Costa Concordia

Costa Concordia Captain Admits Mistake

"I was convinced … there wouldn’t be a problem."

Francesco Schettino, the captain of the wrecked Costa Concordia, said in a deposition released Wednesday that he made a “mistake,” but he maintained that he ran the ship aground to keep it from sinking. According to reports in Italian media, Schettino said in the 126-page court deposition that he “hit this procession of rock, that almost seems stuck into the ship, but this was my mistake … There isn’t anything I can say, as I was convinced there wouldn’t be a problem.” But Schettino dismissed allegations that he was going too fast, since there isn’t a speed limit. He maintained he ran the ship aground to limit the tilting. Italian media also published transcripts of a wiretapped conversation between Schettino and a friend shortly after the shipwreck, in which Schettino said, “In my place, someone wouldn’t have been so benevolent to go right under there, because they would have pissed me off.”