2nd August 2024 – The Costa Concordia Story – James Warrand

The Costa Concordia Story, the story of running aground less than three hours into a Mediterreaneum Cruise, why, how, and results of many factors to cause this terrible accident, and the subsequent recovery efforts.
A fascinating story of inadequate shipbuilding standards, a captain who behaved badly, poor training of crew and passengers in lifeboat drill, failure of other officers and more.
Plus the engineering challenge in recovering the wreck and the high costs
This talk will cover all these aspects in what could be called a marine whodunit!

James Warrand

James has been a keen sailor since he grew up on the Pittwater sailing VJ’s, and then owned a small yacht on Sydney Harbour for many years.

His working life included being a dairy farmer and contractor, also as a life insurance and general fire insurance agent, marketing of insurance funding companies and as a financial planner. He has been a volunteer guide at the Maritime Museum for twelve years.

James was involved with the Cobbitty Rural Fire Brigade for over 35 years, and has been involved with several organizations based in the Camden District.

James is also an active member of HMS Hood Association and administers the “Enquiry Desk” for the Association

James has been a Volunteer Speaker for the Australian National Maritime Museum for five years and has developed several talks Battle of the Coral Sea,The Bombing of Darwin, The Grounding of HM Bark Endeavour, Endeavour’s Voyage up the East Coast of Australia, and a personal talk on His Father and HMS Hood, as well as presenting many other talks developed by other Speakers within the Museums volunteer Speakers Group