The widow of one of the 33 crew members killed when El Faro sank in a hurricane last fall called on Friday for stricter oversight of decisions by shipping companies and their captains to sail in adverse weather.
Rochelle Hamm’s husband, 49-year-old Frank Hamm of Baltimore, died on Oct. 1, 2015, when El Faro went down off the Bahamas in the worst cargo shipping disaster involving a U.S.-flagged vessel in more than three decades.
Among 33 crew members lost aboard El Faro were five with Maine connections: Capt. Michael Davidson of Windham, a 1988 graduate of Maine Maritime Academy; Michael Holland, 25, of Wilton, a 2012 graduate of Maine Maritime; Danielle Randolph, 34, also of Rockland and a 2004 graduate of Maine Maritime; and Dylan Meklin, 23, a 2010 graduate of Rockland District High School and a 2015 graduate of Maine Maritime. Another crew member, Mitchell Kuflik of Brooklyn, New York, graduated from Maine Maritime in 2011.
The U.S. Coast Guard began hearings this week to investigate the sinking. At a news conference outside the hearing site in Jacksonville, Florida, Rochelle Hamm said U.S. lawmakers should establish third-party oversight of shipping companies similar to the role of air traffic controllers for planes.
Executives of Tote Services, which operated El Faro, testified this week that ship captains have full responsibility for deciding when it is safe to sail and the route.
They said it was Davidson’s call to depart Jacksonville with a storm brewing in the Atlantic, and they said they did not closely monitor El Faro’s cargo run to Puerto Rico as a tropical storm strengthened into Hurricane Joaquin.
Hamm said in a phone interview that she came up with the idea she pitched in a Change.org petition for tighter safety regulations after northern airports closed and thousands of flights were canceled in January during a snowstorm.
“Nothing moved,” said Hamm, 44. “You didn’t see planes coming in or going out.”
Hamm is among the family members of dead crew members who have sued Tote in federal court. Relatives say the ship was not seaworthy and should have avoided the hurricane.
“We feel strongly that this company had knowledge of the oncoming storm,” said Hamm’s lawyer, Angelo Patacca. “If information is available, you can’t just stick your head in the sand.”
Davidson, a veteran mariner, reported the 790-foot El Faro lost propulsion and took on water before it sank. After the vessel was lost, the company bought a subscription for a bad-weather routing system for its ships, Tote Services’ president, Philip Greene, testified this week.
Tote has blamed the accident on a loss of power because of unknown causes and has invoked a 19th century maritime law that would limit its financial liability.
TOTE Maritime, the vessel’s owner, already has agreed to pay $500,000 plus economic loss damages to the families of 10 crew members, including Davidson, according to a notice filed in federal court in Florida.
Davidson was the only crew member with Maine ties to be included in the recent claims settlement that involves the estates of 10 of the crew members.
The Coast Guard’s hearings continue through next Thursday with testimony expected from other Tote employees, a ship inspection company that worked on El Faro and Coast Guard personnel.
The investigation could result in civil charges. If any criminal actions are found, that evidence would be turned over to the Justice Department for consideration of criminal charges, Coast Guard spokeswoman Alana Ingram said.