Lost at sea.

[Guinevere]

Yesterday the Coast Guard rescued 12 off of a 212 foot merchant ship caught up in hurricane Joaquin. Video of the sinking ship and some of the rescue here: https://mobile.twitter.com/USCGSoutheas ... 12/video/1

Meanwhile, there is another, larger cargo ship w 33 crew missing in the storm. Couldn't be found yesterday, search resumes today.

The Coasties don't get enough credit for the work they do and the lives they save and how tough they are. Semper Paratus!

[Long Run]

The Coasties don't get enough credit for the work they do and the lives they save and how tough they are. Semper Paratus!

[rubato]

They do a great job. Because of them, the deaths on crab boats have dropped by more than an order of magnitude.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/27/pf/jobs ... rous-jobs/

Thanks to new government rules, there has been only one death in the Alaskan crab fishery in the past six years -- a significant improvement from the 1990s which saw an average of 7.3 deaths a year, according to Edward Poulsen, director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers.

yrs,
rubato

[Guinevere]

Sadly, the title proves true:

The 790 foot long MV El Faro was determined to be lost at sea this morning, after getting caught by the hurricane and losing communications on Thursday. 33 souls aboard, many with Maine and other New England ties. So sad:

The U.S. Coast Guard is focusing on the search for survivors after concluding the missing cargo ship El Faro sank at its last known location with Hurricane Joaquin bearing down on it.

Ninety-six hours after the cargo ship lost contact, the Coast Guard has only found debris from the ship.

There have been reports of survival suits, life boats and life rafts that have been checked for signs of life, Coast Guard Capt. Mark Fedor said at a news conference Monday.

One of the survival suits contained unidentifiable human remains, he said.

"We are still looking for survivors and any signs of life," Fedor said.

The massive search in the Caribbean Sea has yielded a 225-square-mile debris field but no sign of the ship.



The vessel was carrying a crew of 28 Americans and five Polish nationals when it went missing near the Bahamas last week as Hurricane Joaquin, with winds blowing at 130 mph, passed over the archipelago.

El Faro, based in Jacksonville, Florida, was headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

At this point, Fedor said, the Coast Guard is no longer looking for the ship. All efforts are on finding survivors.

The search mission began Friday, Fedor said, but the storm and rough sea conditions made it difficult.

Sunday was the first day the searchers had fair search conditions with which to work, he said.

At this point, "for our search planning efforts, we are assuming it sank in the last known position we recorded on Thursday," Fedor said.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/05/us/el-far ... index.html

[oldr_n_wsr]

Prayers and thoughts to those lost and their families and friends.
Sad.

[Gob]

The ship, which was travelling from Florida to Puerto Rico, was taking on water before it sank according to the distress call.

Its owners, Tote Maritime, say the ship lost power after its engines broke down.

Tote Maritime, said two vessels it dispatched to the scene had found a container "which appears to be from the El Faro".

The company has also defended its decision to allow the ship to sail so close to a hurricane.

In a statement it said the crew were "equipped to handle situations such as changing weather."

Nasty.

[MajGenl.Meade]

was taking on water before it sank

That seems to be the correct order - you can tell they've owned boats before.

What an ordeal it must have been for the poor crew. Of course the thing shouldn't have sailed when such a violent hurricane was known to be tracking through the route

Sick

[BoSoxGal]

I'm sure it had nothing to do with the shipping company's desire to meet deadlines promised to vendors.

[wesw]

yeah, from the satt. images, the worst part of the cat 4 storm sat right on top of the ship for 2 days

140 mph winds for 2 days seems un survivable

hoping for a few miracles tho

[Guinevere]

was taking on water before it sank

Of course the thing shouldn't have sailed when such a violent hurricane was known to be tracking through the route

Sick

1. Large ships are generally safer at sea than in port. So says my sailor. But at sea, that can also change quickly if power is lost. She was an older ship, although recently overhauled.
2. The storm's path was very very difficult to predict. On top of that, it actually spun over the Bahamas and then came back and spun over them again. Very unusual. "Known" was not exactly possible.
3. The storm also intensified very quickly from cat 1 to cat 4.
4. From all I've read about the Captain he was very talented and well respected.


I hope they find any of them. That the Coasties are still looking gives me a little hope.

[Lord Jim]

I agree with all the positive things that have been said about the Coast Guard. They are one government organization (unlike say the Secret Service or The Veterans Administration) that does its job day in and day out with the highest professionalism...

Which is probably why you usually hear so little about them...(scandalous or slaggardly behavior always gets more press...)

The Deadliest Catch has been great for providing them with some well deserved positive PR...

[oldr_n_wsr]

If a ship losses power in the middle of a storm, it is toast.
It can't manuver/turn into a wave. It was a big ship, but the sea is bigger.
My prayers are with the crew.

[dales]

I agree with all the positive things that have been said about the Coast Guard. They are one government organization (unlike say the Secret Service or The Veterans Administration) that does its job day in and day out with the highest professionalism...

Yeah, and they get all the best drugs. too!

[BoSoxGal]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/08/us/el-far ... index.html

No surprises here - soulless capitalism.

God bless the lost souls of the El Faro's last voyage.

[Lord Jim]

"The ship was the pride of the American side,
coming back from some mill in Wisconsin...
As the big freighters go, she was bigger than most...
with her crew and her captain well seasoned..."

[dales]

[Lord Jim]

[Lord Jim]

in the last scene, rubato shows up in a cameo....

[Lord Jim]

in the last scenes, rubato shows up in a cameo....