The Captains of Thor
What Really Caused the Loss of the SS El Faro in Hurricane Joaquin
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Narrated by:
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Pete Ferrand
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By:
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Robert Frump
About this listen
Was it the captain's fault, as many said? Or did the company, the Coast Guard, and the American Bureau of Shipping all have a hand on the helm of the SS El Faro as she steered too close to Hurricane Joaquin? This is an examination of a tragedy that has been well-researched and investigated - heroically so at times - by the United States Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board. Three very well-done books have been published. All of these efforts produced detailed recommendations and observations and all are publicly available. I commend them to you.
My effort touches on the broad sweep and events of the tragedy and investigation, but if you want the detailed story of the final voyage of the ship, you’re better off with the other books. My main goal here is to show how the SS El Faro fit into a larger system and culture - one that I have been covering off and on as a journalist and author for 38 years.
It’s this system, I feel, that will result in another SS El Faro someday unless it is reformed.
Another note on style. My preference in non-fiction is “narrative.” In other words, whenever I can, I tell a story and show what is happening; I prefer that to “telling” the reader, because I think “showing” is more readily absorbed. Humans learn through stories. Storytelling rather than a lecture better illustrates the emotions at play here, as well as the moods, culture, and vibe of the ship and the industry. This does not mean I take a pure poetic license. The dialogue quoted here is real, not made up. The material is factual.
©2018 Robert R. Frump (P)2018 Robert R. FrumpListeners also enjoyed...
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By: John Chatterton, and others
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Wreck of the Carl D.
- A True Story of Loss, Survival, and Rescue at Sea
- By: Michael Schumacher
- Narrated by: Gary D. MacFadden
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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On November 18, 1958, a 623-foot limestone carrier - caught in one of the most violent storms in Lake Michigan history - broke in two and sank in less than five minutes. Four of the 35-person crew escaped to a small raft, to which they clung in total darkness, braving 30-foot waves and frigid temperatures. As the storm raged on, a search-and-rescue mission hunted for survivors, while the frantic citizens of nearby Rogers City, Michigan, anxiously awaited word of their loved ones' fates.
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A harrowing story of survival and loss
- By Ron T on 03-25-16
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Ninety Percent of Everything
- Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate
- By: Rose George
- Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Rose George, acclaimed chronicler of what we would rather ignore, sails from Rotterdam to Suez to Singapore on ships the length of football fields and the height of Niagara Falls; she patrols the Indian Ocean with an anti-piracy task force; she joins seafaring chaplains and investigates the harm that ships inflict on endangered whales. Sharply informative and entertaining, Ninety Percent of Everything reveals the workings and perils of an unseen world that holds the key to our economy, our environment, and our very civilization.
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I was quite mislead by the title.....
- By Steve on 10-20-17
By: Rose George
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Left for Dead
- A Young Man's Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis
- By: Pete Nelson, Hunter Scott - preface
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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For fans of sea battles, adventures, and war stories like Unbroken, this is the incredible true story of a boy who helps to bring closure to the survivors of the tragic sinking of the USS Indianapolis, and helps exonerate the ship's captain 50 years later. Hunter Scott first learned about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis by watching the movie Jaws when he was just 11 years old. This was 50 years after the ship had sunk, throwing more than 1,000 men into shark-infested waters - a long 50 years in which justice still had not been served.
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Incredible story, incredible book!
- By Marty on 01-24-21
By: Pete Nelson, and others
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Under Pressure
- The Final Voyage of Submarine S-Five
- By: A.J. Hill
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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On Monday, August 30, 1920, the S-Five, the newest member of the U.S. Navy's fleet of submarines, departs Boston on her first cruise. Two days later, as part of a routine test of the submarine's ability to crash dive, her crew's failure to close a faulty valve sends 75 tons of seawater blasting in. Before the valve can be jury-rigged shut, the S-Five sits precariously on the ocean floor under 180 feet of water. They have little air, no water, and only the dimmest of light by which to plan their escape.
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Riveting Tale -- Thumbs up if your a submarine fan
- By GH on 09-07-13
By: A.J. Hill
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Blind Man's Bluff
- The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage
- By: Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew
- Narrated by: George Wilson
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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No espionage missions have been kept more secret than those involving American submarines. Now, Blind Man's Bluff shows for the first time how the navy sent submarines wired with self-destruct charges into the heart of Soviet seas to tap crucial underwater telephone cables. It unveils how the navy's own negligence might have been responsible for the loss of the USS Scorpion, a submarine that disappeared, all hands lost, 30 years ago.
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best Cold War documentary...
- By Kojoukhinator Sr. on 11-15-17
By: Sherry Sontag, and others
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Graveyard of the Lakes
- Great Lakes Books Series
- By: Mark L. Thompson
- Narrated by: Scott MacDonald
- Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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In Graveyard of the Lakes, Thompson suggests that most of the accidents and deaths on the lakes have been the result of human error, ranging from simple mistakes to gross incompetence. In addition to his compelling analysis of the causes of shipwrecks, Thompson includes factual accounts of more than 100 wrecks. Graveyard of the Lakes will forever change the listener's perspective on shipwrecks.
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Graveyard of the Lakes
- By Bernard Slicker on 02-11-18
By: Mark L. Thompson
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Indianapolis
- By: Lynn Vincent, Sara Vladic
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Just after midnight on July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis is sailing alone in the Philippine Sea when she is sunk by two Japanese torpedoes. For the next five nights and four days, almost 300 miles from the nearest land, nearly 900 men battle injuries, sharks, dehydration, insanity, and eventually each other. Only 316 will survive. Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic tell the complete story of the ship, her crew, and their final mission to save one of their own.
