Into the Raging Sea: SS El Faro

[@catwoman5791]

I have read this book a few times now. I think it is well written. I can't let go of the question of why the Captain so stubbornly stuck to his route. Lives lost so needlessly.

[@prs314]

If I am not mistaken the NTSB went through it in their findings. Captain was hoping to get promoted to a better ship within the company, and probably decided to show that he can deliver results. Brick Immortar has a great video about it.

[@bryanthompson12]

Understood. I think he was trying to impress the bosses and get transferred to the newer ships.

[@Desh727]

Job performance pressure. It happens to everyone at some point. After reading the book I felt bad for him.

[@partenr4u]

“He’s 53 and afraid he’s about to be obsolete.” Regarding the Captain. Someone doesn’t understand that nothing holds more value at sea than experience. Yes, I’m a Captain.

[@Ayoc22]

Awesome book. I was actually a part of the search and recovery team that found the ship and recovered the VDR.

[@maybank5283]

I just finished the book. So sad. It is amazing what you do.

[@nw8000]

WOW! You actually worked on finding this ship? You are part of this ships History!

[@charlesfaure1189]

The appalling performance of the Captain on this trip suggests the reason he was passed over for a better command was not his age, but rather that he was a lousy captain. Of course no company would say or document that as long as he was kept on the payroll. When you get passed over in a corporate environment with "no adequate explanation" (which is never an obligation for management-level staff), there are often perfectly good reasons, including, perhaps, that there are better candidates available.

[@charlesfaure1189]

@@bokkorlohalokkor5506 I'm retired, sonny, and I've done my time working for corporations--so you can jam that 'naive or simplistic' crap. Bad individuals blame bad institutions--even as they help create them and enable their misdeeds. That captain was a part of management and wanted to be a more important part of it--and was willing to embrace that lousy company culture. He was part of the problem, so don't try to make him a victim of it. I've known far too many of the type. Ambition is not an excuse--or perhaps you think mafia hitmen are less culpable because of a bad corporate culture?
The responsibility of a ship captain, just like that of an airline captain, for the safety of all aboard is absolute. Absolute. The environment is too dangerous for any less to be expected. You cannot hide your own ambitions behind the culture you are desperately seeking to be a part of. If you can't see that it's regrettable.

[@ballisticwaffles]

@@bokkorlohalokkor5506 Here's a hot tip, you can do both.

[@MegaSunspark]

You're 100 % correct!

[@jchamp2291]

Read her book, "Into the Raging Sea". Very good read. Also read "Run the Storm" by George Michelsen Foy, which was also good. Run the Storm was more technical, while Into the Raging Sea was more personal, I felt. I also read the 500+ pages of the recording transcript. Thought Rachel Slade did a good presentation here. Remember, she is not an "expert" so to speak, so it may be hard for her to speak freely on it. Another good explanation of the sinking is called "Disastrous Indifference" on UA-cam. Very good video.

[@Weird_but_neat]

Love brick immortar!

[@classicalroach]

In case you haven’t read the complete transcript of the El Faro’s voice recorder, you should. It’s raw, authentically human, haunting, chilling, and 100% discredits this author’s racial tension theory.
In the last hours, with the ship severely listing, it was hard to stand up. The captain gave up his seat to Mr. Hamm, who had health and weight problems. And it is these two men who share the final dialogue as the ship literally sank. Mr. Hamm was unable to escape and was screaming for help. The captain pleaded with him to try, being totally unable to rescue him, which would have been futile anyway. The captain was with him until their death, the last words on recording being their horrifying desperate pleas to each other.
To use this gritty, ugly, tragic human story as a political racial ploy is abhorrent and deeply disrespectful.

[@sergeant1446]

I read a report that stated the crew was at odds and didn't like each other. But instead of doing your own research you chose to be triggered. TYPICAL SNOWFLAKE

[@RoyHodgson97]

I think the fact that you used capital letters in the last two words implies that you're the one that got triggered here.
I haven't read the report you mentioned but I'll take your word for it: 'the crew was at odds and didn't like each other'- didn't say anything about "racial tensions" did it?
I think the OP made a fair point, I too was surprised when the lady mentioned "racial tensions" because I've also read the transcript and watched Brick Immortar's excellent documentary.
Any chance you could provide me with a link- or tell me where to look for that report?

