It’s the blame game again (Cruise boss apologises, Tuesday’s Oxford Mail), with those responsible denying any responsibility.

Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia, is being made a scapegoat for the failings of others.

Of course he has failed but it’s the ship, the 10-storey biscuit tin, which capsized after having one gaping hole torn in its hull which is the main culprit of this disaster, along with the authorities which allowed that biscuit tin to take to sea with people on board. Has nothing been learned from the Titanic disaster?

Francesco did what many captains do when sailing by their home ports or that of some friends: he sailed in close and sounded the ship’s horn. His misfortune was to be in a biscuit tin rather than a sea-going liner.

Cruising has changed much in recent years. The voyage to the sun has been replaced with an aeroplane flight to the sun.

The cruise around the places of interest now takes place in vulnerable biscuit tins. The return journey from the holiday destination is, again, an airline flight.

Biscuit tins hate bad weather. Rocks, submerged reefs and dock protuberances pierce those biscuit tins. Biscuit tins with holes, even one hole, always capsize and sink. Ocean-going ships and even biscuit tins with compartments would not capsize as the result of one gash in the hull.

Francesco was apparently responsible for the ship hitting a rock, for which he should be punished, but he was not responsible for the ship’s capsizing, nor the consequences of that.

Who would not be alarmed on a ship which started to capsize after hitting a rock? Francesco clearly was alarmed when he realised that the ship was not the seaworthy vessel he had believed it to be.

While nobody can excuse his reported dereliction of duty as the ship’s master after the accident occurred, we must all recognise that he was not solely responsible for this disaster.

One thing I have learned from this episode is that, if I go on a cruise, it will be on a ship that’s capable of sailing from this country and back again.

JOHN MACALLISTER, Chamberlain Place, Kidlington