By Brian Ok. Sullivan

(Bloomberg) — The worst factor going through the captain of the El Faro when he sailed his 790-foot container ship from Jacksonville, Florida, on Sept. 29 was a tropical storm greater than 400 miles from the Bahamas.

1500 UTC TUE SEP 29 – NWS NHC

TROPICAL STORM JOAQUIN FORECAST/ADVISORY NUMBER 7
1500 UTC TUE SEP 29 2015
TROPICAL STORM CENTER LOCATED NEAR 26.5N 70.8W AT 29/1500Z
POSITION ACCURATE WITHIN 30 NM
PRESENT MOVEMENT TOWARD THE WEST OR 260 DEGREES AT 4 KT
ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE 1001 MB
MAX SUSTAINED WINDS 40 KT WITH GUSTS TO 50 KT.

Within a day, that had modified. The storm named Joaquin rapidly grew to grow to be a Category 3 hurricane robust sufficient to snap timber. And by Oct. 1, as Joaquin descended on the ship, it had grow to be a Category 4, with 120-mile-per-hour (193-kilometers- per-hour) winds robust sufficient to tear the partitions off a home and capsize an enormous ship stuffed with containers.

1500 UTC THU OCT 01 2015 – NWS NHC

HURRICANE CENTER LOCATED NEAR 23.0N 73.9W AT 01/1500Z
POSITION ACCURATE WITHIN 15 NM
PRESENT MOVEMENT TOWARD THE SOUTHWEST OR 220 DEGREES AT 5 KT
ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE 942 MB
EYE DIAMETER 30 NM
MAX SUSTAINED WINDS 110 KT WITH GUSTS TO 135 KT.
64 KT……. 40NE 30SE 30SW 30NW.
50 KT……. 60NE 60SE 40SW 40NW.
34 KT…….100NE 120SE 100SW 80NW.
12 FT SEAS..260NE 180SE 150SW 210NW.

The very last thing heard from the El Faro: A single ping from the ship’s emergency radio beacon, mentioned Joseph Murphy, a ship’s captain and a professor on the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay who has studied the incident.

Now the Coast Guard and the ship’s proprietor, Tote Maritime Puerto Rico, say they consider the ship sank within the deep waters close to the Crooked Islands. Search crews combing the realm have discovered just one crew member’s physique, amongst 33 believed to be on board, in addition to a battered lifeboat and a few unfastened particles.

“It only sent one beep so you know something really dramatic occurred there,” Murphy mentioned in an interview Monday. He mentioned the ship in all probability capsized quickly after dropping its propulsion.

Two of the academy’s graduates had been members of the El Faro crew, based on the college’s Facebook web page. The president of Maine Maritime Academy mentioned on Facebook that 4 graduates of that college had been recognized in information reviews as being crew members, however the college couldn’t affirm it.

Coast Guard flight crews took off at first gentle right this moment to hunt for survivors.

Battered Bahamas

Hurricane Joaquin battered the Bahamas, after which turned northwest, shifting away from the U.S. coast. It raked Bermuda with heavy winds earlier than drifting into the central Atlantic, now rated as a Category 1, the bottom hurricane degree.

The El Faro was “robust enough to handle” a tropical storm en path to San Juan, Puerto Rico, based on Murphy. But a hurricane of Joaquin’s measurement and depth requires every part to go proper to outlive it, he mentioned. When a giant storm hits, the traditional response is to show into the wind,“reduce speed and ride out the storm,” Murphy mentioned.

The El Faro, although, couldn’t do this, he mentioned. In the final message despatched by its crew, the sailors suggested that the ship had misplaced propulsion and was itemizing badly.

“It was basically just bobbing around,” Murphy mentioned.

Murphy mentioned he isn’t certain there’s something the El Faro might have performed to flee Joaquin as soon as it was at sea. The storm was shifting southwest by means of the week at about 6 miles per hour. With tough seas — a Coast Guard flight reported 40-foot waves – – it’s uncertain the El Faro might have outrun it.

“It’s not like you’re in the car and you are going to put the pedal to the metal,” he mentioned. “Basically he was stuck out in the middle, and there was no place to avoid the storm.”

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