I just heard from a good source that Sea Star’s El Faro went straight thru hurricane and the EPIRB is activated.
Hurricane JOAQUIN Public Advisory
000
WTNT31 KNHC 021150
TCPAT1
BULLETIN
HURRICANE JOAQUIN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 18A
NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL112015
800 AM EDT FRI OCT 02 2015
…EXTREMELY DANGEROUS JOAQUIN MOVING SLOWLY NORTHWESTWARD AS IT
BATTERS THE CENTRAL BAHAMAS…
…HURRICANE CONDITIONS TO CONTINUE OVER THE CENTRAL BAHAMAS
TODAY…
SUMMARY OF 800 AM EDT…1200 UTC…INFORMATION
LOCATION…23.4N 74.8W
ABOUT 30 MI…50 KM NNE OF CLARENCE LONG ISLAND BAHAMAS
ABOUT 45 MI…70 KM SSW OF SAN SALVADOR BAHAMAS
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS…130 MPH…215 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT…NW OR 315 DEGREES AT 3 MPH…6 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE…937 MB…27.67 INCHES
Coast Guard has lost contact with cargo ship in Hurricane Joaquin
A release was issued shortly after 11:00 a.m. by the Coast Guard. The full text is reproduced below:
COAST GUARD SEARCHING FOR CONTAINER SHIP CAUGHT IN HURRICANE JOAQUIN
MIAMI - Coast Guard search and rescue crews are searching for a container ship with 33 crewmembers aboard reported to be caught in Hurricane Joaquin, near Crooked Island, Bahamas.
The El Faro, a 735-foot ro-ro cargo ship, was en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville, Florida. At approximately 7:30 a.m. Thursday, watchstanders at the Coast Guard Atlantic Area command center in Portsmouth, Virginia, received an Inmarsat satellite notification stating the El Faro was beset by Hurricane Joaquin, had lost propulsion and had a 15-degree list. The crew reported the ship had previously taken on water, but that all flooding had been contained.
Watchstanders at the Coast Guard 7th District command center in Miami launched an HC-130 aircrew out of Clearwater, Florida, to search for the El Faro. At this time Coast Guard watchstanders and rescue crews have been unable to reestablish communications with the El Faro crew.
Two Air Force C-130 Hurricane Hunter aircrews attempted to locate and reestablish communications with the El Faro unsuccessfully Thursday. Coast Guard crews remain on scene and will continue search efforts Friday by both air and sea.
=============
15 degree list in heavy seas, might have had generators knocked out and lost comms.
Pray for good news.
Is that the old Northern Lights? If so I did some boiler work on that thing after it was stretched. I didn’t know it was still around. This doesn’t sound good.
[QUOTE=Fraqrat;169722]Is that the old Northern Lights? If so I did some boiler work on that thing after it was stretched. I didn’t know it was still around. This doesn’t sound good.[/QUOTE]
Yes, ex-Northern Lights, Jacksonville to San Juan P.R. run. Used to be under charter to MSC.
this is not good at all…complete communications failure is very difficult to occur since there should be battery backup. The only thing otherwise might be carried away antennas.
Pray for good news.
I am but wondering why they were taking the course they were? Would that not place the ship in the dangerous semicircle close to the eye?
[QUOTE=c.captain;169724]this is not good at all…complete communications failure is very difficult to occur since there should be battery backup. The only thing otherwise might be carried away antennas.
I am but wondering why they were taking the course they were? Would that not place the ship in the dangerous semicircle close to the eye?
[/QUOTE]
The forecast tracks from the various computer models have been all over the map on this one due to the complex meteorological situation. Lots of uncertainty in the forecasts.
As far as the GMDSS batteries, fragile system in my view. Lots of failure points, big rolls, shit breaks loose, gear not stowed properly sliding around, battery brackets rust and fail. Antenna connections come loose, break etc.
all the more reason to steer way far to the north and out of the main circulation…are schedules that critical to SeaStar’s operation? I would think TOTE/SeaStar to be much more safety conscious that to send a 40 year old ship right into a huge hurricane’s eye?
