The sinking of the El Faro
April 8, 2018 10:13 PM Subscribe
The sinking of the El Faro. In the darkness before dawn on Thursday, October 1, 2015, an American merchant captain named Michael Davidson sailed a 790-foot U.S.-flagged cargo ship, El Faro, into the eye wall of a Category 3 hurricane on the exposed windward side of the Bahama Islands.
This is the story of the El Faro, recovered in part from three miles beneath the waves that took her. The worst American maritime disaster in decades.
Oh wow. Those poor souls.
For me it rings with similarities to the transcripts of the pilots of Air France 447. Your data is telling you one thing, but you think you should be doing something else, and by the time you realize the truth -- it's too late. The cognitive dissonance must have been appalling.
.
posted by offalark at 11:19 PM on April 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
For me it rings with similarities to the transcripts of the pilots of Air France 447. Your data is telling you one thing, but you think you should be doing something else, and by the time you realize the truth -- it's too late. The cognitive dissonance must have been appalling.
.
posted by offalark at 11:19 PM on April 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
Here's a link to "A Sea Story" for those of you who want to read it because someone just told you not to
posted by thelonius at 12:59 AM on April 9, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 12:59 AM on April 9, 2018 [15 favorites]
Corporate Lord Jim meets Global Warming.
Last best chance to save the ship?
posted by jamjam at 1:29 AM on April 9, 2018 [19 favorites]
Last best chance to save the ship?
Pitching more violently, the ship was starting to pound. Davis recommended slowing down. They were approaching the waypoint where Davidson’s route plan called for the significant turn to the left, taking the ship, as the captain believed, across the path of the hurricane in its yellow zone, a safe distance from the eye. [Danielle] Randolph did not want to do it. She called Davidson on the house phone and told him that the hurricane was now a Category 3. He knew that already. She proposed the escape route to the south and a smooth sail on to San Juan. He rejected her suggestion. Despite the uncertainties in the forecast, he was so convinced of his strategy . . .Offered by the only woman in the bridge crew mentioned in the article, and rejected by the Captain.
posted by jamjam at 1:29 AM on April 9, 2018 [19 favorites]
It should be considered criminally negligent, with actual criminal charges against any and all named officers of a company involved in transportation, to pay for complete shit services like BVS as substitutes for actual data. It should be criminally negligent to hire out your emergency line to a call center. It should be illegal to fire anyone for refusing to carry out unsafe orders.
This reminds me of watching dash cam footage of some asshole who just has to get somewhere that bit faster than everyone else and ends up a smear on the side of the road, often taking some innocents with them. How's your schedule doing now, hot stuff?
Arggh.
posted by maxwelton at 2:33 AM on April 9, 2018 [8 favorites]
This reminds me of watching dash cam footage of some asshole who just has to get somewhere that bit faster than everyone else and ends up a smear on the side of the road, often taking some innocents with them. How's your schedule doing now, hot stuff?
Arggh.
posted by maxwelton at 2:33 AM on April 9, 2018 [8 favorites]
When I saw the post title I was like "PLEASE BE LANGEWIESCHE PLEASE BE LANGEWIESCHE PLEASE BE LANGEWIESCHE." And it was.
posted by jmccw at 4:22 AM on April 9, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by jmccw at 4:22 AM on April 9, 2018 [9 favorites]
Absolutely brutal.
posted by rmd1023 at 5:40 AM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by rmd1023 at 5:40 AM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
PS I can strongly recommend not reading “A Sea Story”, an article about the sinking of a passenger ferry that’s linked in one of the previous threads. Absolutely horrific.
i did not take this advice EVERYONE PLS TAKE THIS ADVICE
posted by poffin boffin at 6:55 AM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
i did not take this advice EVERYONE PLS TAKE THIS ADVICE
posted by poffin boffin at 6:55 AM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
Luckily I've read A Sea Story several times before so I'm not going to get tricked into thinking about, uh yeah, never mind.
posted by ambrosen at 7:02 AM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by ambrosen at 7:02 AM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
nope it's too late you have ship panic now
posted by poffin boffin at 7:03 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 7:03 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
I've read my fair share of cockpit voice recorder transcripts, but I've never read one from a sinking ship. That was much more of a slow burn of despair. Pretty disturbing.
posted by A Bad Catholic at 7:22 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by A Bad Catholic at 7:22 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
"PLEASE BE LANGEWIESCHE PLEASE BE LANGEWIESCHE PLEASE BE LANGEWIESCHE."