[@sergeant1446]

@@RoyHodgson97 Since when putting emphasis on something constitutes as triggerd. Just a shaming tactic with no basis whatsoever, I would expect as much from a woman. I have it bookmarked, but look it up yourself JACKASS!!!

[@nativevirginian8344]

I agree, leave it to this *young progressive woman* to talk about politics & race. Once I heard that I didn’t need to hear anymore of this. Read John McPhee’s book “ Looking for a Ship” to understand how the union and hiring worked in the Merchant Marine. People were switched around all the time and there were a lot factors involved with getting put on a ship, none of which involved race. This girl is so off the mark. As far as politics she makes it sound like Trump’s election caused racial problems when that was started in Obama’s first term. NONE of it had anything to do with driving into a hurricane and drowning at sea.

[@nativevirginian8344]

@@sergeant1446 They didn’t have a choice who they worked with. If that’s true this crew sounds like a ship of fools to me, worrying about grudges instead of doing what had to be done to keep the ship under you.

[@francisjarvis1368]

Captain error cost all those lives.

[@delanorrosey4730]

Not error. The Captain utilized outdated weather reports and refused the Second Mate's alternative courses to avoid Hurricane Joaquin.
The Captain hazarded the ship, the cargo, and its crew.

[@IndyandJazmin]

I don't see this as being a "mistake." It was a straight-up dereliction of duty on his part! All in regards to not doing what was safest for his ship, and even more importantly, for his crew!!
That cl own should never have been the master of even a barge hauling refuse... HE KILLED HIS ENTIRE CREW AND LOST HIS VESSEL, AND IT WAS ALL DUE TO HIS HUBRIS AND UNFATHOMABLE IDI*CY!!
RIP, to all of the innocent, hard-working people he led directly to their deaths. smh.

[@sergeant1446]

​@@delanorrosey4730You stated it wasn't an error. Then proceeded to explain the errors that were made lmao!!! Where do you people come form?

[@delanorrosey4730]

@@sergeant1446 Oh, boy. You don't know the definition of error. Error insinuates mistake; the Captain was negligent. Negligent insinuates deliberate action of errors.

[@Desh727]

It was a little more complicated than that.

[@kennhi2008]

When she mentioned Trump I got extremely angry. Trump wasn't POTUS in 2015 and had nothing to do with the racial tension on that ship. I actually worked on this ship when it was the Puerto Rico at Bount Island for North Florida Shipyards. Plus I'm black and again Trump has nothing to do with anything that happened with the crew or ship. I was going to buy the book until she said that

[@sergeant1446]

You wasn't going to buy nothing, we all know negros don't read or buy books.

[@SaveDaLastZombie]

She's a liberal democrat to the core and hates Trump (hence why she made those outlandish comments). She also seems to be a bit biased and possibly racist after she truly glossed over the black guy that perished while giving back stories of the crew briefly mentioning him like his life wasn't important while she went into great depths about the other crew members.

[@76captaint]

I agree. She let her liberal show way too much. I had saved it to my Amazon wish list but it just got deleted.

[@nw8000]

WOW! You actually worked on the ship? You are part of this ships History!

[@Weird_but_neat]

She literally said he was elected in 2016. If you’re blind to the political landscape then you’re just ignorant friend

[@Weird_but_neat]

She is absolutely beautiful and well spoken. Buying this book! This tragedy has me enamored I am obsessed with it!

[@sterlingnorthum3911]

Well it looks like I have another book I need to buy. 😊 Thank you for the informed presentation.

[@nicolewrytr]

It's a great book. Powerful & devasting.

[@seashepherds4959]

Very Much enjoyed this presentation and have bought the book. I look forward to visiting the Chatham Marconi Maritime Centre when next on Cape Cod! Time and Money well spent!

