Rome (CNN) -- Thrust from obscurity to notoriety overnight, Capt. Francesco Schettino is the man at the center of the questions and recriminations over the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster.
As transcripts emerge of his conversations with the Italian coast guard on the fateful Friday night the ship ran aground, the 52-year-old's every word is being pored over for clues as to what happened.
A picture is beginning to develop of a man who spent decades at sea, but who his employers say did not live up to his training or responsibilities at the helm of his ship.
With at least 11 deaths confirmed and about two dozen people still missing, Schettino may face charges including manslaughter, shipwreck and abandoning a ship when passengers were still on board, chief prosecutor Francesco Verusio has said.
It also has been widely suggested Schettino may have been "showboating" when he sailed the luxury cruise liner so close to the island of Giglio, where submerged rocks tore through the hull.
Schettino, who has said he will cooperate with investigators, says the rocks were uncharted, and his lawyer says Schettino did everything he could to preserve the lives of crew and passengers.
A native of Castellamare di Stabbia, near the southern city of Naples, Schettino comes from a seafaring family, Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper reports.
He graduated from the well-regarded Nino Bixio nautical institute in Piano di Sorrento, in Naples province, 30 years ago, according to the news agency Adnkronos.
He joined Costa in 2002 as a safety officer, served as a staff captain, and was appointed captain in 2006, according to the cruise line.
Like all Costa masters, the cruise line said, Schettino "has been constantly trained, passing all tests."
Costa chairman Pier Luigi Foschi said Schettino had never been involved in an accident before. He also played down the possibility that alcohol may have played a role in the disaster, saying he did not believe Schettino drank, and that all crew were subject to random drug and alcohol tests by Costa Cruises.

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I think it is a tragedy al the deaths they were in the accident. Im glad they send the captain to jail because he get out of the route and crash the cruise. When he noticed that something was wrong he dint did his job coordinating the evacuation. He tried to go away with a safe boat. They tried to communicate with him and he don't did his job. Many people found a way to save themselves because they didn't get any help. An old woman swam more than 60 meters in very cold water to the coast.