Three articles on the El Faro

From AP - Some technical errors but of interest.

‘I’M A GONER’: El Faro’s last hours as ship sails into storm

Two posts from Bob Frump

60 Minutes Gets El Faro One Third Right

60 Minutes Misses the Boat on El Faro and the Scandal of the Jones Act Rust Bucket Fleet

This is from the Frump’s second post:

There is a heavy weight of evidence that suggests that the culture and company bore a great burden in this tragedy — evidence that Pelley and 60 Minutes simply ignore.

Frump blames it all on the Jones Act so he doesn’t seem to really understand what he’s talking about.

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That’s what I thought after I skimmed the article the first time, so I took another pass. It says this, which I agree with:

And the Jones Act is a major policy issue in America — one raised frequently not by liberal progressive types like me but Ayn Rand Cato Institute think-tankers. It’s real and obvious and –lord save my liberal soul — legitimate. You don’t have to scrap the Jones Act — just the unsafe ships that sail in its fleet.

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Some brutal technical errors in this article. From reading through the errors, it looks to me like the T/G’s tripped on low lube oil pressure due to losing suction caused by the excessive list. Once she lost power they didn’t stand a chance. What the hell they were doing blowing tubes in the middle of a hurricane is something I can’t get my head around.

The dailymail is mostly tabloid fodder so the writer of that story doesn’t quite understand the subject matter. This was just another try at sensationalizing the story and talk about how the 2nd mate’s spidey sense was tingling.

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That was just the link I picked up. The story has been posted on numerous sites in the States, I believe the origin is Associated Press.

Well either way they’re idiots who didn’t bother to read transcripts or do a little more research other than regurgitate what’s been written already. Let’s hope that Peter Berg and Mark Walberg don’t use these versions of events when they make the El Faro summer blockbuster movie.

What do you see that gives you that idea?

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The engineers were complaining about losing oil pressure due to either the list or rolling, very unlikely they were losing suction from the main engine oil sump with thousands of gallons of lube, and LO pumps suction located at the very bottom of that sump. T/G’s on the other hand are a lot more likely to be susceptible to a loss of LO pump suction due to excessive list or rolling. They did lose the plant as the bridge crew indicated in the article. Once the T/G’s tripped they were in the dark and were obviously doomed. No chance of getting the boilers lit off again on emergency generator power in time to maintain steam pressure and keep that ship from foundering.

They did continuously lose suction on the reduction gear pumps. They were down in the bow with an extreme list. They did not lose fires or electrical power prior to going dead in the water from LOW OIL PRESSURE TRIP ON THEIR REDUCTION GEAR. Read the transcripts instead of sensational and factually wrong internet articles. Better yet read all of the threads about the El Faro on this forum for a better idea of what happened.

Page 476 @ 0707 while on the phone Captain makes it clear what is happening.

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Captain and Supernumerary Chief aren’t talking about generators. Go back and start around 0400 when the captain arrives on the bridge things go downhill from there. I’m done with this for now because I don’t like rereading this transcript.

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Thanks Frag … I wouldn’t have been so kind.

Sensational stuff always seems to attract the attention of people who simply don’t know what they are talking about.

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Bob Frump’s remarks about the CNN documentary seem to apply to the AP article as well, all the focus on the captain but the condition of the ship and they way the company was treating their mariners gets far less emphasis.

Here’s a story in the Washington Post about the AP story

New story details the final moments of the El Faro crew in Hurricane Joaquin

The narrative is harrowing — Mercedes-Benz cars breaking loose in the cargo hold, ocean swells that were so large they threw the boat off course and a hull that was taking on water. To make matters worse (if they could be any worse) the crew had no idea where the storm was or how intense the conditions were right over their own heads.

Well the lights were out the whole time on account of the low oil pressure in the t/g’s.

Ah jeez - and by the way (everyday) of the 3rd and final hearing of the MBI investigation hearing was accidentally deleted on the live stream site/server.

Yes, that’s old news.

Yes, I know. But It’s not being spoke about.

It was briefly back when it first happened.

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This article from the Atlantic is by far better than the AP article.

The Pathos of El Faro’s Final Hours - Its not perfect on the technical details but not to the point where it a big distraction.

This article in Yankee Magazine is a good one as well, it has a good description of rural Maine. A Fatal Mistake | The Sinking of the El Faro