage rate at christening...
...and the relative severe accident rate for ships with breakage vs non-breakage?
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)9. That would be an interesting ratio to know...
I know that Titanic had two ill-omens: she wasn't christened when she was launched (in fairness, the White Star Line didn't do the champagne christening for any of it's Olympic class ships, however, only one of the three ships survived a normal lifespan - the Olympic herself); and she was launched without her name on the bow. Both are considered bad luck by mariners.
CanonRay
(14,036 posts)7. Maybe she was driving?
What a mess that crew was.