As far as the GMDSS batteries, fragile system in my view. Lots of failure points, big rolls, shit breaks loose, gear not stowed properly sliding around, battery brackets rust and fail. Antenatal connections come loose, break etc.
agreed and let’s hope that is the reason for the ending of comms with the USCG but there is the satellite call to the USCG. I read that is was a voice call since there was mention of flooding, list, and propulsion loss before comms were lost…there would be none of that with an EPIRB activation.
[B]Coast Guard searching for container ship caught in Hurricane Joaquin[/B]
MIAMI - Coast Guard search and rescue crews are searching for a container ship with 33 crewmembers aboard reported to be caught in Hurricane Joaquin, near Crooked Island, Bahamas.
The El Faro, a 735-foot ro-ro cargo ship, was en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville, Florida. At approximately 7:30 a.m. Thursday, watchstanders at the Coast Guard Atlantic Area command center in Portsmouth, Virginia, received an Inmarsat satellite notification stating the El Faro was beset by Hurricane Joaquin, had lost propulsion and had a 15-degree list. The crew reported the ship had previously taken on water, but that all flooding had been contained.
Watchstanders at the Coast Guard 7th District command center in Miami launched an HC-130 aircrew out of Clearwater, Florida, to search for the El Faro. At this time Coast Guard watchstanders and rescue crews have been unable to reestablish communications with the El Faro crew.
Two Air Force C-130 Hurricane Hunter aircrews attempted to locate and reestablish communications with the El Faro unsuccessfully Thursday. Coast Guard crews remain on scene and will continue search efforts Friday by both air and sea.
[QUOTE=lm1883;169728]The Faro was on the Alaskan route for ever with Tote and was a good weather ship back in the day. Am I correct in thinking that Sea Star has the only ships left of that type, meaning the trailer ships built at Sun Shipyards?[/QUOTE]
I recall that Tote had two ships Seattle to Anchorage, one was the Westward Venture, don’t recall the other one. Steam, lots of power, they used to walk right past Sea Land’s D-7s on that run.
[QUOTE=Kennebec Captain;169729]I recall that Tote had two ships Seattle to Anchorage, one was the Westward Venture, don’t recall the other one. Steam, lots of power, they used to walk right past Sea Land’s D-7s on that run.[/QUOTE]
the other was the GREATLAND. NORTHERN LIGHTS was a backup ship that used to sit in Tacoma when not needed if memory serves me?
Westward Venture, Northern Lights, Great Land were on a steady run between Tacoma and Anchorage for years. They stay at sea speed of over 20 kts from pilot station to pilot station. I’ve heard the winter runs to AK were “Sporty”.
I just went to the NOAA buoy site and the seas in that are do not look that bad. The highest that I saw was 15 feet. I really hope that they can locate them and find out that something stupid happened to cause Communication Failure!
I believe you are correct about one backup ship. I saw them in Todd Shipyard dry dock quite s few times getting repaired.
Baffling why they ended up where they ended up.
[QUOTE=DownhillDB;169734]Baffling why they ended up where they ended up.[/QUOTE]
Early forecast tracks were all over the place. Depending on where your getting your information, if you are using a single source the degree of uncertainty may not be apparent.
I just realized that we are talking more than 24hours now that the ship is out of comms and missing! I thought all this began just this morning. Definitely not good at all.
I didn’t see that either.
The Coast Guard reported Friday that at approximately 7:30 a.m. Thursday, watchstanders at the Coast Guard Atlantic Area command center in Portsmouth, Virginia, received an Inmarsat satellite notification stating the 735-foot cargo ship El Faro was beset by Hurricane Joaquin while en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville, Florida. The notification said that the ship had lost propulsion and had a 15-degree list.
The crew reported the ship had previously taken on water, but that all flooding had been contained, the Coast Guard said.
It’s hard to restore power, comms in bad weather once it’s lost. Joaquin has been stationary for almost 24 hours, now moving north at 5 mph.
They lost propulsion, were taking on water, lost communications, and had a list while close to the hurricane. The ship could settle beam to the seas without propulsion, causing all sorts of damage. Who knows what happened. Praying its just a comms issue.
It has been reported that Hurricane hunters flew down to 200M in the eye to see if they could locate the ship.
These vessels don’t have iridium or something similar as a back up?