El Faro Update

Wonder if we will ever know what that "navigational incident" was. Could it refer to hatch covers blowing off? Poor souls

I believe so, you need to hear the last link between Tote and USCG. They mentioned Scuttle blowing off, 3 water tight chambers flooded, then mentioned that they were able to dewater the boat.

Then the USCG guy says, they're not in any grave danger and to call a tow boat. Why don't they just anchor the boat as it's not that deep where they are and a bunch of other stuff. I don't believe any help was even sent right away. It's UNBELIEVABLE. They knew they had lost propulsion, etc. etc.

http://wokv.media.streamtheworld.com/audio/audio_phone_call_102817371.mp3

There not that deep?And what was your last name?
Do you have vessel assist?
Nearest safe haven is Turks?

Not sure USCG had a handle.

I don't want to speak ill of the dead but in hindsight which is always 20/20 think the Master erred in not calling Mayday when he could.

The ship was disabled in hurricane force conditions, the hull had suffered a breach I would say that there was more than a passing chance that things were going to get worse before they got better.

Hopefully the VDR will be found one day and many questions will be answered.

In the meantime I don't think the USCG Officer on the phone should be getting any gold stars for that performance.

I feel differently. I'm in Fort Lauderdale, 30 miles from Miami. I had known about and had been tracking this Hurricane for 5 days prior to it getting up here. If you're in Miami and in the USCG, I'm pretty darn sure you're aware of this TS now turned Hurricane. Seems like nobody even mentioned it. They knew the location of the vessel and told them to anchor and there are a few islands to hide behind? Sounds like they knew of the weather. How do you get there if you have no propulsion???

I believe the Captain had already spoken to the USCG as the info that the USCG spoke about on the recorded phone call. I do think the Captain should've called for MAYDAY. They lost propulsion and engineers couldn't get it going again. Hurricane force winds. Sounds like a dire situation to me. I also think there are phone calls and emails that are missing.

I am confused. They de-watered (not flooded) or were flooded?

According to the third recorded phone call with Tote guy and USCG, the USCG guy mentioned that the boat has been dewatered. Who knows if he even knew what that means, he did recommend they anchor since "it's not real deep where they are".

Yes, but I think that stems from the Captain. He should have called a Mayday and told them the gravity of the situation. I don't think a RORO such as El Faro would've made it through that hurricane without propulsion, no matter if nothing else went wrong. I feel that once it was beam to the waves and drifting, it was only a matter of time until it was game over.

RoRos are terribly susceptible to free surface effect. It does not take much water on a deck where it can move from side to side easily to cause real problems.

Herlad of Free Enterprise is the name of a ship that sank in calm seas when the lower vehicle deck took on water as they left port with the bow door open. Estonia is another one but the conditions were a bit more extreme and the bow door came off in the seas.

Sadly, WHAT could anybody do in the middle of the storm. There is no rescue available, No close by assistance, Would have been the same result.
Maybe, MAYBE, a search would have been started a lil quicker with the same results.

The problem IMO, is why that ship was in the middle of the storm.

Rcrapps, I agree with you about a Mayday call not changing anything. As I recall, the coasties waited until the heavy part of the storm had passed before starting the search.

Does anybody know where El Faro was getting its weather info?

"navigational incident"

"The biggest risk that a shipowner faces is a major navigational
incident: not only can it result in fatalities and pollution but can have a
substantial impact on the reputations of those concerned."

http://www.nautinst.org/filemanager...s/guidance_notices/navigation_-_june_2012.pdf

It doesn't even matter, even the local TV stations were broadcasting it's projected path and wind speed and present location and all of it was accurate to a T.

So they say, but the Captain was pulling weather. The girl onboard the ship called her family less than 24 hours before and told her family member they were going to be sailing right through a hurricane. I find it hard to believe that nobody at TOTE was following the storm.