El Faro captain ordered crew to abandon ship before sinking
Source: Bangor Daily News
TAMPA, Florida The captain of the doomed El Faro cargo ship sounded an alarm for his crew to abandon the vessel shortly before it sank last fall in a hurricane near the Bahamas, killing all 33 onboard, including four mariners from Maine, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday.
Twenty-six hours of newly recovered audio, captured by microphones on the ships bridge, offer chilling detail into the final hours before the 790-foot ship sank on Oct. 1, after sailing into Hurricane Joaquin on a routine cargo run between Florida and Puerto Rico.
The NTSB released preliminary details from information it recovered from the ships voyage data recorder, recovered earlier this month on the ocean floor after a 10-month effort.
The data include weather and navigational detail, in addition to recorded conversations, that could provide crucial answers to what happened in the worst cargo shipping disaster involving a U.S.-flagged vessel in more than three decades.
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Read more: http://bangordailynews.com/2016/08/24/news/nation/el-faro-captain-ordered-crew-to-abandon-ship-before-sinking/
kiri
(786 posts)It was absolutely stupid for the captain to leave port in the midst of a strong storm.
The waves were soon 30-40 ft high. Then the ship lost power. This means it is death. Lacking propulsion, the ship could not face into the waves, which is the only chance to avoid sinking. The ship was then floating like a water-logged towel and thus forced by the waves and wind to be broadside to the waves. Every mariner knows this is the end--30 ft waves will roll the ship over. Abandoning ship in such conditions will not save lives.
Facing into the waves is not a sure survival. As a series of waves passes, depending on the wavelength, the distance between crests, the bow and stern will be lifted, leaving the middle unsupported. The ship will break in half.
Alternatively, the ship gets raised/floated/bouyant amidships, the bow and stern are unsupported by the wave troughs/valleys. The ship breaks in thirds.
"A typical bathtub holds 40 gallons or so of water. That is 330 pounds. A cubic yard of it, filling what at first glance seems a modest volume of 3 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet, weighs nearly 1,700 pounds,...."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/weekinreview/13water.html?_r=0
See also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_wave
The captain must be charged with murder. And all his officers. Leaving port was an extravagant dereliction of responsibility--and abandonment of any thinking. Especially when delaying by a mere 12 hours would have avoided the tragedy.
TheBaculumKing
(102 posts)Don't you at least need a corpse to charge?
LisaL
(44,962 posts)TheBaculumKing
(102 posts)But at least if you have the body of the accused you can do rude things to him when you convict him, which should be easier since he won't really put up much defense.
Probably won't even deny it...