Posted on 10/02/2015 9:01:12 AM PDT by halo66
MIAMI -
Coast Guard search and rescue crews are searching for a container ship with 33 crew members that sailed out of Jacksonville and was 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.
About 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...
http://www.news4jax.com/news/jacksonville-cargo-ship-missing-in-hurricane/35618018
(Excerpt) Read more at news4jax.com ...
I was off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1998 on a 185 ft icebreaker that sailed into a storm. 20 - 40 ft waves. I, too, have nightmares and can’t even listen to Gordon Lightfoot sing about the Edmund Fitzgerald. It was over 8 hrs and my last thought before I lost consciousness was how scared I was.
My heart breaks for those people.
:*(
Well on the aircraft Independence in ‘93 or ‘94 it was because the forecasters expected 2 hurricanes to veer approximately 20 degrees north/northeast and so we could shot the gap. Instead one of them turned to the SE and the other to the NW and the entire group (Japanese, Koreans, and US ships)got hammered between the two as they converged.
At least 2 radar masts lost, couple of sonar domes flooded or destroyed, winds were too high to fold the rotor on the safety helo so I watched the front rotor tie down snap and the blade fold back over the body of the helo, water over the flight deck, ah fun days...
Was the captain yelling allah akbar when he knowingly decided to sail directly into a hurricane? No way a sane person would.
If the ship sinks then the company should not be able to receive the insurance money. No one in his right mind sails into a hurricane.
The water is not shallow there.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/26%C2%B012%2737.4%22N+76%C2%B020%2707.1%22W/@26.3004178,-76.6933315,986810m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0
Click on the satellite icon in lower right if you only see the map. You can also use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom out to see more area.
I think I know that ship. It was moored in Baltimore Harbor when I first moved here six years ago.
I would have detoured around Cuba and radioed the front office to piss up a rope!
Hat tip to the Coast Guard. When we all wonder why anyone would sail into a storm like this they do because it’s their job.
First Thoughts:
1) Bacardi will suffer many losses.
2) Bermuda Triangle crap.
God Bless the crew - and may they return safely.
Saludos!
Do you know if the cargo was mostly Bacardi? They have a distillery in Jacksonville.
It had cars, food, Walmarts items, etc. It was heading to Puerto Rico. They said it was listing at 15% when the engines failed.
Sad indeed... praying for the 33 lost — perhaps they had life rafts or lifeboats... Let’s hope & pray!
@USCGSoutheast tweeted at 7:30 PM: HC130 Crew locate life ring. #USCG H60 confirms life ring belongs to #ELFaro #Joaquin
Ping for update
The vessel carried 685 containers and had on board an EPIRB, which transmits distress signals.
An initial ping was received Thursday morning, but no new ones have followed, according to Chief Petty Officer Ryan Doss.
He said it gave an initial location but did not continue transmitting, possibly because of bad weather.
This is the Sat beacon I mentioned
Might have pinged during a capsize. Most are set to begin signaling when they detach from their mount. Either float out during a sinking or fall out during a capsize. If it sunk it should still be pinging. Capsize -it probably went down with the ship.
It was top heavy and listing in a hurricane. The captain should have called for his crew to be rescued.
From First Coast News:
“El Faro has 391 containers topside and 294 cars, trucks and trailers below deck. The Coast Guard said that cargo makes the listing problems worse at sea.”
There was a similar freighter that listed and had to be grounded to avoid capsize off Britain several months ago.
IIRC, some of the vehicles below deck jumped/broke their tiedowns and caused the listing to worsen doe to CG shifting.
That ship was not lost, but it was not fighting a hurricane in open water, either..
And the fight is almost impossible when the engines cut out and they are sitting there like sitting ducks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.