[@kenosabi]

Ffs...just stick with the story. This is cringey.

[@johnengland8619]

Thank you for the narration, excellent

[@mickeydoodle69]

It’s insane that even after this two-day parade of horrendous decisions, this Captain spends his last minutes waiting for some dude on land to what? Confirm for him that “yes, dummy - get your people OFF the boat!”. What a dumb waste of time. If this dude was trying to commit slow suicide and take 30 people with him, he couldn’t possibly have done a better job, even though he was ostensibly trying to do the exact opposite. Unbelievable incompetence. Unimaginable that this man was given a pilots license, much less charge of a ship and crew.

[@MegaSunspark]

Yes, he kept asking for a "Q.I." (Qualified Individual - I found out that's what it stood for). What would a QI do? Nothing. He can't wave his magic wand and lift the ship out of the water and fly it a safe location. This shows the immense incompetence of Davidson, to even think that someone on land hundreds of miles away can help him with the problems of his own making.

[@mickeydoodle69]

@@MegaSunspark This is corporate infrastructure basically poisoning the chain of command in a not-uncommon life and death scenario. The Captain - instead of keeping the helm and dealing with the weather reports instead of giving it up for a good night’s sleep and standing orders to “just keep going”. Then, when he sees the consequences of his actions, and is given yet another chance to change course, he keeps going! And when he finally understands that the boat - and everybody on her - is going in the drink he STILL waffles. Refusing to act, and trying to locate another, higher power on land. Disgusting.

[@bobbiingram4258]

Into The Raging Sea is a fantastic book!

[@maegenyoungs2591]

I seen messages saying this lady is amazing.. watch this video, and don’t skip, be patient, it will suck you in..

[@rickdunn3883]

As a professional deep sea mariner, this story about the Plimsoll line being moved without accountability...or oversight, does not ring true. Only the USCG has authority to change a "Plimsoll Mark", not ABS. This is traceable. The USCG, although a great org. is flawed. Also this change of the location of the Mark would have been done for all of the sister ships-records of the approval exist. The ship was operating under the ISM Code, which among other things, requires that the Company assess all known risks to its ships-this failed. Another ISM item is the DPA (Designated Person Ashore) was not immediately available-the Capt. should have been give the DPA's person/company cell phone number. Although, it's important to understand the Capt. Called the DPA way too late (days late) for the DPA to do anything. Where were the Operations Managers of TOTE? Why were they not talking to the Capt. about the storm days and hours before? Lots of questions are unanswered and NTSB did not find the answers. NTSB does not determine Root Cause-it's only charged with determining "Probably Cause" a much less mature level of causation.

[@softwhiteund3rarm0r]

8 minutes of pleasantries and name dropping almost lost me.....hire an editor or something if you want to engage young people. Im 42 and more patient than most.

[@michaelmayers6303]

THE BLAME.....The blame...falls on the capt...THE CAPT S BOSS is this company....a company who kept a broken ship...that would make the FITS GERALD to shame...yet CAPT IS THE BLAME...WTF kind of b s is that..?

[@chris00nj]

I had to stop watching at 30:14 . She's trying to invent racial tension that didn't exist. Its disrespectful to the crew.

[@captjim11]

Yes exactly.

[@sergeant1446]

Americans are soft as hell,and oblivious to reality. You love living in bubbles, years of living in a geocentric society has ruined you people. It's about to imploded.

[@nativevirginian8344]

Agreed, I stopped watching.

[@joeypinterrockandroll3961]

i'm glad i watched this before buying her book. most of what she said is wrong.

[@evolveausevolveaus]

Great presentation, thank you

[@TGP109]

Why must writers always bring race into every scenario? This is the first time I've heard that there was ''racial tension'' on that ship and what in the world does Trump's election have to do with race anyway, except in the fever dreams of ''educated'' leftists? In every grouping of human beings, one will find racial, educational and monetary differences as we are not all the same in our life choices, abilities or educational achievements. Why is this suddenly so controversial? It has ever been thus and always will be. Most Asians and African immigrants have higher degrees, more money and better health outcomes than whites but this is never seen as a result of discrimination or racism.

