SINKING OF SS EL FARO:

 Submitted by Khairul Islam (7E)

On Oct 1st, 2015, 790 ft US Flag cargo ship SS El Faro sunk in the teeth of Cat-4 (140 mph wind and 50 ft waves) hurricane “Joaquin”. The ship sunk to a depth of 15000 ft about 35 NM North East of Crooked Island, Bahamas (inside the infamous Bermuda Triangle area). The ship, owned by Tote maritime and crewed by 28 US Merchant Mariners, was en route to Puerto Rico from Jacksonville, FL. Before sinking, the ship lost power and propulsion (steam turbine) and had a 15 deg list and helplessly adrift towards the stomach of the monstrous hurricane. Couple of days ago, US Coast Guard finally called off all searches to find any survivors.

All Officers were from the American Maritime Officers (AMO) Union, which I have been a member for the last 26 years. The tragedy had a personal touch since the ship’s Chief Mate (Steven Shultz) was once my shipmate in the early 1990’s.

Sometimes no amount of “error chain analysis” or “situational awareness” can prepare humans to face the might and fury of the ocean. Sinking of SS El Faro in the Bermuda Triangle, which has claimed an unusually high number of ships and lives for centuries, will add another ill-fated missing ship to the list.d had a 15 deg list and helplessly adrift towards the stomach of the monstrous hurricane. Couple of days ago, US Coast Guard finally called off all searches to find any survivors.
All Officers were from the American Maritime Officers (AMO) Union, which I have been a member for the last 26 years. The tragedy had a personal touch since the ship’s Chief Mate (Steven Shultz) was once my shipmate in the early 1990’s.
Sometimes no amount of “error chain analysis” or “situational awareness” can prepare humans to face the might and fury of the ocean. Sinking of SS El Faro in the Bermuda Triangle, which has claimed an unusually high number of ships and lives for centuries, will add another ill fated missing ship to the list.

When El Faro left Jacksonville for San Juan on Sept. 29, its captain and crew had an idea of what lay ahead. Joaquin could be seen on the radar, coiling over the Caribbean like a snake about to strike.

“On Wednesday [Capt. Davidson] sent a message to the home office with the status of the developing tropical storm he said he had very good weather … and that his crew was prepared,” said Phil Greene, president and CEO of TOTE Services, Inc., adding that El Faro had been built to work in the rough seas off Alaska and was “a sturdy, rugged vessel that was well maintained and that the crew members were proud of.”

The next day, however, the massive container ship was under siege from stiff waves and powerful winds. Mother Nature seemed to have turned against El Faro, whose name in Spanish ironically means “lighthouse.”

Hurricane Joaquin “just kind of circled the area [surrounding the ship] and made a loop of about 100 miles or so,” U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Chief Petty Officer Ryan Doss told the Bangor Daily News on Saturday. “It went down and circled around it, and now it’s going back out almost the same way it came in. It’s kind of unbelievable.”

Some time early on Thursday, Oct. 1, Randolph sent her last message to her mother. At 7:20 a.m. that same day, El Faro sent out a distress signal saying it had lost electricity, was taking on water and was listing 15 degrees, but that the situation was still “manageable.”