Who also wrote the above referenced A Sea Story.
posted by TedW at 8:25 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Who also wrote the above referenced A Sea Story.
posted by TedW at 8:25 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Between _A Sea Story_ and the reports about the Korean class trip ship that sank a few years back, I now know to ignore anything the crew says about don't panic and stay where you are. I'm getting the hell on the deck if I'm on a ship that is in trouble, unless there is an actual hurricane outside in which case I'm hanging out by the doors/hatch to the outside until it gets critical.
posted by tavella at 9:11 AM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by tavella at 9:11 AM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
Luckily I've read A Sea Story several times before so I'm not going to get tricked into thinking about, uh yeah, never mind.
Common themes in the sinking of passenger ships include the difficulty/near impossibility of getting up onto open decks from decks below, especially when the ship is listing; and the difficulty/near impossibility of getting into/launching life boats when the ship is listing and/or being buffeted by waves.
Surely there must be some thinking about how to address these problems. Or do all the models just assume (a la the perfectly spherical cow) a ship that is sinking very gradually while remaining perfectly upright in calm seas? Or a model where the ship is abandoned with plenty of warning before trouble actually hits?
posted by Orlop at 9:38 AM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
Common themes in the sinking of passenger ships include the difficulty/near impossibility of getting up onto open decks from decks below, especially when the ship is listing; and the difficulty/near impossibility of getting into/launching life boats when the ship is listing and/or being buffeted by waves.
Surely there must be some thinking about how to address these problems. Or do all the models just assume (a la the perfectly spherical cow) a ship that is sinking very gradually while remaining perfectly upright in calm seas? Or a model where the ship is abandoned with plenty of warning before trouble actually hits?
posted by Orlop at 9:38 AM on April 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
I now know to ignore anything the crew says about don't panic and stay where you are. I'm getting the hell on the deck if I'm on a ship that is in trouble,
That's very true, though I suspect that the awful truth is that your chances of survival increase if other passengers do, indeed, heed the crew and stay in place (thus leaving you more room to maneuver).
posted by TwoStride at 9:43 AM on April 9, 2018
That's very true, though I suspect that the awful truth is that your chances of survival increase if other passengers do, indeed, heed the crew and stay in place (thus leaving you more room to maneuver).
posted by TwoStride at 9:43 AM on April 9, 2018
Also, reading accounts like the passenger ferry disasters makes me hope that if I'm not a survivor, I definitely want to be one of those people whose mind snaps and who just sort of... abandons the situation, mentally, before my death. I sometimes imagine these kinds of catastrophes and it feels like I'm less scared at the thought that I'll be dead then the thought that my last ~5 minutes, or whatever, are me screaming in helpless terror. Being one of those people who just froze halfway up the ferry staircase starts to seem kind of appealing once you get to sorting the best of terrible non-options.
posted by TwoStride at 9:51 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by TwoStride at 9:51 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Or do all the models just assume (a la the perfectly spherical cow) a ship that is sinking very gradually while remaining perfectly upright in calm seas? Or a model where the ship is abandoned with plenty of warning before trouble actually hits?
As I recall, this was one of the reforms to come out of the sinking of the Andrea Doria (although I can't seem to verify this now). There now has to be lifeboat capacity for all passengers on each side of the ship, in case of listing.
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:36 AM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
As I recall, this was one of the reforms to come out of the sinking of the Andrea Doria (although I can't seem to verify this now). There now has to be lifeboat capacity for all passengers on each side of the ship, in case of listing.
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:36 AM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
I don't care how big the ship is, nope, nope, nope, and for all the talk about driverless cars, remote controlled cargo ships and super tankers are probably just as inevitable.
posted by Beholder at 12:05 PM on April 9, 2018
posted by Beholder at 12:05 PM on April 9, 2018
And will make for an even better gruesome flying dutchman type mystery story when a self-driving ship with backup human crew in place shows up with everyone dead.
posted by rmd1023 at 1:22 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by rmd1023 at 1:22 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
Was going to recommend in this context The Outlaw Sea, turns out it's by the same Langewiesche and includes a longer version of A Sea Story including outcomes from the various liferafts, and the subsequent legal feeding frenzy. Think it emphasises even more explicitly that to survive such a wreck you have to be fit, ruthless, fast and above all decisive! (Bugger.)
Other chapters talk about the anonymity and lack of oversight in sea freight, maritime terrorism and piracy, and the wrecking beaches in Gujarat. Recommended reading on a plane flight!
posted by runincircles at 1:27 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Other chapters talk about the anonymity and lack of oversight in sea freight, maritime terrorism and piracy, and the wrecking beaches in Gujarat. Recommended reading on a plane flight!
posted by runincircles at 1:27 PM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
(I wonder if this guy EVER crosses water these days in fact! Hope he's not taken for a witch for refusing to...)
posted by runincircles at 1:29 PM on April 9, 2018
posted by runincircles at 1:29 PM on April 9, 2018
> "PLEASE BE LANGEWIESCHE PLEASE BE LANGEWIESCHE PLEASE BE LANGEWIESCHE."
