Posted on 01/03/2016 7:19:05 PM PST by artichokegrower
The National Transportation Safety Board has released the first photos and video of the wreckage of the sunken El Faro as part of its investigation into the sinking of the American cargo ship near Bermuda in October.
(Excerpt) Read more at gcaptain.com ...
Eternal Father, Strong to save
who’s arm hath bound the restless wave.
Who bidd’st the might ocean deep
it’s own appointed limits keep.
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
or those in peril on the Sea.
The Navy Hymn.
IMHO,, the captain gets the blame for this. He sailed into what he knew was a particularly violent hurricane instead of putting about and running for safe have . “Sailing too free I the bleak ocean and you will wind up with a mouth full of sand” .
Agreed. It boils down to the Captain, always has, always will. As it should be.
It is his responsibility for the ship and lives of his crew. If he had reservations about the engineering fitness of the vessel, he shouldn’t have hazarded his men.
Doesn’t mean I can’t feel sympathy for the Captain and crew, because I do.
I can only imagine how lonely it feels to be on a vessel that is doomed, knowing full well that you aren’t going to survive going into that water, and there isn’t going to be anyone to help you.
All you have done in your life comes up to that hard point with your full consciousness, and you have to wonder...how did I come to this? What twists, turns, and choices brought me right to this point in time where the ship is sinking under my feet, and my life is going to be measured in minutes.
Yup. See video of a US carrier taking water over the bow. Not even a freak wave. 90 feet from the waterline to the flight deck. Scary stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1graEzmeRU
Is it common for larger ships of this tonnage to sail into hurricanes?
Well said sir.
Try typing that again, terycarl, when it's a member of your family that died. Then let me know just how little sympathy you have then. Your opinion disgusts me.
If I recall correctly, propulsion was out for quite some time. So long that a repair company was on board performing work. She would have been in port for a long time if the screws were turning
(I remember many celebrated the loss of the Kursk; however, the submarine community mourned the death of a respected foe.)
"He always thought of the sea as 'la mar' which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her. Sometimes those who love her say bad things of her but they are always said as though she were a woman.... But the old man always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favours, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them. The moon affects her as it does a woman, he thought. ."
- Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
Not thinking I would want to be out in that in a 36 ft sailboat......
Still he altered course to sail around it instead of reversing his track and going for safe haven. The captain made a serious mistake and regretfully paid the price along with his crew.
I don't want to assign blame to anyone, because it's likely that everyone aboard had been through serious storms in the past -- but that's what made it difficult to realize, "this ship is going to go down". Also, as we were not there, getting into a lifeboat may not have looked like a better risk in that storm. They were in a no-win situation, afa I can see.
I feel pretty strongly about this, but...I am a traditionalist.
It comforts me that a captain of a ship, any ship, even in this age of constant connectiveness, can still be a human taking full responsibility for a situation at sea.
Agreed. She had open lifeboats, not like the ones they have on modern cruise ships. In that storm there were no good choices.
If you buy that she would have survived the thick, then the question may be whether Capt. Michael Davidson should have anticipated the loss of propulsion. A 40 year old rust bucket she was, but ABS certified the previous March.
She set out when Joaquin was a tropical storm. She was already committed to a windward course by the time it became a hurricane. 
Oil fired boilers and a steam turbine power-plant driving a single screw.
The polish complement aboard were completing non-power plant refurbishment, before the ship was to be placed in another trade route.
So it was trying to ride out the storm...
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