El Faro Cargo Ship Disaster | They Didn't Go Home
They Didn't Go Home
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On the evening of the 29th of September 2015, the cargo ship El Faro left Jacksonville, Florida, on the same run she made every week. About thirty-six hours later she was on the floor of the Atlantic, more than fifteen thousand feet down, with all thirty-three people aboard.
The captain was called three times that night, and the federal investigation put him at the center of it. But the head of the United States Coast Guard wrote that the captain was only part of it, and the rest had been seen before, in 1983. This is the whole chain: the ship, the company, the inspections, and the answer the government gave twice.
0:00 The weekly run
1:33 Already aboard
7:05 The voyage
13:46 The thirty-three
15:51 The verdict
17:22 Who else had been warned
21:01 What changed
Sources: NTSB Marine Accident Report MAR-17/01 (2017) and its voyage data recorder transcript; U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation Report of Investigation (2017) and the Commandant's Final Action (19 December 2017); NTSB Safety Recommendation M-17-043; GAO-25-107139 (2025).
Imagery from the National Transportation Safety Board, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy, NASA and NOAA. Image courtesy of the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center. The appearance of U.S. Department of War (DoW) visual information does not imply or constitute DoW endorsement. The ship and system animations are reconstructions built from the drawings and figures published by the investigators.
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El Faro Cargo Ship Disaster | They Didn't Go Home
They Didn't Go Home
505 views
On the evening of the 29th of September 2015, the cargo ship El Faro left Jacksonville, Florida, on the same run she made every week. About thirty-six hours later she was on the floor of the Atlantic, more than fifteen thousand feet down, with all thirty-three people aboard.
The captain was called three times that night, and the federal investigation put him at the center of it. But the head of the United States Coast Guard wrote that the captain was only part of it, and the rest had been seen before, in 1983. This is the whole chain: the ship, the company, the inspections, and the answer the government gave twice.
0:00 The weekly run
1:33 Already aboard
7:05 The voyage
13:46 The thirty-three
15:51 The verdict
17:22 Who else had been warned
21:01 What changed
Sources: NTSB Marine Accident Report MAR-17/01 (2017) and its voyage data recorder transcript; U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation Report of Investigation (2017) and the Commandant's Final Action (19 December 2017); NTSB Safety Recommendation M-17-043; GAO-25-107139 (2025).
Imagery from the National Transportation Safety Board, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy, NASA and NOAA. Image courtesy of the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center. The appearance of U.S. Department of War (DoW) visual information does not imply or constitute DoW endorsement. The ship and system animations are reconstructions built from the drawings and figures published by the investigators.
Subscribe.