# 'I'm a goner': Sea freighter El Faro had little hope as it sailed into storm



## Ooh-Rah (Apr 12, 2017)

A fascinating, yet sad read.  I had to read the transcript of the below conversation a couple times.  Cripes.

'I'm a goner': Sea freighter El Faro had little hope as it sailed into storm

"We had a hull breach; a scuttle blew open during a storm," Davidson explained tersely. "We have water down in three hold, with a heavy list. We've lost the main propulsion unit, the engineers cannot get it going." He asked for her to patch him through to a TOTE official immediately.

"Can you please give me your satellite phone number and spell the name of the vessel?" she asked slowly. "Spell your name, please?"


This undated image made from a video released April 26, 2016, by the National Transportation Safety Board shows the stern of the sunken ship El Faro. Amid howling winds, blinding squalls and massive waves, the freighter El Faro and its crew struggled for survival _ unaware that their course was taking them directly into the path of Hurricane Joaquin. All 33 crew members were killed.


----------



## Kraut783 (Apr 12, 2017)

Agree....very interesting and sad story, can't even imagine what they were going through emotionally.


----------



## Red Flag 1 (Apr 12, 2017)

T


----------



## CDG (Apr 12, 2017)

Red Flag 1 said:


> There is nothing man can build and put to sea, that a single storm at can not destroy and send to the bottom.
> 
> Has anyone experienced the big waves in the open sea?



Yes.  I posted this in another thread somewhere, but returning from a deployment to the Caribbean on an Arleigh Burke destroyer we hit a massive storm.  Tore a hole in the hull at one of the sonar rooms, ripped parts off the 5" gun, and tore the .50 cal mounts right out of the deck, despite each one being held in place by 9 bolts.  There were a few times we crested a wave, and when we dropped back down the entire forecastle would go underwater.  The whole ship would vibrate like crazy from trying to pull itself up underneath all that weight.


----------



## policemedic (Apr 12, 2017)

CDG said:


> Yes.  I posted this in another thread somewhere, but returning from a deployment to the Caribbean on an Arleigh Burke destroyer we hit a massive storm.  Tore a hole in the hull at one of the sonar rooms, ripped parts off the 5" gun, and tore the .50 cal mounts right out of the deck, despite each one being held in place by 9 bolts.  There were a few times we crested a wave, and when we dropped back down the entire forecastle would go underwater.  The whole ship would vibrate like crazy from trying to pull itself up underneath all that weight.


Fuck. That.  Noise.


----------



## Kraut783 (Apr 12, 2017)

CDG said:


> Yes.  I posted this in another thread somewhere, but returning from a deployment to the Caribbean on an Arleigh Burke destroyer we hit a massive storm.  Tore a hole in the hull at one of the sonar rooms, ripped parts off the 5" gun, and tore the .50 cal mounts right out of the deck, despite each one being held in place by 9 bolts.  There were a few times we crested a wave, and when we dropped back down the entire forecastle would go underwater.  The whole ship would vibrate like crazy from trying to pull itself up underneath all that weight.



No fucking way....nope nope nope nope nope.


----------



## Totentanz (Apr 12, 2017)

CDG said:


> Yes.  I posted this in another thread somewhere, but returning from a deployment to the Caribbean on an Arleigh Burke destroyer we hit a massive storm.  Tore a hole in the hull at one of the sonar rooms, ripped parts off the 5" gun, and tore the .50 cal mounts right out of the deck, despite each one being held in place by 9 bolts.  There were a few times we crested a wave, and when we dropped back down the entire forecastle would go underwater.  The whole ship would vibrate like crazy from trying to pull itself up underneath all that weight.



The Nopetastic Voyage.


----------



## DA SWO (Apr 12, 2017)

They never should have left port.


----------



## amlove21 (Apr 13, 2017)

Red Flag 1 said:


> There is nothing man can build and put to sea, that a single storm at can not destroy and send to the bottom.
> 
> Has anyone experienced the big waves in the open sea?


One time in some large North Sea swells (nothing like in the story, I would assume) and it was one of the more terrifying experiences of my life. 

I think the sea is only second to what I assume space feels like. The cold, persistent, horrifying, crushing weight that you are not even .01% of a blip if they feel like turning cruel and swallowing you up.


----------

