starboardsides,opentothesky,ex-
tremelydifficultifnotimpossibleto
launchfromalistingshipinhur-
ricane-forcewinds,andcertainto
capsizeinbreakingwaves.Italso
hadfiveinf latableliferaftsthatwere
easiertolaunchbutmoredifficultto
board,andnearlyasvulnerablein
thestorm.Theonlyhopewastotake
totheliferafts.
DavidsonradioedtoSchultz,who
wassomewhereontheshiptryingto
monitortheflooding.Hesaid,“Justa
heads-up. I’mgonnaringthegener-
alalarm.Getyour
musterwhileyou’re
downthere.Muster
all,mate.”
Schultzanswered,
“Roger.”
Davidsoncalled
the engine room
andgota juniorof-
ficer.Hesaid,“Just
wanttoletyouknowI amgoingto
ringthegeneralalarm.Youdon’thave
toabandonshiporanythingjustyet.
Allright,we’regonnastaywithit.”
Whenhegotoffthephone,Da-
vidsonshoutedloudly,“Ringit!”A
high-frequencybellcouldbeheard
everywhere.
SchultzcalledDavidsononthera-
dio.Hesaid,“Everybodystarboard
side.”Thestarboardsidewasthehigh
side,towindward.
Davidsonanswered,“Allunder-
stood.”
Hamm was trying to climb theShesaid,“Coffee?Creamandsugar?”
Sheadded,“Sugarisfinewiththecap-
tain,right?”Hammsaid,“Givemethe
Splenda,nottheregularsugar.”
Inreplytoaquestion,Davidson
said,“Shouldgetbetterallthetime.
Rightnowwe’reonthebacksideof
it.OK?
Buttheywerenotonthebackside
ofthestorm,andconditionswerenot
goingtoimprove.Theywereinthe
northerneyewall,andgettingpushed
tothesouthwest.Joaquin,meanwhile,
wasintensifyingintoa Category 4 hur-
ricane.
Davidsoncalled
the engineroom.
Thechiefengineer
explainedthathe
wouldnotbeableto
getthelubrication
pumpsgoinguntil
ElFarogainedmore
ofanevenkeel.
Fulldaylighthadcome.Thechief
engineercalled,andRandolphtold
him therewasnothingmorethat
couldbedonefromthebridgeabout
thelist.Davidsoninstructedherto
sendanemergencymessagetothe
CoastGuardandthecompanyviathe
securityalertsystem.
Speakingoftheoutsideworld,he
saidinanurgenttone,“Wake every-
bodyup!Wake’emup!”
“EverybodyGetOff!”
ElFarohadtwooutdatedlifeboats
hungfromdavits on its port andA LOW RUMBLING
BEGAN.IT WAS
THE SOUND OF
EL FARO
GOING DOWN126 April 2020
READER’S DIGEST