Run the Storm

De: George Michelsen Foy

Narrado por: L. J. Ganser

In the best-selling tradition of A Perfect Storm and The Finest Hours, a harrowing account of the incredible true story of the recent shocking disappearance of El Faro, a gigantic American cargo ship that sank suddenly in the Bermuda Triangle in 2015 - taking with it 33 lives.

On October 1, 2015, the SS El Faro, a cargo ship tall as a hundred-story building that made a regular run between Jacksonville, Florida, and Puerto Rico, delivering everything from razor blades to new Chevrolet cars, disappeared in Hurricane Joaquin, a category 4 storm. The ship, her hundreds of shipping containers, and her entire crew sank to the bottom of the ocean, three miles down. The sinking was the greatest seagoing US merchant marine shipping disaster since World War II and evoked the haunting resonances of Gordon Lightfoot’s famous song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”.

The massive ship had a seasoned crew, state-of-the-art navigation equipment, advance warning of the storm, and knowledge of its supposed track. It seemed incomprehensible that such a ship could sink so suddenly, unable to send even a Mayday call before disappearing. How, in this day and age, could something like this happen?

The answer is that a ship as large as the El Faro doesn’t sink for just one reason; it sinks because many factors intersect - everything from hurricane-tracking algorithms to the decay of rubber gaskets on hatches to the arcane science of loading shipping containers to the complex relationship between a ship’s captain and his corporate overlords, who are anxious that cargo be delivered on time. All of these factors and more came into play in the sinking of the El Faro.

Relying on Coast Guard inquest hearings as well as numerous interviews, Foy has crafted a brilliant account that brings to life the last voyage of El Faro, from her loading to her shocking demise, a story lasting only a few days but that relentlessly becomes more suspenseful as the deep-rooted flaws leading to the ship’s sinking inexorably link together and worsen. As we anxiously watch the captain and his crew, the hurricane tightens like a noose around the ship, and we see, minute to minute, all that is happening - the dangerous tilting to the port side, the frantic calls to the engine room, the ship-to-shore cries, the loss of propulsion, the courage of the men and women as they fight for survival, and the berserk ocean’s savage consumption of the massive hull. And through it all, the pain and ultimate resilience of the families of El Faro’s crew...

Meticulous and absolutely thrilling, Run the Storm is a masterwork of stunning power.

©2018 George Michelsen Foy (P)2018 Simon & Schuster Audio

very exciting

This story is amazing, spell binding and full of drama! You wish the best for all aboard as they struggle to keep afloat. Wonderful!!!

Great narrator

Sometimes bad reader ruins a good book but this guy does great. The author does a great job of bringing the events to life.

must read

it was chilling to learn what these brave men and women went through in that storm. I know about some of the dangers that come with being a mariner but I had no idea how bad it could get. May they rest in peace for evermore, amen.

Excellent

Highly recommended! was not entirely happy with the reader though.A little over the top sometimes 😒

Narrator gold!

L.J. Gander knows this one out of the park! Unfortunate story told in a most engaging way!

What a Ride!

It seems impossible that George Michelsen Foy could ignite such an engaging keen and urgent interest in me about the technical minutia of a simple screw or the width of a boiler pipe on a freighter but I was glued to every word for the entire journey. The narration by L.J.Ganser was masterful in all the right places. Listening to this brilliantly told story was like watching a slow moving tragedy unfold, we know it’s going to end, we know how it ends and we are reminded of this in the most quietly pulsing way with impeccably well placed parts of the story just often enough to keep reality afloat. In spite of knowing this certain end, I felt that as long as I was listening to this story, the freighter and the crew were still alive.

Foy describes, nautical and navigational facts, technical data, the core crew and the vast sea with equal care and attentiveness. There is no technical detail or human nuance too small to describe. Everything and everyone on this doomed journey was vital. I will never be able to look at a fighter with the same banal interest ever again. Now I almost feel like I’ve been on those freighters, loaded them, been in the engine room, watched the gages and hung out with it’s crew as they ride through the unpredictable ocean. I still have a dread of these over-size monster boats carrying the life’s blood of commerce on and inside as they score the high seas, but now I have an interest and a respect for them and their brave crew.
I will definitely be listening to this story again and then possibly again.

Great book

I very much enjoyed this book. The writer gave a very accurate look into life in the merchant marines, the working of a ship, and I believe an accurate account of the events leading to the loss of the El Faro. I definitely recommend. I found myself sitting in the car in the parking lot because I didn’t want to stop listening.

Beautiful book about tragic event

While I usually don’t read nonfiction, I absolutely loved this book. You don’t have to know a lot about boats or storms to find the book fascinating. I loved the descriptions of the ship’s crew – the writer really makes them come alive. While there was a lot of technical description in the book about things that eventually led to its demise, it’s not dry and boring. Rather, all this description of the most minute details draws you in and makes you feel like an insider who watches in horror as events unfold. It is a beautiful book about a tragic event.

Best one out there on El Faro disaster

Have read, listened, and watched much about the El Faro disaster. Certainly just my opinion, but this seems this most objective study of the sinking.

The recovery of the VDR makes the story of the tragedy all the more real. And it should be noted, all the more grim.

Mr. Foy does an excellent job of laying out the facts and providing background information. This combined with the VDR element makes for an excellent explanation of the El Faro. The ship, her crew, how and what they did, and the known facts regarding her sinking. Suppositions aren’t ignored, neither are they dwelt on.

Narrator did a great job. Varied voices, tonal changes right on.

Worth the credit!

Important case study of merchant marine disaster

Narration: clear. Voice shifts among different crew members helps to understand underlying attitudes and reasons for actions taken.

Story: truly tragic, avoidable loss.