PORTLAND, Maine — Three days after the cargo ship El Faro went missing off San Salvador Island in the Bahamas amid Hurricane Joaquin, life jackets, containers and an oil sheen were spotted Sunday morning by crews searching by air.
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Gabe Somma confirmed the discovery to the Bangor Daily News at noon Sunday. Somma said the items were discovered in the last known position of the El Faro — northeast of Crooked Island, Bahamas — but he said he could not confirm that the items belonged to the El Faro.
“We’re finding items consistent with a ship of that size, but there’s still no sign of the ship,” he said. “The search conditions are ideal. This is the first good day we’ve had to search.”
At 12:30 p.m. Sunday, TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico president Tim Nolan said in a release that another of the company’s ships, the El Yunque, and a contracted tugboat discovered a container that appears to be from the El Faro and an oil sheen between the El Faro’s last known location and the spot where the Coast Guard recovered a life ring from the El Faro yesterday.
“Our thoughts and prayers remain with the 33 individuals aboard the ship and their families,” Nolan said in the release. “They are our number one priority.”
On Saturday, crews retrieved a life ring from the missing ship, as well as two other life rings and a life preserver that could not be identified as belonging to the El Faro.
Search crews took to the air again Sunday for a third day of searching for the 790-foot El Faro, which was en route from Jacksonville, Florida, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, when the Coast Guard lost contact with the ship following a distress call received at 7:30 a.m. Thursday.
El Faro was set to arrive in San Juan at 5 p.m. Friday, but on Thursday morning the captain of the ship reported the ship was beset by Hurricane Joaquin north of San Salvador Island in the Bahamas, had lost power and was listing at 15 degrees. He also reported the ship had taken on water but that the flooding had been contained.
Among the 33-member crew are five Polish nationals and 28 U.S. citizens, including the captain, Michael Davidson of Windham, and Maine Maritime Academy graduates Dylan Meklin, a 2010 graduate of Rockland District High School, Danielle Randolph of Rockland and Michael Holland of Wilton.
Throughout the day Saturday, an MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter, two U.S. Air Force C-130 Hurricane Hunters and a U.S. Navy P-8 surveillance plane equipped with sophisticated surface search radar searched near the last known location of the ship, 35 nautical miles north of Crooked Island, Bahamas, Chief Petty Officer Ryan Doss said from Miami.
“We’re trying to get them in safely as soon as we can,” Doss said Saturday. “These planes are designed to fly in storms, and we train to fly in bad weather, but at the same time we can only do so much. One of the pilots said today on the phone that this is the worst anyone on this crew has ever flown in.”
By the time the searched ended Saturday evening due to intense weather and low light, the Coast Guard had searched more than 30,000 square nautical miles.
Family members headed to Jacksonville Saturday, and many were gathered at the Seafarers International Union hall Saturday night when the Coast Guard confirmed that a H60 helicopter had retrieved a life ring stenciled with markings from El Faro 70 miles northeast of the last known position of the ship.
A Jayhawk helicopter, Navy P-8 and and three C-130 Hurricane Hunters — including one that arrived Sunday from New England — resumed the search at daybreak Sunday, but Coast Guard cutters Northland and Resolute, along with a Navy ship and three commercial tugboats, were still fighting rough seas to reach the last known location of El Faro, according to Kendrick.
“The Navy aircraft is trying to push closer to the storm and is searching at an altitude that would be able to locate a ship, but wouldn’t really help [finding] individuals in the water,” he said. “Then our Coast Guard aircraft is flying lower to the water and searching more at the surface level.”
Joaquin strengthened throughout the day Saturday to a Category 4, on a scale of 1 to 5, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. But by Sunday afternoon, search conditions were close to ideal with one-foot waves, 15-knot winds and clear skies, the Coast Guard said.
Doss said the track of the hurricane “just kind of circled the area [surrounding the ship] and made a loop of about 100 miles or so. It went down and circled around it, and now it’s going back out almost the same way it came in. It’s kind of unbelievable.”
The ship’s Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon has not transmitted a signal since 7:30 a.m. Thursday, which Doss said is “a bit of a mystery. Normally it would go off either until it’s deactivated or the battery died. In this case, it pinged once, although sometimes that can indicate a malfunction or that someone hit a button.”
Nick Mavodones, operations manager at Casco Bay Lines, told WCSH6 in Portland Friday that Davidson is a “very experienced mariner” who previously worked as a captain at Casco Bay Lines.
“Any time you’re a mariner, you want to exercise prudence operating a vessel, and I’m sure he was doing that earlier this week when got under way from Jacksonville,” Mavodones said. “He’s been sailing these ships for many years and is very experienced, and I think, a very good sailor.”
On Saturday, Melkin’s best friend, Luke Morrill, told CBS 13: “I just can’t believe what’s going on. I just hope for the best. I hope everyone on that ship is alright and that everyone on the ship is just riding it out. Obviously you and me think about the worst, but Dylan’s a strong kid and comes from strong family. Everyone on that ship is strong and they’re trained. You think about the worst, but those guys are out there doing what they’re trained to do.”
TOTE Maritime set up a website, elfaroincident.com, to keep families apprised of the latest news on the search, as well as a hotline, 844-797-2706, for family members to gain information.
A fact sheet posted on the site elfaroincident.com states, “At the time of the El Faro’s departure, the vessel’s officers and crew were monitoring what was then Tropical Storm Joaquin … TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico authorized the sailing knowing that the crew are more than equipped to handle situations such as changing weather.”
The El Faro, which underwent a major overhaul in 2006, was formerly named the Northern Lights and operated under the Sea Star Line, which has since been reorganized as TOTE Maritime Alaska and TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, both owned by parent company Saltchuck.
Company spokesman Mike Hanson said the El Faro is carrying 391 cargo containers and 294 trailer and cars.
In a statement sent Saturday morning to the Maine Maritime Academy community, the academy’s President William J. Brennan declined to speculate on crew members who may be connected to Maine Maritime Academy but said the news “has us all extremely concerned for the safety of all on board.”
A prayer vigil was scheduled for family and friends of the crew at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Seafarers International Union hall in Jacksonville, union spokesman Jordan P. Biscardo told the Bangor Daily News.
“The president of our organization, Mike Sacco, often says we are more like a family than a union, and I think that context is important in understanding our collective emotional state,” Biscardo said by phone Sunday afternoon. “We are extremely grateful to everyone involved in the search and rescue mission. We are hoping for the best. From interacting with hundreds of SIU members online and on the phone, I know we’re all extremely anxious. In modern times, this appears to be an unprecedented situation.”