[@kenosabi]

Well put.

[@sergeant1446]

Because America is the most racist place on earth. But somehow you hate hearing about it. If it wasn't true it wouldn't bother you. And I'm a soldier that has been in and out of many countries, but my experiences in America is unique.

[@thomasdaniels6824]

​@@sergeant1446America is the LEAST racist in country in the world, please turn off cnn, msnbc and the view THEYRE FAKE. Go to Palestine and tell them youre gay or any other race and see what happens. Africa Sold THERE OWN PEOPLE INTO SLAVERY. STOP THAT CRAP.

[@nativevirginian8344]

The main problem was these people were assigned ships by the union and people got switched around a lot. Read John McPhee’s book “Looking for a Ship” the process is explained well. Comradery was nearly impossible. If this captain insisted on sailing into a hurricane I think the problem was not racism but no confidence in the captain and just plain fear.

[@altawedgie1392]

I find it interesting that many of the comments seem to be at odds with the NTSB findings. For example, the Captain didn’t know that his last shot at a new command had been declined. Also, the QI who he called (tried to call) was not designated to deal with emergencies like this.
I’ll agree with some comments in that I don’t know about racial tensions - no basis to comment - except for the fact that in the audio transcript the Captain at the end was trying to comfort the helmsman.

[@1USACitizen192]

She is woke.

[@johnnyringo3339]

I graduated from a very prestigious Ivey league correctional facility, but umm prolly need to stop this grandfathering in safety or lack there of? I’m no sailor

[@clarkindee]

Really good book.

[@sanyfalkenberg4986]

I'm just reading her book and it's very good. I also recommend George Foys book about the El faro

[@EpicJoshua314]

