The news program 60 Minutes broadcast National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) footage of the wreck of El Faro last night. The TOTE Ro/Ro was lost with all 33 aboard in Hurricane Joaquin in October. The footage is striking and grim. El Faro‘s upper two decks were ripped off during the sinking and were found a half mile from the ship itself, which sank in 15,0000 feet of water. The Vessel Data Recorder has not been found. The video and photographs were taken by the US Navy’s CURV (Cable operated Unmanned Recovery Vehicle.) The segment is generally well done, notwithstanding the unfortunate reference to the “Bermuda Triangle” and a few other questionable points. Click here or on the image below to watch the videos.
We all appreciate the coverage of the sinking of El Faro on the show 60 Minutes. It was well done and Scott Pelley’s presentation thoughtful and sincere. That said, I agree that the unfortunate “tag” concerning the Burmuda Triangle does not resonate with the professional mariner and serves only to sensationalize a real tragedy among the general public. Education on this matter does not seem to have taken hold.
Tote’s Brand New LNG powered M/V Isla Bella Container Ship is running El Faro’s route to Puerto Rico.
It looks like M/V Isla Bella was supposed to replace El Faro, and
El Faro was to go to Chittagong.
we just about sunk in the triangle in 1962 when the sea opened up on an a/craft carrier.anyone interested call me at 780-352-8441 or fax 780-352 8443
Missed that. Did NTSB hold off on releasing video until after 60 minutes aired their piece?
I totally agree with Harry T Schooler above. It was a great piece that I found really interesting but I found myself rolling my eyes whenever they mentioned the Triangle. It’s a shame they have to sensationalize it in order to reach a broader audience–I wish the story alone were enough to captivate most audiences.
Thank you for capturing and posting. Stunningly sad and haunting. As a longshoreman, I spent a few thousand hours dragging trailers on and off the Greatland and the Westward Venture in Anchorage. I recall in June 1990, TOTE was doing some type of maintenance on a boiler or heat exchanger while undergoing cargo handling in Tacoma and an opening was accidentally created with the sea. While tied up at the dock, the story was that the engine room was completely flooded; no one injured, but it was a disaster. Sun Shipbuilding no longer existed, so just ordering replacement parts, electronics and machinery was out of the question. In a panic mode, TOTE managed to acquire the “Puerto Rico”, a non-jumbo version of a Sun ro/ro. I recall pictures of it, it looked terrible. It was in it’s original white paint, covered in rust, listing, tied up at some decrepit dock. They were able to cannibalized the engine room from the Puerto Rico and within a few months, had the Greatland up an running again. They then spent a couple of years on the Puerto Rico machining and re-creating an engine room from scratch. It was cut in 1/2 and 90 ft added to the mid-section. It was ‘ice-banded’ for use in Alaska, ramp attachment points added to the portside main deck/second deck and a spar deck was added. It was essentially converted into a jumbo ro/ro, the same as the Westward and Greatland. It was renamed the Northern Lights and joined into the Alaska run in the spring of 1993, I think. After TOTE acquired new vessels for the Alaska trade, the Northern Lights was re-modified into a combo; containers on the main deck and vehicles/trailers below deck via 3 ramp access points on the starboard second deck, and given a new name, this time El Faro.
I did not have the same number of hours working on this one, but still the image of the vessel and the knowledge of 33 courageous persons fighting desperately in a hurricane, with all their might and heart, leaves me with a sense of loss that is very profound.
The news reports about something “flooded,” “losing power,” and the ship having to “service a boiler” momentarily took my breath away. At first I thought the Wall Street Journal was saying something to the effect that they were doing boiler maintenance at sea and I wondered; could this conceivably be a repeat of the Greatland accident? But that obviously doesn’t make any sense. TOTE would never be doing maintenance while sailing into a storm. I recall the mates being obsessive about secure trailer and vehicle lashing and taking meticulous care of the water-tight doors. My experience was that no corners were ever cut and the company was absolutely committed to safety.