The USCG, in a press conference from Miami, just pronounced the S.S. El Faro as having sunk. In searching the debris field they have found one badly damaged lifeboat, several inflated life rafts and a number of survival suits and life jackets. One survival suit was found with unidentifiable human remains. The 4 commercial tugs and the 2 Coast Guard Cutters on site continue to comb the debris field for survivors. The ship having apparently sank 4 days ago in a Hurricane with 140 mph winds I am not hopeful. My heart is heavy with the thought of such a tragic death for 33 mariners. The surviving family members and loved ones have my deepest sympathy during their time of immense grief and loss.
I offered this prayer yesterday but I know many were not ready for it to cross their lipsâŚperhaps now, with this morningâs announcements more here are and will join me as our souls are rendered and torn asunder by this tragedyâŚ
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who biddâst the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy word,
Who walkedâst on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
I know that we are very close to an ending to this horrible eventâŚonly God now knows if anyone has managed to survive a terrific maritime loss. If any have, may God preserve them in their plight while they await salvationâŚ
You sure about that?
I have done it in vessels with positive stability to 120 degrees or so where a 90 degree roll is just annoying, but I canât imagine a full sized ship putting up with anything like that. I didnât even like it that much in a sailboat and we quickly changed to something else like running off with warps to get better motion.
[QUOTE=Kennebec Captain;170111]In some cases lying ahull in heavy weather may be a viable option, even for a large vessel. It depends on the circumstances. Itâs not a tactic that many mariners are familar with and itâs controversal but based on my experience in heavy weather it shouldnât be ruled out, especially not based on only one experience.
Depending on the seas etc, when the ship regains power you may not be able to improve the situation significantly by maneuvering under power or only be able to improve things only marginally.[/QUOTE]
the press briefing can be viewed here
nothing specific about the initial report from the master concerning the propulsion casualty
obviously in time we need to know that the master told the offices on Thursday morning. Was the vessel trying to come about when deep rolling caused the automation to shutdown the plant just when it was needed so critically? Was this a 40 year old Bailey automation system or was it a newer system installed after the ship was refitted during her life?
Any steam engineer here please enlighten us to what an boiler automation system capable to causing in such conditions? Are they a weak link that can kill an otherwise fully functional plant?
Re boarding inflatable liferafts in a storm:
There is a fair amount of literature on this from various boats sinking in storms over the years and it is difficult at best. An unballasted raft - or one that has not filled the ballast pockets yet - can end up more like a kite or break the painter.
Not a good situation 
I awoke this morning hoping to see pics of El Faro limping into San Juan or Nassau beat up and with a list.
This was not to be.
Hoping there are some survivors out there that have not been recovered.
What an absolute horror show.
[QUOTE=dbperry;170024]I posted this back on page 3 of this thread, but since there are a lot of new readers, Iâll post it again. It doesnât appear that they went 'straight into the path of the storm." I also sailed with the captain at ARCO MarineâŚstill hoping for the best.
See this interesting animation of the progression of the prediction of the path of the storm. The statement from the company says they left Jacksonville on Tuesday, 9/29. At that time, based on the predicted path, it seems pretty reasonable to follow the route they chose, IMHO. Especially if they left Tuesday morning, and were actually looking at the âMondayâ prediction of the path of the storm.
And I donât see anything that would have led me to choose to go south of the Bahamas and into the Old Bahama Channel. Shallow water, tight channel, no good options down there.
https://twitter.com/MichaelRLowry/stâŚ98338549485570
Prayers with crew.
Dave[/QUOTE]
Thereâs been some discussion about the track and Iâve not dug into this at all but the other issue is the forecast intensities. Donât know when the forecasts started to call for CAT 4
Will we ever know what happened? Also, I just read a report that one of the parents of one of the crew received an email from her daughter that said they were headed straight into a hurricane. A few hours later the ship started taking on water. If they knew they were headed into a hurricane, why wouldnât the ship turn away? It sounds like the hurricane was moving very slowly, perhaps more slowly than the ship. I hope survivors are found but the lack of water for someone not in a raft is diminishing those chances. Whatâs the water temperature down there right now?
[QUOTE=capnfab;170146]I awoke this morning hoping to see pics of El Faro limping into San Juan or Nassau beat up and with a list.
This was not to be.
Hoping there are some survivors out there that have not been recovered.
What an absolute horror show.[/QUOTE]
Yes, tough day here in Maine as well. Rough one for us. I canât imagine what the families of the crew are going through.
âNot sure if youâve been following the weather at all,â Maine Maritime graduate Danielle Randolph wrote on Thursday, âbut there is a hurricane out here and we are heading straight into it.â
Hours later the ship sank. I imagine more emails will surface in the coming days. This is very telling as it comes direct from a deck officer who obviously had the latest forecast.
Sad to hear of the loss of life in a survival suit but lets hope that others also had the time to put theirs on.
[QUOTE=MariaW;170148]If they knew they were headed into a hurricane, why wouldnât the ship turn away?[/QUOTE]
I believe the ship did try to turn away but something catastrophic occurred as it swung around. Automation caused shutdown of the plant perhaps?
This may have been reported already but I just spoke to the Coast Guard. Monday Updates here: El Faro Likely Sank in Hurricane
Update (Monday 11 a.m. EDT, Oct. 5, 2015) - The U.S. Coast Guard has concluded that the American cargo El Faro likely sank in Hurricane Joaquin. An active search for survivors continues Monday. One body has been found in the water. An empty, heavily damaged lifeboat was also spotted.
Also, PLEASE keep in mind when posting that friends and family of the crew members may be reading this.
Are all those vehicles chained down? Earlier someone said that they carried 294 cars, trucks and trailers below deck. How do you secure them from shifting? Chains would not hold trucks and trailers.
[QUOTE=c.captain;170143]the press briefing can be viewed here
nothing specific about the initial report from the master concerning the propulsion casualty
obviously in time we need to know that the master told the offices on Thursday morning. Was the vessel trying to come about when deep rolling caused the automation to shutdown the plant just when it was needed so critically? Was this a 40 year old Bailey automation system or was it a newer system installed after the ship was refitted during her life?
Any steam engineer here please enlighten us to what an boiler automation system capable to causing in such conditions? Are they a weak link that can kill an otherwise fully functional plant?[/QUOTE]
Youâll have to wait a LONG time to get the facts, even then youâll probably never get them all. Everything will be screened though attorneys. The USCG and ABS also have an interest in showing they inspected the ship and it met all their requirements, so there should have been no problem. The captain is the low guy on the totem pole here, expect things to run in that direction. At any rate it will be a few years before any official report is released.
Why did the not retrieve the body? Continue search and get body at the end of the day?
It is unfortunate but the CG has gotten away from recovering deceased individuals. Especially in adverse weather conditions. They figure itâs not worth the risk to the crew conducting the rescue. I donât agree with this policy and neither do most SAR operators but what can you do.
wow what a joke
atleast get the body and get it aboard the ship or something give atleAst one family something
There is a family that could have closure. I hope someone recovers it. A unpleasant task but I would hope someone would do it for my family.
The sad thing is this is the sort of thing I have seen time and again in third world countries. Old ships sent out into bad conditions to make money. Things happen and people perish. If we were reading this report and it did not involve US mariners but Mexicans or Chinese weâd be saying, âWell what do you expect?â But the fact is this is supposedly the richest nation on earth with supposedly the best business people and the shipping companies have a protected territory for coast-wise trade.Sooner or later the question should be asked. Is this the best the richest country on earth can do for its own trade and the people that do the work?