Before I go on, I firmly state, even swearing an oath, that what I'm about to tell is entirely accurate and not some made up story to gain attraction.
I am from Canada and have a great passion for airplanes, but also a bit for ships and have never been to Florida nor anywhere near. When I was a kid, I would like watching shows such as Mayday and Seconds From Disaster and randomly made up stories in my head and then enact them to my family about tragic events that happened onboard planes, trains, and ships. For the latter, modern events would take place only on cruise ships or ferries, and unless it was a tanker, bulk carrier or container vessel colliding with a ferry or cruise ship, any events involving warships, cargo ships and oil tankers happened during WW2... where like a submarine torpedoed a cargo ship, etc. There was a big map in my room which listed all the countries in the world, capitals of each nation and major cities,
I was greatly fascinated by the Titanic since I was 6 years old and in the spring of 2012 when I was 12 years old, I made up a story about a cruise ship that in early July 2012 left Miami for Puerto Rico (though I later changed the final destination to the British Virgin Islands) via Nassau, Bahamas, with 3,000 people onboard (maximum capacity) and a lifeboat capacity of 3,300 people. The cruise ship greatly resembles the Carnival Fantasy. I primarily based this story on the events which occurred on the Titanic and the Costa Concordia, but pretty much every detail like how many people were onboard, route, how old the ship was, how many people were lost, etc. was random, and in no way was anything based on dream or vision I had. The cruise ship was ~ 30 years old, so built in the very late 70s or early 1980s and wasn't up to date with lifeboats standards as it had older (enclosed) lifeboats which only carried 90 people instead of 150 in each lifeboat. I never gave the cruise ship a name, but it wasn't a Spanish name nor to do with a lighthouse. The Captain is a man in his mid 50s, a former US Navy Captain. He has silver hair with the remains of black hair at the top of his head and whisps of white hair at his sideburns.
After leaving Nassau, the cruise ship proceeded on a route (the Old Bahama Channel) that took it south of the Bahamas and north of the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico. In the cruise ship's path there was a storm which would be moving north of the DR and in a westerly direction. It was nowhere near a hurricane, but the Captain decided to sail through the southern most part of the storm instead of steering further south to avoid it entirely due to overconfidence. If there was any passengers or crew members who disagreed with the Captain's decision it went unconsidered. By midnight the Captain had been on duty for 12 hours and was estimated to remain on duty for another two hours before they pass out of the storm, so fatigue was a factor here. Then just after midnight, while the cruise ship is ~100 miles north of Puerto Plata, DR, it struck something that flooded the first two compartments (the sound of the impact was not heard by many people onboard). The crew deemed the flooding to be survivable and turned the ship towards Puerto Plata, heading at a slow speed, on a southeasterly track to compensate for the winds; the Captain deemed it unnecessary to alert the passengers or a nearby navy ship of what was going on as he deemed the situation to be survivable and decided to alert the passengers in the morning when they were closer to Puerto Plata and the storm had abated in their area. 25 minutes after taking on water, the engines are ordered Stop as the situation began to worsen and the crew was awoken and informed what was happening. 45 minutes after taking on water, the Captain rang the General Alarm and waking up the passengers. 7 minutes later the Abandon ship order is given.
The cruise ship sank bow first 40 minutes later, though the majority of the 3,000 people made it into the lifeboats, 248 still remained onboard by the time the boat deck became awash and impossible to deploy any life rafts off the ship (all of the lifeboats had been lowered). Those who didn't jump into the sea ran for the stern and clustered there. The Captain was still on the bridge as the water reached the bridge deck and he sent a final distress message via his radio or satellite phone, etc.: ordering any lifeboats and RHIBs to return to the ship if able and pick up people in the water and for rescue ships and helicopters to expedite their arrival. As the ship's final plunge began, the Captain is washed off the bridge and later swims to an upturned life raft. In the cruise ship's final moments, with the stern now risen to an angle of 30-40* and the water approaching the funnel at the stern, a man climbs over the railing and holds onto it (like Jack and Rose after Titanic broke in two). His friend is on the low side, holding onto the railing and losing his grip as well as hope. He shouts to the man, " I am an idiot.", the man replies " No, you aren't!". The man desperately tries to hold onto his friend but is unable to hold onto him without himself losing his grip on the railing and falling a long way down to the sea, perhaps even hitting the rudder or the propellers. With no other choice, he grabs the railing with both hands, sending his friend tumbling down to his eventual death (neither of these two men's names are Frank or Michael nor are their last names similar to Hamm and Davidson). A few minutes later the cruise ship slips beneath the waves. The man on the high side of the railing survived. In the end, 33 passengers and 3 crew members are lost in the sinking. Out of the 36 who perished, only one body -- that of the Third Officer -- was never found.
This story remained in my head until the spring of 2013 when I considered it meaningless and forgot about it. Then in the spring of 2015 I remembered this story and it sporadically stayed in my head. In late 2019 I learned about the El Faro -- which sank 3 years after I made up this story -- from an episode of Drain the Oceans. I then got a book called "Run the Storm", and when I was finished reading it, I noticed many similarities to my story and the El Faro such as a storm, route and location, overconfident Captain, old ship that wasn't up to lifeboat standards, late mustering of those onboard, two people having a very similar dialogue in the ship's final moments, etc.
I never wrote this story out before the El Faro sank and never told anybody it until 2019 so unfortunately I have no external proof that I had ever made up a story which eerily foreshadows the events which occurred on the El Faro 3 years before it sank -- I briefly enacted it out to my dad in the spring of 2012 but he has no such memory of this story.
As I stated above, I am not lying here and would even swear an oath and even take a polygraph test. I would never declare anything like this to gain false fame and attraction; what I just told you was entirely accurate and only two people, those being myself and God, know for certain that I made up a story which eerily foreshadows what would occur on the S.S. El Faro three years later.

[@humanbeing2420]

That's all wonderful, but I doubt many people will ever read your comment because most people don't stay with a six paragraph long comment on UA-cam.

[@UN-AFFIL]

yeah i only made it to the second paragraph. but it looks like you did something interesting! congrats!

