El Faro families "fuel" Coast Guard investigation in to the sinking

A wooden anchor memorial, hand-painted with the names of the El Faro crew members, sat in the front row for the final day of testimony during this session of the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation on the sinking.

For Board Chair Captain Jason Neubauer, the victims and their families are always on his mind.

“We’re just completely dedicated to making sure the investigation is done as thoroughly as possible with the outcomes, hopefully, with down the line some recommendations to improve and make sure this doesn’t happen again,” he says.

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The anchor was made by the sister of crewman Howard Schoenly. Holly Wells has made one for every crew family, as well as for the union halls, and one for the ship- which she handed off to to TOTE Maritime PuerRico Friday.

"It's not about the management or the company, it's about the 33 people that were on that ship," she says.

Neubauer calls that the “emotional aspect” fueling his work- work that continues, even though this public hearing session is now done.

“I feel pretty good about the facts we’ve gathered to date,” he says.

This second session was more technical than the last, with 27 witnesses speaking to ship stability, cargo loading and securing, the systems and software on board, and the special inspection program over El Faro and hundreds of other commercial vessels still at sea.

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There will be a third hearing session scheduled, although the timing is dependent on the NTSB’s efforts to recover El Faro’s Voyage Data Recorder, or “black box”.

The device was found on the ocean floor among the wreckage of the ship just about a month ago. Because of its position, it couldn't be immediately recovered, but the NTSB is working to obtain special salvage equipment and crews to mount a new mission to bring it up. If it can be recovered, the question turns to whether it captured data- including conversations from the bridge- which could prove very useful for the investigation.

Even if that doesn’t happen, however, Neubauer says their work continues.

“We feel comfortable that we can do the complete investigation, even if we don’t get data off the voyage data recorder,” he says.

He says that investigation has been driven in part by your tips. The CGMBI opened a special email account for people to submit information, and Neubauer says not only have they formed leads from that information, but that's even led the Board to some of the witnesses they have called. You can continue to send information to ElFaro@uscg.mil.

As with the first hearing session, some of the questions raised could have immediate impacts. For example, during this session, a specialist with the National Hurricane Center told the Board they had larger than normal errors in the forecasting of Hurricane Joaquin, and could use more resources to help improve their forecasting skills. Neubauer isn't sure of any immediate change that will come from that, but says it's important these issues are vetted in public. He added that commercial shipping- even internationally- has been following the investigation, although he wasn't sure if that has led to any change at this time.

Learning something and bringing change in the future is something that the family members are closely watching for. Derek Davis, the son of crewman Larry Davis, says he wants to see the owners and operators of the vessel specifically taking accountability.

“My hope is that they do make some changes in their actions and they take some small smidgen of responsibility for what went on here,” he says.

For Wells, this process isn’t about blame, it’s about closure.

“It was a perfect storm, it was everything that could have gone wrong went wrong, and it happened. Nobody’s to blame,” she says.

Along with the anchor memorials, family members have been wearing t-shirts to tribute their loved ones and wristbands promoting a foundation established in their honor. Many traveled from out of the area, including Louisiana and New York, to be here to see the process in person.

The Coast Guard and NTSB will issue separate findings following the third session of the investigation.