A U.S. Air Force C-130 Hurricane Hunter was in the air over the Bahamas early Monday morning to join U.S. Coast Guard cutters still searching for the cargo ship El Faro, which went missing Thursday morning after it crossed paths with Hurricane Joaquin.
The ship’s captain, Michael Davidson of Windham, and at least three other Mainers — all four of whom are graduates of Maine Maritime Academy in Castine — are among the 33 crew members on board the 790-foot vessel. Danielle Randolph, 34, of Rockland and Michael Holland, 25, of Wilton are among the missing, their mothers confirmed Sunday, along with Dylan Meklin, a 2010 graduate of Rockland High School.
Two cutters searched overnight Sunday but found no sign of the El Faro, which last communicated with the mainland at 7:30 Thursday morning, Chief Petty Officer Bobby Nash said Monday. Coast Guard officials were scheduled to hold a press briefing in Miami at 10 a.m.
Randolph’s mother, Laurie Bobillot, waited Sunday at the Seafarers International Union Hall in Jacksonville, Florida, with Holland’s mother, Deb Roberts, Jon Chrisos of CBS 13 reported.
Bobillot read an email sent by her daughter Tuesday: “There is a hurricane out here and we are headed straight into it. Category three. Winds are super bad and seas are not great. Love to everyone.”
Early Monday morning, Maine Maritime Academy President William Brennan sent a statement to the academy’s community: “I continue to feel hopeful and to remember that the crew is experienced and highly trained in survival at sea. Our hearts go out to the loved ones of all of the crew members who are waiting for news.”
The school’s director of counseling held open office hours over the weekend and will continue to do so Monday.
“If, in the next 24 to 48 hours, we need to come together as a community, we will communicate via multiple channels,” Brennan wrote. “In the meantime, I am still hopeful that this situation will have a positive outcome, and am holding that hope for our community, as I know you are, too.”
On Saturday, search crews retrieved a life ring bearing the El Faro’s name about 70 miles north of the last known location of the ship, about 25 nautical miles north of Crooked Island, Bahamas.
On Sunday, as seas calmed from the 140 miles per hour winds generated by the storm, C-130 search planes finally reached that area and discovered cargo, a life jacket and an oil slick, and later a 225-square-mile debris field containing styrofoam, wood, cargo and other items about 88 miles northeast of Semana Cay in the Bahamas. But as of Monday morning, only the orange life ring had been positively identified as being from the El Faro.
The 41-year-old El Faro left Jacksonville Tuesday on a routine run to San Juan, Puerto Rico. On Thursday morning, the captain 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 been taking on water but that the flooding had been contained.
The Coast Guard announced Friday evening it had lost contact with the El Faro after that distress call, and since then it has tried to re-establish contact with the vessel.
TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, which operates the El Faro, has declined to release the names of the 28 U.S. citizens and five Polish nationals aboard the ship.
On Sunday night, TOTE Maritime officials met with family members in Jacksonville for several hours before speaking with the media.
Ret. Rear Ad. Philip H. Greene Jr., now president and CEO of TOTE Services, said the company’s afloat safety record is “superb” and that the El Faro meets all American Bureau of Shipping and Coast Guard standards. The El Faro previously operated in the company’s Tacoma-to-Anchorage route, he said, and “was purposely built to operate in some of the most rugged, dangerous waters in the world.”
“Until there’s confirmation that the materials found in the debris field came from the El Faro, we’ll continue to hold that hope,” TOTE Inc. CEO Anthony Chiarello said.
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