[@RoyHodgson97]

Thanks for sharing your story @EpicJoshua.
A lesson learned for you must be to ALWAYS write down your stories and who knows where that could lead you in the future? You seem to have a vivid imagination, maybe you'll become a writer one day, writing thriller novels about ships and airplane disasters?
Good luck☺

[@EpicJoshua314]

@@RoyHodgson97 I have written out several stories which are in various stages of completion, I published an article recently which has led to a TV series about the event in the article being made. I have written out this story into a 50 page summary. I’ll decide in 5 years whether to write this story or another story, both of which have a protagonist based on me. With this story I’ll likely give an author the summary and tell them to add more details and characters. Once they turn this into a 250 page or so story they’ll send it back to me, I get the final say in any additions or omissions and it gets published with the authors being their name and my name.

[@francisjarvis1368]

What was a q I gonna do for them . Call to emergency what could they do.

[@mygirlsadie1]

They couldn’t do anything at that point. The captain was at the point of no return & he knew it..

[@francisjarvis1368]

Why did this captain sail into a hurricane

[@mrthewubbie]

Arrogance, and denial of the situation. Loss of situational awareness due to confirmation bias. Foolishness.

[@delanorrosey4730]

"On Time, EVERY TIME." - - TOTE Maritime slogan
The Captain was under pressure to deliver on time, knowing his career is in jeopardy if he wasn't promoted to the new fleet.

[@ww32]

@@delanorrosey4730 I just want to remind you that TOTE gave the captain permission to go around a previous storm just a week earlier in the season that didn't even turn into a Hurricane, and he ignored up to date information from NOAA and repeated advice from his 2nd officer. He got them all killed.

[@delanorrosey4730]

@@ww32 Very much so and I agree. Which left many to wonder why he hazarded the ship, despite TOTE allowing him to make whatever actions necessary to procure the safety of the ship and deliver the goods on time.
I'm not sure if you watched Brick Immortar's video on El Faro (or a lawyer's video on the lawsuits stemming from the disaster).
Basically, TOTE tried to put the blame for the sinking on the crew (the insurance company wasn't going to pay out because the Captain hazarded the ship. A Captain that they hired but should've gotten rid of.
Although not confirmed but could be alleged by his mental model, his first denial of promotion might've pressured him to try and deliver the goods on time to get a promotion to TOTE's newer LNG ships. Unbeknownst to him, TOTE denied his promotion a second and final time. Davidson was going to be stuck piloting rust buckets like El Faro and El Yunque, which was destined to left out to pasture sailing Alaskan routes until their scrapping.).
TOTE knew there was crewmembers caught sleeping on the bridge while the ship was underway; they also knew Capt. Davidson didn't reprimand said crew for such infractions.
It took a couple years for the NTSB and the Navy to retrieve the VDR and complete the investigation of the El Faro's sinking. The VDR confirmed their suspicions; the Captain was pretty much a "state room Captain" - couldn't care less about the vessel than promotions/higher earnings.
The primary cause for the sinking - cars breaking free of their lashings crashing into a fire main. Although the direct cause for El Faro's sinking, the main contributor to that was water flooding Hold #3. The flooding occurring as a result of the El Faro being sailed right into the hurricane.
El Faro's sister ship, El Yunque, didn't sink due to substandard lashings of vehicles. El Yunque didn't sink because it wasn't sailed into a hurricane in the first place.

[@MegaSunspark]

​@@delanorrosey4730well, he has NO CHANCE of being promoted now! You can't be reckless like this to save time to keep to the company's slogan. I think they're slightly not on time this time.

[@jeromevezie7432]