Yeah, this definitely needs WilliamLangewiesche and Langewiesche tags. Though if you click those you'll find they are sadly underpopulated. If you want to find ALL the previous MeFi threads on Langeweische and his articles you'll want something more like this google search.
The Vanity Fair page with all his recent articles is worth checking out as well, as is the Longform page listing all of his articles there.
And it's worth pointing out, again, that Langewiesche is son of Wolfgang Langewiesche, author of the 1944 classic Stick and Rudder--still a standard reference text for aviators today.
posted by flug at 5:22 PM on April 9, 2018 [9 favorites]
Yeah, this definitely needs WilliamLangewiesche and Langewiesche tags. Though if you click those you'll find they are sadly underpopulated. If you want to find ALL the previous MeFi threads on Langeweische and his articles you'll want something more like this google search.
The Vanity Fair page with all his recent articles is worth checking out as well, as is the Longform page listing all of his articles there.
And it's worth pointing out, again, that Langewiesche is son of Wolfgang Langewiesche, author of the 1944 classic Stick and Rudder--still a standard reference text for aviators today.
posted by flug at 5:22 PM on April 9, 2018 [9 favorites]
Here's a link to "A Sea Story" for those of you who want to read it because someone just told you not to
I will tell you to read it because it is hands down the best magazine article I have ever read. Not hyperbole. But yes, harrowing and you won't want to touch it again for a while.
But then I read things like The Challenger Launch Decision or Why Buildings Fall Down quite a bit.
Offered by the only woman in the bridge crew mentioned in the article, and rejected by the Captain.
Not surprising if sexism played a role here, but it also happens with all-male crews. There are quite a few threads where cockpit/crew resource management have been discussed, an outcome of the Tenerife disaster where two 747s full of passengers collided on a runway thanks, in part, to the Very Experienced Captain not listening to the co-pilot sitting beside him who the CVR proved was right, goddamnit.
Surely there must be some thinking about how to address these problems.
The main idea seems to be avoiding the sinking in the first place, as it should be. Beyond that there's just a grey area where vestiges of the Titanic's lifeboats being mainly for show and customer reassurance still hold. Also, things like EPIRBs and survival suits may have a negative effect in that they increase crew confidence where they should not. See also:
shit services like BVS
I can't do more than go off of the article's description, but it seems more like a future planning sort of tool than a dodge-the-head-of-a-deadly-storm one, and should include copious disclaimers in its fancy graphics assuming it does not already. This appears to be a training issue as well as availability bias.
posted by dhartung at 12:24 AM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
I will tell you to read it because it is hands down the best magazine article I have ever read. Not hyperbole. But yes, harrowing and you won't want to touch it again for a while.
But then I read things like The Challenger Launch Decision or Why Buildings Fall Down quite a bit.
Offered by the only woman in the bridge crew mentioned in the article, and rejected by the Captain.
Not surprising if sexism played a role here, but it also happens with all-male crews. There are quite a few threads where cockpit/crew resource management have been discussed, an outcome of the Tenerife disaster where two 747s full of passengers collided on a runway thanks, in part, to the Very Experienced Captain not listening to the co-pilot sitting beside him who the CVR proved was right, goddamnit.
Surely there must be some thinking about how to address these problems.
The main idea seems to be avoiding the sinking in the first place, as it should be. Beyond that there's just a grey area where vestiges of the Titanic's lifeboats being mainly for show and customer reassurance still hold. Also, things like EPIRBs and survival suits may have a negative effect in that they increase crew confidence where they should not. See also:
shit services like BVS
I can't do more than go off of the article's description, but it seems more like a future planning sort of tool than a dodge-the-head-of-a-deadly-storm one, and should include copious disclaimers in its fancy graphics assuming it does not already. This appears to be a training issue as well as availability bias.
posted by dhartung at 12:24 AM on April 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
I’d completely forgotten that A Sea Story was written by the same author as The Devil at 37,000 Feet (also excellent). Reading this one now.
posted by bettafish at 6:36 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by bettafish at 6:36 AM on April 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
And we think we're ready to go into space?
Look out, solar system.
posted by hank at 1:52 PM on April 10, 2018
Look out, solar system.
posted by hank at 1:52 PM on April 10, 2018
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Previously (2017)
Previously (2016)
PS I can strongly recommend not reading “A Sea Story”, an article about the sinking of a passenger ferry that’s linked in one of the previous threads. Absolutely horrific.
posted by chappell, ambrose at 10:50 PM on April 8, 2018 [10 favorites]