SS El Faro was a United States-flagged, combination roll-onroll-off and lift-onlift-off cargo ship crewed by U.S. merchant mariners. Built in 1975 by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. as Puerto Rico, the vessel was renamed Northern Lights in 1991, and finally, Elfaro in 2006. She was lost at sea with all hands on October 1, 2015, after steaming into the center of Hurricane Joaquin.
About SS El Faro in brief
SS El Faro was a United States-flagged, combination roll-onroll-off and lift-onlift-off cargo ship crewed by U.S. merchant mariners. Built in 1975 by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. as Puerto Rico, the vessel was renamed Northern Lights in 1991, and finally, Elfaro in 2006. She was lost at sea with all hands on October 1, 2015, after steaming into the center of Hurricane Joaquin. The 40-year-old ship was declared missing on October 2, and an extensive search operation was launched by the United States Coast Guard, with help from the Air Force, Air National Guard, and Navy. The search was called off at sunset on October 7, by which time more than 183,000 sq nmi had been covered by aircraft and ships. The Navy sent the USNS Apache to conduct an underwater search for the ship on October 19, 2015. The next day, November 1, the Navy announced a submersible had returned images that identified the wreck as El Fare. The vessel was carrying a cargo of 39 shipping containers, trailers and cars of 33 people and 5 Poles when it left Jacksonville, Florida, for San Juan, Puerto Rico. The ship’s master, Michael Davidson, charted a course that, according to TOTE Maritime, took the vessel a reasonably safe distance away from the storm, where the captain could have vetoed the plan. The last report from the captain, however, indicated that the crew had contained the flooding. Shortly thereafter, ElFaro ceased all communications with shore.
The captain of the vessel reported that the ship had taken on water and was listing 15 degrees. On March 19, while in the Persian Gulf, the vessel came under fire from missiles. The explosions rocked the ship, but caused no damage or injuries. Through October 2005, near the end of Northern Lights’ chartered service, the ship made 25 voyages and 49 port calls. Collectively, 12,200 pieces of military equipment—weighing 81,000 short tons in all—were transported by the ship. In February 2003, just before the United. States-led invasion of Iraq, the Vessel was chartered by the Military Sealift Command as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom; the vessel ferried Marines and supplies from San Diego, California, to Kuwait. After completion of her military services in 2006, the Ship was transferred by TOTE to its subsidiary company Sea Star Lines. The vessel returned to the original route and served as a “lifeline’ between the U. S. mainland and Puerto Puerto. Rico. When she sank, the Merchant Vessel El Fara was scheduled to return to Tacoma to relieve another vessel, but the ship’s captain vetoed the captain’s plan to sail in excess of 10ft of the storm. On September 29,2015, at 8: 10 p.m. m. EST, El FarO left Jacksonville,. Florida, bound for Puerto Puerto, carrying a shipload of 39 cargo of shipping containers and a crew of 33 people.
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This page is based on the article SS El Faro published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 09, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
