Posted:
October 15, 2015
By Paul Doell
National President
My time in Jacksonville with some of the 11 AMO families with kin later presumed lost on the El Faro was a lasting lesson in what it means to draw strength from adversity and to set an encouraging example.
In nearly a week, these stalwart spouses (including an officer's wife who had just lost her father), parents, children, brothers and sisters and one officer's fiancée had known unimaginable emotional and physical hardship - shock, grief, stress, fatigue, frustration and the inevitable flashes of anger. They listened patiently to official daily briefings provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, and to the candid updates offered each day by TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, the El Faro's owner and operator (formerly Sea Star Line). They participated in heartbreaking, twice daily conference calls with other El Faro families unable to gather with them in the ship's homeport. They swapped stories about their loved ones, and they posed intelligent questions for which there were no easy or immediate answers. They endured seemingly endless days capped by sleepless nights.
But they handled it all with grace, dignity, confidence, faith and a sturdy resolve to hang in and hold on. Life as they knew it had changed forever, but the catastrophic events near Crooked Island in the Bahamas had not diminished their courage or their character.
I am certain that the AMO families unable to get to Jacksonville are every bit as determined to overcome the extraordinary challenges wrought upon them by the El Faro tragedy as those I was able to speak with on scene. And I am just as certain that, to a man and woman, the El Faro officers and crew worked valiantly to restore power to the ship while struggling against 50-60-foot seas and 150-mile-per hour winds.
Mrs. Emily Pusatere, wife of El Faro Chief Engineer Richard J. Pusatere, expressed this strong spirit among El Faro families eloquently - and invoked her husband - when she told reporters: "He's always told me, 'I never give up, I never quit, I never fail,' and I am holding on to that with every ounce of my being." This was the spirit evident in all AMO families.
My hope now is that these 11 AMO families will find comfort in the many expressions of sympathy and support from AMO members and their families at sea and at home, from ship owners and maritime unions in the U.S. and around the world, and from public figures - including President Obama and California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, who led the House of Representatives in a moment of silence to honor the El Faro officers and crew.
May they find even greater consolation in the knowledge that their loved ones on the El Faro were heroes by virtue of their decisions to live and work at sea under the American flag.
These officers and crew members were fully representative of what Thomas Jefferson called "a respectable body of citizen seafarers," faithful to traditions upheld by American merchant mariners since the Revolution, fearless in response to our country's call in peacetime and in war, dedicated to the national security or economic mission at hand and sworn to the world's highest professional seagoing standards. Not every American can claim these distinctions, but every American gains from the work our civilian seafarers do each difficult, daunting day.
Our responsibility now in American Maritime Officers is to help our El Faro families through everything ahead of them - we stand ready to support and assist them in every possible way.
And we remember our lost AMO complement with lasting respect, admiration and gratitude: Captain Michael C. Davidson, Chief Engineer Richard J. Pusatere, Chief Mate Steven W. Shultz, Chief Engineer Jeffrey A. Mathias, Second Mate Danielle L. Randolph, First Assistant Engineer Keith W. Griffin, Third Mate Jeremie H. Riehm, Second Assistant Engineer Howard J. Schoenly, Third Assistant Engineer Michael L. Holland, Third Assistant Engineer Mitchell T. Kuflik, Third Assistant Engineer Dylan O. Meklin.
We remember as well the Seafarers International Union members aboard the El Faro: Bosun Roan R. Lightfoot, Able Seaman Brookie L. Davis, Able Seaman Frank J. Hamm, Able Seaman Carey J. Hatch, Able Seaman Jack E. Jackson, Able Seaman Jackie R. Jones Jr., QMED Sylvester C. Crawford Jr., OMU Joe E. Hargrove, OMU German A. Solar-Cortes, OMU Anthony S. Thomas, Refrigeration Engineer Louis M. Champa, GUDE Roosevelt L. Clark, GUDE James P. Porter, GUDE Mariette Wright, Steward-Baker Theodore E. Quammie, Chief Cook Lashawn L. Rivera, Steward Assistant Lonnie S. Jordan.
Footnotes: on behalf of the American Maritime Officers National Executive Board and all AMO representatives, employees and seagoing members, I thank AMO Inland Waters Vice President Dave Weathers and AMO Assistant Vice President Dan Robichaux for arriving in Jacksonville within hours of the initial emergency call about the El Faro, and for going the distance - providing moral support to the AMO families, tracking daily reports and data arising from the search and rescue mission coordinated by the U.S. Coast Guard, and contacting other families over a very long week.
Our thanks as well to the Seafarers International Union for opening its Jacksonville hall to AMO members during all hours and for hosting daily briefings by the USCG and representatives of the TOTE family of shipping companies.
