Seaways Book Reviews: Shipwrecked by Maeve McGoran

What readers are saying

Narrated by the author Maeve McGoran, this audiobook is available on the audible.com platform. However, this is much more than a narrated book. While the marine inquiry did not permit the release of the actual recordings, the 500-page transcript was released. The author and the publisher scripted actors to bring the narrative to life, using actors with appropriate accents to voice the words of Captain Davidson and the bridge team as recorded by the Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) on the bridge. Music and sound effects are interspersed with the narrative to create a theatrical reenactment of El Faro’s final voyage and fatal encounter with Hurricane Joaquin.

McGoran tells the story from her vantage point as a journalist and writer with experience working for NPR, National Public Radio based in Miami, Florida. She focuses on the human impact on those who lost their loved ones in the immediate aftermath and during the years that followed, as the USCG and NTSB inquiries unfolded.

Investigation outcomes

The audiobook also includes a full chapter on the investigations conducted by both the NTSB (National Safety Transportation Board) and the USCG (United States Coastguard), focusing on the differences between the findings of both inquiries. McGoran interviews one of the NTSB panel members who had previously served as master on El Faro.

In its final report, the NTSB determined that the probable cause of the sinking of El Faro and the subsequent loss of life was the captain’s insufficient action to avoid Hurricane Joaquin, his failure to use the most current weather information, and his late decision to muster the crew. Contributing to the sinking was ineffective bridge resource management, which included the captain’s failure to adequately consider officers’ suggestions.

Also contributing to the sinking was the inadequacy of both TOTE’s oversight and its safety management system. Further contributing factors included flooding in a cargo hold from an undetected open watertight scuttle and damaged seawater piping; loss of propulsion due to low lube oil pressure to the main engine resulting from a sustained list; and subsequent downflooding through unsecured ventilation closures to the cargo holds. The vessel lacked an approved damage control plan. Contributing to the loss of life was the lack of appropriate survival craft for the conditions.

Management and pressure

The author explores the life and background of Captain Davidson, focusing on his decisions leading to the loss of El Faro in late September 2015. Davidson understood that his career with TOTE Maritime, the vessel’s owners, hinged on his ability to steer a commercial and politically acceptable path within the company. This point was reinforced by evidence brought before the inquiry where Davidson sought permission from owners to take the longer route on the return voyage from San Juan in order to avoid Hurricane Joaquin. While this deviation was authorised, neither Davidson nor the shore management team raised the question of the outbound voyage, in which the threatening Joaquin presented a clear and present danger. Perhaps commercial pressure resulting from Davidson’s ambition to be appointed to the shipowners new building led to his reluctance to deviate and take the longer route to San Juan.

Despite worsening conditions during the night before the vessel sank, neither the 3rd mate nor 2nd mate requested Davidson to return to the bridge. Davidson’s eight-hour absence from the bridge is questioned, but this also raises questions around his leadership style. The ability of the three watch-keepers to engage with the master on the best and safest route for El Faro is explored at length. Each of the watch keepers are profiled with their background and experience. The likelihood of sexual harassment by Davidson towards the second mate Danielle Randolph is discussed in interviews with her friends. The author explores the ongoing challenge for female mariners and questions whether the second mate was handicapped in her role as senior navigator due to the shadow of harassment and perhaps unable to speak truth to power.

Challenges and questions

The complexity of circumstances that led to Davidson’s decision making on the final voyage of El Faro provides insight into the challenge of command and whether we really understand the ethnography of the master mariner. Do we educate and provide the right support to train officers on speaking truth to power? How can a rightful safety challenge be made without breaching the traditional hierarchical authority of command? In other industries the right to challenge is embedded into the work environment through empowerment. For this to be effective, leaders need to be conditioned to being fully receptive to listening in an environment of trust.

Maeve McGoran’s audio book about El Faro provides a vivid storytelling of the worst disaster in the United States Merchant Marine. The public audience for Shipwrecked will benefit from greater insight and understanding about the maritime industry. Many maritime professionals may find elements of the El Faro story that will resonate with our own near miss experiences.

David Reid MA FNI