This presentation is very interesting. There is another book which is quite interesting, "leadership is language", especially several chapters, which assess this situation from the team management and captain's soft skills perspective (for instance, the captain doesn't seem to ask simple questions to his team, to initiate a dialogue, what makes you say that?. Another lens which brings further insight. It would be interesting to know if captains are trained around soft skills (listening, the art of questionning, emotions, ...) whereas it turns out to be key.
Even if we can assume that this captain isn't the root cause of this accident, only one of the causes. The organization (the company, the maritime system, upper-management pressure, HR incentives and goals,...) is stronger than the individual, "A Bad System Will Beat a Good Person Every Time" (Edwards Demming), thus this captain might be sort of prisonner of this system, meaning whoever in his shoes, whatever the background and skills, might be doomed to failure.
We are under the impression that this captain was left with no choice but to manage this by himself and follow the initial route at any rate to be succesful to some extent, whatever the risks. Anyone can feel being, once in his life, in a sort of steel trap, feeling caught between a rock and a hard place and do crazy things with the benefit of hindsight, it is human. That's why the human factor is key. Maybe he was told, "Next time you change course, you get the blessing of the upper-management first", interpreting this as a threat of being fired... we don't know.
As you may know, there is "Run the storm" as well, very detailed and documented book as well. Those 3 books are complementaries. + the harvard case study : hbr.org/podcast/2022/08/management-lessons-from-the-sinking-of-the-ss-el-faro

[@nw8000]

Her Q&A puts a different light on what I have seen and read about the Captain, I am a little more forgiving of him now...

[@alistairclarke6726]

compelling!

[@Stucca1]

There is only ONE Captain in my life, Jesus Christ son of The Most Highest. No man, living or dead would have made me obey commands like this ”captain” made.

[@hollieBlu303]

Excellent talk. I'm going to go and look up the book. I have heard some of the black box audio...I believe it was on one of the two Brick Immortar videos. A brilliant channel that focuses very much on maritime health and safety
Just another thing about Brick Immortar...I believe he was the first person I heard call a roll-on-roll-off, (or ro-ro) a roll-on-roll-over. I believe that was in reference to the Zeebrugge ferry disaster.

[@softwhiteund3rarm0r]

BRICK IMMORTAR is amazing for his engineering and safety expertise. Truly A+ content.

[@chadwillis.4226]

She needs to stick to the story of the El Faro and quit preaching about global warming, race issues and Trump. Pathetic.

[@1USACitizen192]

Exactly,

[@alan6832]

I feel like they could have saved a lot of fuel by just slowing down out of Jacksonville until the storm passed, and old ships are viable under the condition that the owners allow them to avoid bad weather.

[@declanhowley4679]

man/woman v nature...only one winner..greed is our downfall..it cost lives...xxx from ireland

[@HVACinthe973]

I now believe the captain is not to blame.
The company is at fault:
They gave too much responsibility to a captain. They should not leave the decision to sail in predicted bad weather fully on the captain. There should be some chain of command in this.
The company failed to train the captain on weather prediction or being able to understand and interpret the weather info he had.
Either the company operated so frequently in bad weather it created a culture of lax safety precautions or the company did not normally operate in bad weather and the captain took a chance that was never needed. Even in the second scenario how could the company be so unaware that their largest asset had a likelihood of ending up on the sea floor?
Simply the company operated in a matter of “get it done, on your own, without the company providing any guidance”. It’s obvious the captain, being a career focused individual would, at the very least remain alive in order to forward his career.
Substitute this captain from another, how could the outcome have been much different.

[@charlesfaure1189]

It isn't a matter of either/or. The captain was part of the company and was absolutely responsible for his own negligence and foolishness. Another Captain might have been smart enough, or decent enough, to choose the safety of his crew over his desperation to salvage an already-damaged career. When lives are in your hands, "I wanted to keep my job" is a contemptible excuse.

[@ww32]

Well considering that the company didn't have a problem letting ships divert, and had let this captain divert earlier in the season after he asked for permission, it really is his fault. Go watch Brick Imorters video on the El Farro, it includes the full report from the NTSB and the breakdown of the actions of the crew and condition of the ship and cargo. At the end of the day it is the ships master who is responsible and he repeatedly ignored only weather reports from NOAA but request from his second mate to chance course. He took that ship right into the middle of a CAT 3 storm.

[@MegaSunspark]

I believe a captain of a ship or aircraft has the legal authority to do whatever he or she needs to do to keep the craft under their command, safe. They don't need to call and check with their employer or anyone else and ask them what to do. Davidson doing all the wrong things first and then trying to reach his company in desperation for advice, only shows his incompetence and lack of knowledge and understanding of technical and legal aspects of shipping.

