Disastrous Indifference: The Loss of SS El Faro

▶GROUND NEWS: Spot Media Bias - Be Well Informed ground.news/brick ▶EL FARO PART 2 IS OUT NOW!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjiGHV3Si3A ▶MORE IMMORTAR MARITIME... The Branson Duck Boat Tragedy: https://youtu.be/0yG5C94qM2Y The Scandies Rose Tragedy: https://youtu.be/KFevuP5ua_8 The Ocean Ranger Disaster: https://youtu.be/cyNFhthQ97Q The Sunshine Skyway Bridge Collapse: https://youtu.be/3htwtaJI2nM TOSS A COIN TO YOUR RESEARCHER? www.patreon.com/BrickImmortar Supporters on Patreon enjoy exclusive, ad-free, sponsor-free, early-access versions of every video releasing!

My cousin Dylan was on this ship, it was his first job soon after graduating from Maine maritime academy. Rest In Peace

Hearing how much the other officers were concerned, it makes you think that there are times when mutiny is perfectly acceptable

Worked on this ship in Tacoma when she was the Northern Lights. Every time it hit port in Tacoma, the ship repair crew (20 of us or more) I was on were waiting. We worked like mad right up to the time of departure to fix the biggest problems. She was a rusty tub that none of us shipyarders would even think of going off shore on. When she got too scary to run to Anchorage, they sent her to the Caribbean instead of the scrap yard to get a few more years of revenue out of her. Corporate greed at its finest. Ship is heavily insured, crew is replaceable.

My Sister was 2nd mate Danielle Randolph, thank you for this great video, gave me some closure. To the entire 33 crewmembers, you are still missed loved and heald dear in our hearts and minds. NBR.

That the 2nd mate knew what would happen but the Captain didn't take her seriously always seemed like the most tragic part of this story. Her messages to her loved ones are heartbreaking.

“It was like this every day in Alaska” I’m fairly confident it was not Category 3 hurricane every single day

I sailed as a cadet on the El. Morro. I have never seen such a flagrant disregard for safety in my entire life. One instance I remember we were being audited by ABS. The chief mate kept trying to distract the inspector from the rusted out fire mains. We were required to test the fire system. The fire main would blow out and we had to fix the holes. The strange thing was that it looked freshly painted but had big blisters every few feet. These blisters were wraps of duct tape over rust spots that were painted over that would blow out when the water was turned on. During that event, the cargo door to the aft hold was closed. Not only did the fire main not work, as the water rushed out on deck, it flowed freely down to the aft cargo hold even though it was closed. The aft cargo hold has a passage way to the engine room on tbe port side. Here we are sitting at the dock with water from a busted fire main leaking though the cargo hold door, running down and into the engine room. I can’t image what green water would have been like flowing into the engine room. This was just a minor thing I witnessed during my time on the ship. Sea star should be liable for everything. Yes, you can blame the crew as I did the chief mate in my experience, but it is the company that is responsible for the safety culture. Precious lives lost.

It’s really hard not to be incredibly angry at that captain. He was betting on people’s lives and pretty much killed everyone on board. Plenty of times there was opportunity to avoid disaster. RIP to the crew.

My friend's Cousin was lost at sea in the El Faro disaster. He had only been a crew member employed with Tote less than 3 months. He left behind a fiancee and two children, under 6 years old. He mentioned Capt. Davidson was full of himself, stubborn and prideful. His selfishness (and corporate greed) cost lives and irreparably tore families apart. RIP to all who perished and the families dealing with unfathomable loss.

I work for a Marine supply company in Jacksonville. The owner was discussing this disaster the other day and talked about Danielle Randolph and other crew members she had worked with over the years. To those of you in the comments who had family on board, please know that your loved ones are still mourned by people in the industry and remembered by those who occasionally worked with them.

I remember following the El Faro incident in real time, as it was happening, and thinking, “Why in the heck are they heading straight toward the hurricane? This is insane!”

My good friend and engineering Mentor was the Chief engineer of this trip, he was an incredibly competent engineer i know he did everything he could to get that steam plant back online again. I miss him and I hope he and the other 32 crew on board have found peace! He will be remembered for the incredible person he was.

As a container ship captain myself, this is a very thorough explanation to what most likely happened to this unfortunate crew. From lacking bridge resource management to insufficient maintenance and even to explaining the possible reasons the captain may have had to choose this perilous voyage execution. Well done! Excellent investigation report.

I worked at the terminal in Tacoma when this ship was named Northern Lights. It took so much damage during one Alaskan storm that almost the entire crew quit the moment it returned to port. Apparently the 65' swells resulted in 60% of the ship being out of the water as it fell down the backside of each wave. It would accelerate to 36 knots and then bury itself into the front of the next wave driving it nearly to a halt as the steel screamed and twisted enough to put a 45 foot crack laterally along the spar deck and 30 foot vertically. The ship was rolling laterally within a half degree of capsizing for 36 hours and the crew had to remain strapped into their bunks listening to the ship shriek as the roll on containers were breaking free and slamming around on all decks. No one blamed the crew for walking after the details came out about the crossing.

The fact that the captain didn't know that his ship is on point with an eye of a hurricane is beyond words to describe the pure fear of being lost at sea.

"Red at night, sailor's delight, red light at morning, sailor's take warning." I've experienced as anecdotally 100% true in my 30 years on the water

I was with the US Army's Transportation Corp during this vessels service in the Iraq war, when it was named the Northern Lights. It came over to Kuwait many times bringing Army equipment, and I was onboard the ship when that equipment was being unloaded. I remember how poor the ships condition was even then, many referring to it as a "rust bucket". They were using the same tie-down method mention in the video, that is, laying down tie-down chains along the deck to serve as tie-down points for vehicles, because there weren't enough D-rings in the deck itself. The cargo decks themselves actually sagged because the weight limits for vehicles being carried, exceeded the registered capacity. The rubber seals around the cargo hatch in the ships side were pretty much mangled from dry rot and constant opening and closing. The ships government contract ended around 2008, and then it began it's long periods of lay-up. I honestly thought it would be scrapped when it ended it's military contract, it really was in horrible shape.

Anybody who's watched a few analyses of plane crashes knows that CRM is REALLY important. Subordinate crew members have literally allowed their captain to fly into the side of a mountain rather than take corrective action. And disasters have been averted by good CRM where captain and crew are able to cooperate.

Hearing that Captain's voice and saying "everybody's safe" knowing that he knew they were all but safe is upsetting. He must have known they were past the point of no return and decided to keep trying to salvage the ship. Terrible tragedy.