With the El Faro’s main propulsion out, its No. 3 hold taking water and a 15 degree list to port, Capt. Michael Davidson warned “the clock is ticking” in his final urgent calls to TOTE Maritime officers ashore.
“I have a marine emergency…We have a hull breach. We have water down in 3 Hold,” Davidson said in the recorded satellite telephone call shortly after 7 a.m. on Oct.1, played Saturday to a hushed audience in Jacksonville, Fla. at the Coast Guard board of inquiry hearing into the ship's sinking.
The recorded calls and testimony from John R. Lawrence, manager of safety and operations for subsidiary TOTE Services, told of a crew of 33 in extreme danger from Hurricane Joaquin and its 150 knot winds, working hard and determined to stay with the crippled 790’ ro/ro containership.
In a first call that went to the voicemail for Lawrence’s cellphone, Davidson told him a scuttle had broken loose and there was “free communication” of water within the ship. In the next recorded call, Davidson spoke to a TOTE call center operator, who began with routine requests for identification, before realizing the extent of the emergency.
“Oh man. The clock is ticking,” Davidson said calmly but with evident exasperation when he was asked to spell the ship’s name. “We’ve lost the main propulsion unit. The engineers can’t get it started.” At one point Davidson asked a crew member: “What do you see down there? What else do you see?”
The operator then transferred the call to Lawrence, who had been trying to dial back to the captain. That part of the call on Lawrence’s cell was not recorded, but he recounted it to the Coast Guard board from his notes.
“Once I was connected to Captain Davidson he said, ‘We’ve secured the source of water,’” Lawrence said. “He told me the crew was safe.”
Lawrence asked for the ship’s position, and heard Davidson speaking with a female crew member, probably second mate Danielle Randolph.
“She also spoke in a very calm voice, and said there were 48 miles east of San Salvador” in the Bahamas, Lawrence said.
Davidson said he thought the crew would be able to pump out the No. 3 hold, Lawrence said.
“He told me, ‘No one’s panicking,’” Lawrence said. Davidson described conditions with wind from the northeast and 10’ to 12’ swells.
“What kind of list are you talking about, Cap?’ Lawrence asked. Davidson replied it was about 15 degrees.
Davidson told Lawrence “he would push all his buttons” to initiate distress signals, Lawrence said he would notify the Coast Guard, and the men ended the call.
Coast Guard investigator Keith Fawcett asked Lawrence how he assessed the situation after that call, and Lawrence said Davidson’s and Randolph’s calmness sounded like they had the situation in hand.
“I honestly felt that…he won’t have that list any longer,” Lawrence said of Davidson’s plan to pump the hold. “He would get his engines back and get underway. I expected to talk to him further.”