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As good as In Harm's Way but different
- By tru britty on 07-13-18
By: Lynn Vincent, and others
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Collision Course
- The Classic Story of the Collision of the Andrea Doria and the Stockholm
- By: Alvin Moscow
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the largest, fastest, and most beautiful ships in the world, the Andrea Doria was en route to New York from Italy. Departing from the United States was the much smaller Stockholm. On the foggy night of July 25, 1956, 53 miles southeast of Nantucket, the Stockholm sliced through the Doria's steel hull. Within minutes, the sea was pouring into the Italian liner. Eleven hours later, she capsized and sank into the ocean.
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Thorough Account of the Tragedy
- By Admiralu on 10-22-21
By: Alvin Moscow
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The Finest Hours
- The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Most Daring Sea Rescue
- By: Michael J. Tougias, Casey Sherman
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In the winter of 1952, New England was battered by the most brutal nor’easter in years. As the weather wreaked havoc on land, the freezing Atlantic became a wind-whipped zone of peril, setting the stage for one of the most heroic rescue stories ever lived. On February 18, while the storm raged, two oil tankers, the Pendleton and the Fort Mercer, were in the same horrifying predicament. Built with “dirty steel,” and not prepared to withstand such ferocious seas, both tankers split in two, leaving the dozens of men on board utterly at the Atlantic’s mercy.
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Two Times Terrific!
- By Carole T. on 01-31-16
By: Michael J. Tougias, and others
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All Hands Down
- The True Story of the Soviet Attack on the USS Scorpion
- By: Kenneth Sewell, Jerome Preisler
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Forty years ago, in May 1968, the submarine USS Scorpion sank in mysterious circumstances with a loss of 99 lives. The tragedy occurred during the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
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All Hands Down
- By Stephen on 12-19-08
By: Kenneth Sewell, and others
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Ten Hours Until Dawn
- The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do
- By: Michael J. Tougias
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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During the height of the blizzard of 1978, the tanker Global Hope floundered on the shoals off the Massachusetts coast. The Coast Guard dispatched a patrol boat, but was soon in as much trouble as the tanker. Then pilot boat captain Frank Quirk, hearing of the Coast Guard's troubles on his radio, decided to act.
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A riveting story
- By Christopher on 11-30-07
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The Taking of K-129
- How the CIA Used Howard Hughes to Steal a Russian Sub in the Most Daring Covert Operation in History
- By: Josh Dean
- Narrated by: Neil Hellegers
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In the early hours of February 25, 1968, a Russian submarine armed with three nuclear ballistic missiles set sail from its base in Siberia on a routine combat patrol to Hawaii. Then it vanished. As the Soviet navy searched in vain for the lost vessel, a small, highly classified American operation using sophisticated deep-sea spy equipment found it - wrecked on the sea floor at a depth of 16,800 feet, far beyond the capabilities of any salvage that existed.
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One of the great stories in history
- By Ben Newman on 11-21-17
By: Josh Dean
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Gallant Lady
- A Biography of the USS Archerfish
- By: Don Keith, Ken Henry
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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The Archerfish, a diesel powered Balao-class submarine crafted in the 1940s, won a unique, heroic place in military history and the memories of her crew members. Here is her story: from her assembly in New England and her dedication by Eleanor Roosevelt's personal secretary, to her service in World War II, where she broke the back of the Japanese Navy, and her critical role in the Cold War.
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Bilgewater
- By Richard on 04-01-06
By: Don Keith, and others
What listeners say about The Captains of Thor
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Bill
- 01-05-20
The reference to Thor's Hammer...
The reference to Thor's Hammer... dozens of times the term hammer is mentioned in this boy! However, reading this book will affirm that corporations have taken the handle away from the Masters and left them with only the heavy part in the Masters' pockets... that simply Assists in the dragging of the Masters to the sea bottom! That, unfortunately denies a Chief witness to tragedy and allows only the corporate side to be heard at any hearing. Please read "Into The Raging Sea by Rachel Slade FIRST! You'll understand how the greatest volume of information EVER produced by the NTSB aligns both this book and and Ms. Slade's!!!
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- Anonymous User
- 07-18-19
Very Informative! Well Done!
Enjoyed the style of story telling very much. Inspires me to read as much as I can get my hands on to better understand how this happens in 2015!!!
Thank you for this great account!
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4 people found this helpful
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- Kurt Bruer
- 01-18-22
Great Observation
My name is Kurt Bruer I was on El Faro two months before she sank and was on her for a year and on that particular run for 15 years. I knew all the crew members except for the polish riding gang and I contacting Robert and encouraged him to write this book.
From what I observed and experience on the El Faro
was that Captain Davidson he was inexperienced with that particular run and handling storms during Hurricane season. In 15 years I've never seen a captain take the course he took on that day. You always took the safer alternative to avoid any storm and that was hugging the coast and taking the hole in the wall near the Bahamas but I believe he was pressured in doing what he did because of the company disregard of safety and greed. Time is money for these cargo ships and if they are late they will be fined and also off schedule. The ship was in horrible condition and way past it's prime. Do you ever use your classic car for work purposes on long trips? That is how I would describe the situation and how the Jones act has it flaws regarding law of what the companies get away with. I was one of the first to contact the ntsb in regards of what I knew about the ship, captain and company. Davidson knew better but the pressure by the company got to him in the end and it's not easy getting another captains job in our industry. He over spent and was putting two daughters in prestige universities and at the the end it cost his life along with the 32. Speed and Greed is what killed the 33 and now it's been brushed under a rug and blamed a dead man that can't defend himself while the company gets a slap on the wrist along with ABS and coast guard. Maybe one day the truth will come out but who knows. It doesn't take a genius knowing the ship was disaster waiting to happen. Glad they got rid of all those old rust buckets once and for all. At the end families lost love ones and were paid very little for what happened because of an ancient law that was in place.
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2 people found this helpful