SS El Faro

2015

Hurricane Joaquin, the 4,500-metre recording Location: Atlantic Ocean, ~36 nmi NE of Acklins Island, Bahamas · Coordinates: 23.64°N 73.93°W · Casualties: 33 · Survivors: 0 · Depth: 4,500 m · Cause: hurricane · foundered — Sailed Jacksonville for San Juan on 29 September 2015, electing a direct route through the path of Hurricane Joaquin. She lost propulsion in 100-knot winds and seas exceeding 15 metres on the morning of 1 October. Final transmission at 07:39; no distress signal from the crew. · Fate: abyssal · VDR recovered · Type: roll-on/roll-off container ship · Tonnage: 31,515 tons · Crew: 33 · Flag: United States · Launched: 1975 American roll-on container ship, Jacksonville to San Juan. Sailed into Hurricane Joaquin on 1 October 2015 believing she could outrun it; she could not, and was lost with all hands off Crooked Island, Bahamas. Her Voyage Data Recorder was recovered from 4,500 metres, the deepest such recovery in maritime history. The 26-hour bridge transcript became the single most influential document in modern bridge-resource training. The Vessel SS El Faro was an American-flagged roll-on/roll-off container ship, 224 metres long, 31,515 gross tons, built at Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock in Chester, Pennsylvania in 1975 as the Puerto Rico. She was refitted through successive owners and renamed in 2006 when acquired by TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, which operated her on the Jacksonville-San Juan and Jacksonville-Anchorage routes. She was one of the oldest container ships still in American-flag service and had been scheduled for replacement by the TOTE Maritime Marlin-class in 2016, which would have retired her that spring. She was a conventional steam-turbine ship with two boilers driving a single shaft, an architecture superseded commercially by diesel propulsion in the 1980s but retained in American-flag service because of Jones Act protection and because TOTE's Jacksonville-San Juan operation had a 40-year-old system of spares and crews geared specifically to steam. Her last Coast Guard dry-dock inspection before her final voyage had been conducted in February 2015. Her operating certificate was current. Her master, Captain Michael Davidson, 53, a Maine Maritime Academy graduate, had been in command of her since 2010. He had twenty years of deep-sea experience and a reputation for prudent navigation. His officers for the voyage of 29 September 2015 included Chief Mate Steven Shultz (54), a 34-year merchant marine veteran; Second Mate Danielle Randolph (34); Third Mate Jeremie Riehm (46). The crew of 33 totalled 32 Ameri The Disaster Captain Davidson authorised an emergency call to TOTE's Jacksonville operations centre at 07:06 on 1 October 2015. He reported the ship's position, his storm situation, a 15-degree port list, and a flood in her #3 hold. He requested immediate Coast Guard assistance. TOTE's duty officer, unable to reach the designated person on call, logged the call at 07:08 and did not immediately initiate a distress response. El Faro's Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) activated at 07:29. Her signal was received by Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville at 07:30 and identified at 07:36 as belonging to El Faro. Between 07:30 and 07:39 the ship's bridge recording captured its final moments. Captain Davidson ordered the crew to prepare to abandon ship; he ordered the second mate to make the ship's loudspeaker announcement. Random fragments of the following nine minutes were recorded: Randolph's voice urging Davidson to stay on the bridge, Krysztofik's voice in Polish praying, the captain's voice giving a final rudder order, the second mate's voice saying "I can't." At 07:39 the VDR stopped recording. The ship had capsized and sunk. All 33 aboard died. No survivors were found in the week-long Coast Guard search. A single unidentified body was recovered on 4 October in a survival suit; no other bodies were recovered, and forensic analysis was inconclusive. The full complement went to the bottom with the ship.