The Champagne Bottle did not Break! The Ominous Launch of the Costa Concordia

The Costa Concordia was a large cruise ship ordered in 2004 by Carnival Corporation from Fincantieri, and built in the Sestri Ponente yard in Genoa, Italy.

At the vessel's launch at Sestri Ponente on 2 September 2005, the champagne bottle, released by model Eva Herzigová, failed to break when swung against the hull the first time. This type of occurrence is considered a bad omen among seafarers, and this incident has been partially blamed for the ship's 2008 accident and subsequent 2012 sinking.

In 2008 the ship sustained major damage to its bow after it was pushed against its dock by strong winds in Sicily. This required extensive subsequent repairs.

On 13 January 2012 at 21:45, Costa Concordia struck a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea just off the eastern shore of Isola del Giglio. This tore open a 50 m (160 ft) gash on the port side of her hull, which soon flooded parts of the engine room, cutting power from the engines and ship services. As water flooded in and the ship listed, she drifted back towards the island and grounded near shore, then rolled onto her starboard side, lying in an unsteady position on a rocky underwater ledge.

The evacuation of Costa Concordia took over six hours, and of the 3,229 passengers and 1,023 crew known to have been aboard, 32 died. Francesco Schettino, the ship's captain at that time, was tried and found guilty of manslaughter, of causing a maritime accident, and abandoning his ship. He was sentenced to sixteen years in prison in 2015. The wreck was salvaged three years after the incident and then towed to the port of Genoa, where she was scrapped.

The inception chart for the launch of the ship has multiple negative features – no astrologer would ever pick a bad time as this. The cursed degree of 19 Scorpio was rising at the Ascendant. Its ruler, Mars, was in opposition at the descendant, and in square to Neptune, god of the seas… The Moon had lost power, being waning and within 15 degrees of the Sun; it was separating trine Pluto. Pluto, co-ruler of the ascendant, was stationary direct at the cusp of the second house, pointing to future large financial losses. It was involved in a complex triangular pattern with Mercury, the Moon, Venus and Jupiter. It was also conjunct the fixed star Ras Alhague, the head of the “Snake Charmer”, which traditionally gives misfortune through women. Indeed the captain - Mr Schettino - was apparently distracted by an extramarital affair on the ship at the time of the disaster. Venus was conjunct Jupiter, but both were close to the South Node. At the time of the disaster transiting Mars and Moon were square to natal Pluto, the significator of the ship.

Captain Schettino’s connection to the ship is shown in his birth chart. Birth time is unknown, however his Sun was at 21 Scorpio, close to the ascendant at the time of launch…