JACKSONVILLE, Fla. –
After reviewing a timeline of the El Faro's last voyage that ended when it sank Oct. 1 during Hurricane Joaquin with the loss of all 33 on board, the seven-member panel called Philip Morrell, vice president of Marine Operations for TOTE Services, to testify.
Morrell said that Capt. Michael Davidson was set to be promoted to captain of a new ship, but that changed before El Faro set sail the final time. One panel member read a TOTE internal email that read there was "dwindling confidence in his abilities as a leader overall."
There was also a discussion about a message Davidson sent to TOTE asking if he should change course in light of the growing hurricane in the Caribbean.
"He does not need permission to ask, he only has to advise us if he’s making a change of course. It’s more or less a one-way conversation," Morrell said.
Asked if there was any discussion at the company about the El Faro or its sister ship on the same route navigating around the hurricane, Morrell said, "I can't recall."
Multiple members of the board, which includes the National Transportation Safety Board investigators, questioned Morrell about why TOTE continued to operate the nearly 40-year-old ship. Morrell replied that despite its age, the ship was equally reliable to any of the newer ships the company owns. He also said that the company doesn't have any other ships it can use if they fall behind schedule.
After the ship sank, some of the families and others said TOTE had the ship sail into Hurricane Joaquin because it was trying to keep its delivery schedule.
"We don't have other vessels we can utilize. The vessels just eventually get back on schedule. If we're late arriving in San Juan, we're late. It's pure and simple," Morrell said. "The return voyage speed is typically slower than the southbound voyage speed, so they can sometimes make that time up, if it's necessary."
One of the other major things to come from the morning is that El Faro was scheduled for dry-docking and maintenance, including work on the boilers, in November -- the month after it sank. Morrell didn't say what the work to be done on the boilers was.
"I expected to hear questions about what were they going to do in Freeport in the shipyard, what were the boiler repairs that needed to be done," said maritime lawyer Rod Sullivan, who sat in on Tuesday's hearing. "They just sort of left it hanging."
Over the next few days, other TOTE officials and former El Faro crew members are expected to testify.
Families of lost crew members emotional as hearing begins
In the audience Tuesday were mothers, wives and other relatives of the sailors who went down with the ship. One woman holding held up a photo of her son during the moment of silence at the beginning of the hearing.
"I’ve been praying the whole time, I’m just praying my way through it," said Rochelle Hamm, wife of Frank Hamm. "It has been difficult to hear, but it’s what we need to hear. So now we know what we need to help everybody bring change."
“They should have never went out there. You never want 33 lives lost, and it's just a tragedy,” said Jackie Jones Sr., whose son, Jackie Jones Jr., died on the ship. “I give it to the Coast Guard. They're doing what they can. It's up to the National Transportation Board to make their decision whether there's any negligence or anything like that.”
Coast Guard Capt. Jason Neubauer, who is the chairman of the board conducting the hearings, said the goal is to find the facts behind what happened to El Faro.
“It's really important to be transparent to the public, because we want the public to understand the safety issues involved with the safety,” Neubauer said.
The hearing began days after the National Transportation Safety Board announced it will begin a new search for the cargo ship's data recorder in April.
Sullivan does not think the new search will see positive results.
"We have a ship that's buried 15 feet in mud and silt and then we have a voyage-data recorder that's a very tiny object being dropped into this mud and silt. If they couldn't find it when it was emitting a beep, I think it's very unlikely they're going to find it now after it's not emitting any kind of signal at all," Sullivan said.
The public hearings are being held at the Prime Osborn Convention Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day except Sunday through Feb. 26.