The SS El Faro and her crew of 33 disappeared in Hurricane Joaquin seven years ago today and the matter seemed settled at the time: a captain unwisely had sailed into the path of a hurricane.
But the Coast Guard investigators and the National Transportation Board had an additional take on the matter. Inspections by the Coast Guard and the American Bureau of Shipping had deteriorated 30 years after the wake-up call of the SS Marine Electric disaster. America’s old fleet of modified rust buckets were given a pass. Particularly, merchant ships serving the military functioned with serious malfunctions.
The El Faro, the report said, at. an age when many ships are scrapped, was modified in ways that compromised her seaworthiness. Those modifications and the condition of the ship strongly contributed to the disaster.
Most observers — me included — concluded that the El Faro final report was a dud. It recommended relatively weak sanctions agains the owner TOTE — and the company’s crack legal time beat most of those.
I was wrong. The Marine Board of Investigation was far more focused on future policy not punishment for past deeds. The Coast Guard, led by the elite Traveling Inspectors, cracked down hard. The ABS also was goosed up by more oversight from the Coast Guard. When field inspectors seemed not to get the message, Coast Guard command issued “stand down” orders. In essence, stop what you are doing now. You are doing it wrong. Start doing it right.
The result was indeed a sea change. The military command suddenly realized they did not have functional ships for future wars. Dozens of old ships were either scrapped or repaired. In terms of American maritime safety, the report on the El Faro was the most significant of this century.
Here’s a piece I filed awhile back on the impact. And here is the free online version of my book, “The Captains of Thor” about the El Faro.