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El Faro owners say mechanical failure left cargo ship adrift amid Hurricane Joaquin
FoxNews ^ | October 06, 2015 | FoxNews

Posted on 10/06/2015 6:33:38 AM PDT by WhiskeyX

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1 posted on 10/06/2015 6:33:38 AM PDT by WhiskeyX
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To: WhiskeyX

I was awake in the middle of the night, mourning the terror those poor people went through. I can’t even begin to imagine their terror.


2 posted on 10/06/2015 6:35:14 AM PDT by Cowgirl of Justice
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To: WhiskeyX
There was a posting here the other day, supposedly quoting someone from another forum, with familiarity....claiming that this ship was a bucket of bolts and constantly having mechanical and maintenance problems.

I suppose once the attorneys get involved, we'll learn more...

3 posted on 10/06/2015 6:36:25 AM PDT by ErnBatavia (It ain't a "hashtag"....it's a damn pound sign. ###)
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To: ErnBatavia
..claiming that this ship was a bucket of bolts and constantly having mechanical and maintenance problems.

Sounds like most ships on the sea.

4 posted on 10/06/2015 6:40:52 AM PDT by dragonblustar (Philippians 2:10)
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To: dragonblustar
..claiming that this ship was a bucket of bolts and constantly having mechanical and maintenance problems.

Sounds like most ships on the sea.

And they become even more so when they fall under the control of the second owners. Oil tankers especially are floating disaster areas, enormous in size, single screw and loaded for bear.

5 posted on 10/06/2015 6:45:57 AM PDT by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: Cowgirl of Justice

With the hurricane wind blowing, those sailors wouldn’t have lasted long. That type of wind prevents you from lifting your head up, then add the waves on top of that. They went through hell.


6 posted on 10/06/2015 6:46:29 AM PDT by dragonblustar (Philippians 2:10)
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To: Travis McGee

Ping.


7 posted on 10/06/2015 6:50:38 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: ErnBatavia

Yeah, is sounds to me that the owners just admitted culpability.


8 posted on 10/06/2015 6:53:17 AM PDT by taxcontrol ( The GOPe treats the conservative base like slaves by taking their votes and refuses to pay)
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To: ErnBatavia

They sail them until they break.


9 posted on 10/06/2015 6:53:43 AM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER (The Second Amendment, a Matter of Fact, Not A Matter of Opinion)
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To: SWAMPSNIPER

And after they break, they haul them together, bring in the welding crew and keep on sailing.
This actually happened to an MSTS ship parked at a West Coast dock in the early 1950s.


10 posted on 10/06/2015 6:59:33 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks ("If he were working for the other side, what would he be doing differently ?")
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To: WhiskeyX
I'd assume the thinking for cargo ships might be the same as for cruise ships. It often seems that it's nothing can go wrong until it does go wrong.

In 2008, I took a July cruise out of NYC. There was a hurricane hugging the SE US coast. The ship with its incredible navigation and weather information stayed east of it. Joaquim had that weird unpredictable path. I could see how a ship with a combination of mechanical difficulties and an unpredictable storm was at some point going to get caught up in a storm.

11 posted on 10/06/2015 7:00:59 AM PDT by grania
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To: ErnBatavia

..”a bucket of bolts..”

Top-heavy, too, if loaded up with containers.


12 posted on 10/06/2015 7:03:31 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: dragonblustar

I don’t think there was much time. If the ship was listing 15 degrees and no propulsion, shifting of the cargo would have caused the ship to capsize and sink very quickly.


13 posted on 10/06/2015 7:24:41 AM PDT by Maine Mariner
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To: WhiskeyX

I think this ship still had open top life boats. These should of been changed decades ago


14 posted on 10/06/2015 8:08:49 AM PDT by barmag25
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To: WhiskeyX
but was prevented from doing so by a mechanical failure that left the boat adrift in the path of the power storm.

I was in the Air Force, not the Navy, but as a day sailor, I'm pretty sure that the term 'boat' would not apply to the El Faro.

15 posted on 10/06/2015 8:15:20 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /Sarc tag necessary?)
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To: Pearls Before Swine

Container ships are loaded by computer program to get the right center of gravity. Containers have different weights of cargo, you can put heavier weighted containers below deck.

However, on deck containers can create an incredible wind driven force.


16 posted on 10/06/2015 8:20:09 AM PDT by Cold Heart
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To: WhiskeyX

There was nothing mechanical about the decision to sail into a cat-3 hurricane.


17 posted on 10/06/2015 8:22:29 AM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: Cold Heart

The el faro was a ro-ro. Below deck were vehicles. The cars might be what shifted to create the list.


18 posted on 10/06/2015 8:22:50 AM PDT by barmag25
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To: Yo-Yo

“I was in the Air Force, not the Navy, but as a day sailor, I’m pretty sure that the term ‘boat’ would not apply to the El Faro. “

The El Faro was 790’ long. The author must think the cut off from boat to ship starts a 800’. :-)


19 posted on 10/06/2015 8:25:36 AM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: WhiskeyX
I read yesterday that one body had been found.

snip
Capt. Mark Fedor said one large debris field was spotted near the last known location of the
790-foot container ship El Faro near the Bahamas. The body, which Fedor said was "unidentifiable,"
was discovered in a survival suit, but no other human remains or survivors were immediately located.

"We are still looking for survivors or any signs of life," Fedor said at a news conference
near Miami. "We're not looking for the vessel any longer."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/el-faro-cargo-ship-sank-body-recovered-coast-guard-article-1.2385522

20 posted on 10/06/2015 8:35:27 AM PDT by deport
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