Costa Concordia captain's astonishing failure

Naval convention requires that a captain go down with the ship. There's good reason for it. At sea, the captain is in charge of the universe, for making choices that can mean life or death. In command, he must stay until the end.

That's the consoling message in the worldwide scorn for Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia, which shipwrecked off the northern Italian coast Friday night. Despite his claim that he accidentally fell into a lifeboat, Schettino clearly abandoned ship (as did some other senior officers) and failed to lead his passengers to safety. This astonishingly cowardly behavior was captured in a recorded exchange with an Italian Coast Guard officer who demanded Schettino's return to his vessel.

Possibly more lives could have been saved, but certainly the fright the passengers experienced in the scramble to safety could have been ameliorated by an orderly evacuation.

More than a half century ago, as the Andrea Doria was sinking off the coast of Nantucket, Capt. Piero Calamai stayed until every last person left.

Three years ago this week, although he piloted a different mode of transport, Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger twice checked every seat for passengers before he was the last one off the Airbus A320 airliner he skillfully landed in the Hudson River.

Schettino is likely to face criminal charges, but that won't quell the outrage. The belief that a captain goes down with the ship is society's reflection of the moral responsibility those in command owe others.