Families ‘praying to God’ for a miracle
Daughter’s last message to mother: ‘We are heading straight into (a hurricane)’
On Thursday morning, Laurie Bobillot received what she prayed were not her daughter’s final words.
“Not sure if you’ve been following the weather at all,” wrote her daughter, Danielle Randolph, from aboard the American container ship El Faro, “but there is a hurricane out here and we are heading straight into it.”
“Out here” meant en route from Jacksonville, Fla., to Puerto Rico. In other words, the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. “Winds are superbad and seas are not great,” wrote Randolph.
Bobillot was following the weather, of course. Most Americans were worried that Hurricane Joaquin might rain out football games or cancel backyard barbecues. But for Bobillot, Joaquin was much more serious. She watched as the hurricane churned its way through the Caribbean, barrelling towards El Faro — and her daughter — with wind speeds of up to 140 knots. All the while, Bobillot waited for her daughter to call from safety. She is still waiting. Four days after Randolph’s last message, she and her 32 fellow crew members remain missing at sea. Just hours after she sent her email, El Faro began to take on water and tilt to one side, according to the ship’s owner, TOTE Maritime. Then the ship’s communications went quiet. It hasn’t been heard from since. For four days, the U.S. Coast Guard has been searching for El Faro. They have spotted life rings, debris and an oil slick near El Faro’s last known location, but no sign of the ship, or of survivors. Though the search continues for survivors, the coast guard said Monday that the ship had sunk.
Families are fearing the worst, while still trying to maintain hope.
“We’ve have been going with no sleep for four days,” Laurie Bobillot told the Washington Post on Sunday night from Jacksonville, Fla., where she and other family members of the crew have gathered.
“This is torture,” echoed Mary Shevory, whose daughter was on El Faro. “I’m just praying to God they find the ship and bring my daughter and everyone on it home,” she told The Associated Press.
The maritime mystery bears a striking similarity to another incident more than 30 years ago. In1983, a 39-year-old cargo ship called the SS Marine Electric sank off the coast of Virginia. Only three of its 34-member crew survived after spending 90 minutes in the frigid Atlantic. Its sinking spurred safety reforms in the shipping industry.
Now the hope is that those reforms, including better lifeboats, may help El Faro’s crew avoid a similar fate. So far, however, the signs are not good.
El Faro is 40 years old, even older than the Marine Electric when it went down. Although its age alone doesn’t make it unsafe (the ship was overhauled in 2006), it doesn’t help.
“It’s got all the problems of an aging ship,” said Vincent Brannigan, a professor emeritus of law and technology at the University of Maryland, according to the Bangor Daily News.
Then there are the items found at sea. The first one was an orange life ring, spotted Saturday about193 kilometres northeast of Crooked Island in the Bahamas. According to The Associated Press, authorities have confirmed that the life ring came from El Faro. On Sunday, Coast Guard planes spotted debris and an oil sheen in the same area. And TOTE Maritime said one of its search ships had found a container that appeared to be from El Faro.
But “there has been no sighting of the El Faro or any life boats,” company president Tim Nolan said, according to The Associated Press.
If there is any hope left, it lies in the quality of the crew. “My husband is extremely capable; he has extensive training,” Theresa Davidson, wife of 53-year-old El Faro captain Michael Davidson, told the Daily Mail on Friday. “If anyone can handle a situation like that, it’s my husband.”
When El Faro left Jacksonville for San Juan on Sept. 29, Joaquin could be seen on the radar, coiling over the Caribbean like a snake.
“On Wednesday, (Capt. Davidson) sent a message to the home office with the status of the developing tropical storm he said he had very good weather . . . and that his crew was prepared,” said Phil Greene, president and CEO of TOTE Services, Inc. The next day, however, the massive ship was under siege from stiff waves and powerful winds.
One body was found Sunday night, as well as an empty 43-seat lifeboat. The human remains were inside a “survival suit” — which helps crew members float and avoid hypothermia — and could not be recovered. The badly damaged lifeboat was one of two carried by the steamship. The other is still missing.