theBahamasonanunusual
southwesterlyheadingrath-
erthanhookingbacktothe
north,asthemeteorological
modelskeptexpectingitto
do.AdaybeforeEl Faro’s
departure,thetropicalde-
pressionhadbecomea trop-
icalstormnamedJoaquin.
Davidson,whohadbeen
monitoringtheforecasts,had
tworoutesavailabletohim.
Thefirstwasa straightsouth-
eastheadingpasttheBahamasfortwo
anda halfdaysand 2035 kilometres
directlytoSanJuan.
The second route ran south
throughtheFloridaStraits,theneast
alongCubathroughasinew ynar-
rowscalledtheOldBahamaChan-
nel.Thisroutewouldhaveplaceda
stringofwave-breakingislandsbe-
tweentheshipandthestorm.The
problemwasthatitadded 296 kilo-
metresandmorethan sixhours
tothetrip.Theschedulewouldbe
thrownoutofwhack.
Davidsonoptedforthestraight
shot.Theforecastindicatedthathe
couldslippasttheBahamasbefore
Joaquinmovedin.
ElFarocastoffat8.07onTuesday
evening,carrying 391 containersand
267 trailersandcars.Sixhourslater
Joaquinbecamea Category1 hurri-
cane,withsustainedwindsgreater
than 119 kilometresperhour.Theeye
lay 394 kilometreseast-northeastof
San Salvador, the outermost island oftheBahamianchain,andwasslowly
movinginthatdirection.“AGoodLittlePlan”
At5.56amonSeptember 30,the
morningafterdeparture,thedigital
voyagedatarecorderfirstopenson
thebridge.Davidsonwasconferring
withthechiefmate,StevenSchultz,
54,atthecharttable.Anunlicensed
seaman,FrankHammIII,49,wasat
thehelm,monitoringtheautopilot.
Theshipwasrollinginswellsap-
proachingfromthe left.Schultz
said,“Gottheswell,”andDavidson
answered,“Ohyeah.Probablygoing
togetworse.”
Schultzsuggestedmovingsouth
ofthedirecttracklinetoSanJuan,
givingthestorma bitmorespace.But
thenhesaid,“Iwouldwait.Getmore
information.”
Formarineweather,ElFaro’screw
hadmultipleoptionsbutusedprimar-
ilytwo.ThefirstwasanInmarsatC
PHOTO: WILLIAM HOEY/MARINE TRAFFIC satellite receiver that fed US National
TheElFaro: the241-metrecargoshipstoodlittle
chance against the raging hurricane117
Into the Teeth of a Hurricane