AMO's 'El Faro': of heroes and heroic families
By Paul Doell
National President
My time in Jacksonville with some of the 11 AMO families with kin later presumed lost on the El Faro was a lasting lesson in what it means to draw strength from adversity and to set an encouraging example.
In nearly a week, these stalwart spouses (including an officer's wife who had just lost her father), parents, children, brothers and sisters and one officer's fiancée had known unimaginable emotional and physical hardship - shock, grief, stress, fatigue, frustration and the inevitable flashes of anger. They listened patiently to official daily briefings provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, and to the candid updates offered each day by TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, the El Faro's owner and operator (formerly Sea Star Line). They participated in heartbreaking, twice daily conference calls with other El Faro families unable to gather with them in the ship's homeport. They swapped stories about their loved ones, and they posed intelligent questions for which there were no easy or immediate answers. They endured seemingly endless days capped by sleepless nights.
But they handled it all with grace, dignity, confidence, faith and a sturdy resolve to hang in and hold on. Life as they knew it had changed forever, but the catastrophic events near Crooked Island in the Bahamas had not diminished their courage or their character.
I am certain that the AMO families unable to get to Jacksonville are every bit as determined to overcome the extraordinary challenges wrought upon them by the El Faro tragedy as those I was able to speak with on scene. And I am just as certain that, to a man and woman, the El Faro officers and crew worked valiantly to restore power to the ship while struggling against 50-60-foot seas and 150-mile-per hour winds.
Mrs. Emily Pusatere, wife of El Faro Chief Engineer Richard J. Pusatere, expressed this strong spirit among El Faro families eloquently - and invoked her husband - when she told reporters: "He's always told me, 'I never give up, I never quit, I never fail,' and I am holding on to that with every ounce of my being." This was the spirit evident in all AMO families.
My hope now is that these 11 AMO families will find comfort in the many expressions of sympathy and support from AMO members and their families at sea and at home, from ship owners and maritime unions in the U.S. and around the world, and from public figures - including President Obama and California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, who led the House of Representatives in a moment of silence to honor the El Faro officers and crew.
May they find even greater consolation in the knowledge that their loved ones on the El Faro were heroes by virtue of their decisions to live and work at sea under the American flag.
These officers and crew members were fully representative of what Thomas Jefferson called "a respectable body of citizen seafarers," faithful to traditions upheld by American merchant mariners since the Revolution, fearless in response to our country's call in peacetime and in war, dedicated to the national security or economic mission at hand and sworn to the world's highest professional seagoing standards. Not every American can claim these distinctions, but every American gains from the work our civilian seafarers do each difficult, daunting day.
Our responsibility now in American Maritime Officers is to help our El Faro families through everything ahead of them - we stand ready to support and assist them in every possible way.
And we remember our lost AMO complement with lasting respect, admiration and gratitude: Captain Michael C. Davidson, Chief Engineer Richard J. Pusatere, Chief Mate Steven W. Shultz, Chief Engineer Jeffrey A. Mathias, Second Mate Danielle L. Randolph, First Assistant Engineer Keith W. Griffin, Third Mate Jeremie H. Riehm, Second Assistant Engineer Howard J. Schoenly, Third Assistant Engineer Michael L. Holland, Third Assistant Engineer Mitchell T. Kuflik, Third Assistant Engineer Dylan O. Meklin.
We remember as well the Seafarers International Union members aboard the El Faro: Bosun Roan R. Lightfoot, Able Seaman Brookie L. Davis, Able Seaman Frank J. Hamm, Able Seaman Carey J. Hatch, Able Seaman Jack E. Jackson, Able Seaman Jackie R. Jones Jr., QMED Sylvester C. Crawford Jr., OMU Joe E. Hargrove, OMU German A. Solar-Cortes, OMU Anthony S. Thomas, Refrigeration Engineer Louis M. Champa, GUDE Roosevelt L. Clark, GUDE James P. Porter, GUDE Mariette Wright, Steward-Baker Theodore E. Quammie, Chief Cook Lashawn L. Rivera, Steward Assistant Lonnie S. Jordan.
Footnotes: on behalf of the American Maritime Officers National Executive Board and all AMO representatives, employees and seagoing members, I thank AMO Inland Waters Vice President Dave Weathers and AMO Assistant Vice President Dan Robichaux for arriving in Jacksonville within hours of the initial emergency call about the El Faro, and for going the distance - providing moral support to the AMO families, tracking daily reports and data arising from the search and rescue mission coordinated by the U.S. Coast Guard, and contacting other families over a very long week.
Our thanks as well to the Seafarers International Union for opening its Jacksonville hall to AMO members during all hours and for hosting daily briefings by the USCG and representatives of the TOTE family of shipping companies.