The captain of the Costa Concordia admitted to his superiors "I f-----" up in the moments after the cruise liner slammed into a rocky shoal.

The audio recording undermines his attempts to pin the blame for the disaster on a junior officer.

First media interview ... Francesco Schettino. Credit:AP

Evidence gathered from the black box data recorder appears to contradict his insistence that he was not in charge of the ship when it smashed into the rocky outcrop off the Tuscan island of Giglio.

In his first media interview since the disaster, Francesco Schettino insisted on Tuesday that he was not in command of the cruise ship when it careered into the reef on January 13, tearing a huge gash in its hull and leading to the deaths of 32 people, including a five-year-old girl.