[@francisjarvis1368]

Some one said the titanic 12minutes to hit bottom and that was 12000 feet.

[@TexasMan77]

No It took 6 minutes.

[@Boccaccio-ii1fl]

Americans will never be able to have merchant ships again due to their strong labour unions which idiotically protect unskilled expensive American crews. As a seamen, I have opportunity to visit a US flag container vessel long time before and it was very interesting to observe closely that rusted wreck. Ships required continuously maintenance and the crew of that ship do not carry out any, most probably they did not want to do it.

[@MegaSunspark]

There is extremism on both sides of the coin. Owners/management takes advantage of labor and mistreats them, doesn't pay fair wage, healthcare, time off, or safety. On the other hand, labor unions make unreasonable demands of wages and other privileges and cause strikes if their demands are not met. So the blame is on both sides.

[@peterking2886]

Trayvon Martin was NOT 'murdered ' and Trump had nothing to do with the racial tensions in the US. Race hustlers and leftist agitators are responsible . This was supposed to be an interesting lecture on a tragic incident ....turned out to be a turgid low energy presentation .

[@babychuma1]

I read the book and wondered if she included the race angle to be more attractive to her publisher? In the end I felt like the original article was tighter, the book was an afterthought based on the popularity of it, so she had to puff up the content.

[@TGP109]

Exactly! Anyone can put a ''spin'' on a book and it seems that ''racism'' is today's zeitgeist for leftist writers to latch onto.

[@TGP109]

@@babychuma1 More than likely, though now I'm not buying her book.

[@humanbeing2420]

She simply observed that racial tensions had increased around the time of Trump's campaign and election. IOW, she was recognizing objective reality. She did not say that this was Trump's fault - you just jumped to that conclusion, perhaps because you're hyper-sensitive to perceived criticism of the man you worship unconditionally as a holy deity.

[@humanbeing2420]

Trayvon Martin's killer may have been acquitted, but it's still perfectly accurate to state colloquially that he was murdered. She didn't mean that he had been murdered in a legal sense. When a black person is walking down the street minding their own business and gets shot dead by someone for doing nothing, most people consider that "murder" regardless of what a jury of Floridian rednecks had to day about it. OJ Simpson was acquitted, but nobody objects when people say that Nicole Brown Simpson was murdered. Facts are facts.

[@MegaSunspark]

AFGHANISTAN????!!!! That country is landlocked. How would they be ship breaking there? 😅
But anyway, overall, it was a very informative presentation. I learned in more detail what happened that night on board El Faro. Davidson's recklessness and lack of knowledge and understanding in mastering a ship and of weather, technology, and details of his own ship is astonishing. Maybe his lack of ability was somehow known or suspected by the company management and that's why he was turned down for the promotion/transfer to a more modern ship and they would have let him go when El Faro would have been retired and scrappd.
At least she knows Chinese stuff is junk.

[@michaelmayers6303]

hug the shores ...is what i would do...

[@nativevirginian8344]

That will only run you aground, you end up the same way, everything destroyed & most or all crew dead.

[@jessejames7757]

Little lady stuff happens.

[@Brodie--lw6eb]

The captain never heard the term Crew Resource Management

[@lukas_jay243]

The book is actually riveting, until she aires her political ignorances. Why did she not just stick with her topic?

[@michaelhall2138]

Bit of a polemic and seems to confuse " making our own things" with curing dangerous corner cutting, profiteering capitalism but she cares which is refreshing. Regulators asleep at the wheel are always a big problem.
Also the fact that most of America's medicine is made abroad is another sign of American maximising profits. Look ,also, how the American car industry outsourced abroad .

[@user-th1fe9uh1b]

GOD BLESS THE LOST SOULS ABOARD THIS SHIP. PRAYING FOR THE FAMILIES AND THERE LOST LOVED ONES. MUCH LOVE TO YOU ALL!!!! THEY SHOULD STILL BE ALIVE AN HERE WITH US TODAY!!!! SO SAD FOR THIS ACCIDENT!!!!