FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Since the voyages of Christopher Columbus, scores of ships have inadvertently sailed into hurricanes, battled gigantic waves and chaotic winds — and been lost at sea. Among them: Spanish galleons, tall ships, military ships, cargo haulers and pleasure cruisers.
The latest victim was El Faro, a 735-foot container ship that got caught in the grip of Hurricane Joaquin earlier this month while attempting to sail from Jacksonville to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The ship lost power near the Bahamas, allowing the storm to overtake it.
“A ship without engine power is little match for a major hurricane,” said Jeff Masters, director of meteorology for Weather Underground, the online weather site.
Here are some other sea disasters:
Bounty
An enlarged reproduction of a 1787 Royal Navy sailing ship, the Bounty left New London, Conn., bound for St. Petersburg, on Oct. 25, 2012. Initially the ship aimed east to avoid Hurricane Sandy. Yet when the vessel was about 90 miles southeast of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Sandy’s expansive outerbands overwhelmed it.
A Coast Guard turboprop was dispatched to find the foundering ship. Once spotted, Mike Myers, the plane’s copilot reported, “I see a giant pirate ship in the middle of a hurricane.” Of the 16 people onboard, 14 were rescued and two drowned. Commissioned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the ship appeared in the 1962 film “Mutiny on the Bounty” and the 1983 movie “Yellowbeard.”
Fanthome
Similarly, in October 1998, the Fanthome, a 282-foot four-masted sailing ship based in Miami Beach, sank near Honduras in Hurricane Mitch, killing all 31 crewmembers onboard. The only saving grace: the charter boat’s guests had disembarked in Belize City and later flew back to Miami.
The Fantome, a $15 million luxury vessel, was originally built for the Duke of Westminster in 1927. Later, Aristotle Onassis bought it as a wedding gift for Princess Grace and Prince Rainier. It was then purchased by Windjammer Barefoot Cruises Ltd., a sailing line.
3rd Fleet
In December 1944, during the Second World War, the U.S. Navy’s 3rd Fleet was in the Philippine Sea, conducting air raids against Japanese airfields in the Philippines. After refueling at a base, at Admiral William Halsey’s command, the fleet unwittingly sailed into the heart of a 100-mph typhoon, the term used for a storm of hurricane strength in the western Pacific and other nearby oceans.
Three destroyers capsized and sank, killing 790 men. Nine other warships were damaged and more than 100 warplanes were destroyed or washed overboard. A major fire broke out on the aircraft carrier Monterey, after a plane hit a bulkhead.
The storm that caused all the calamity was later called Halsey’s Typhoon. The disaster prompted the Navy to establish a Pacific weather warning center, which later became today’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Corydon, other Florida ships
In September 1919, a hurricane near the Bahamas drove the steamer Corydon ashore, drowning 27 of the 36 onboard. Operated as the Ward Line, the freighter had been hauling goods and mail to Cuba.
The storm, which later became known as the Key West Hurricane, then sank another 10 vessels in the Florida Straits, drowning about 500 sailors. “The 1919 hurricane is the poster child for why hurricanes and ships don’t mix,” said Jim Lushine, a retired forecaster and weather historian.
10 Spanish galleons
In July 1715, a hurricane struck the east coast of Central Florida and sank 10 Spanish galleons, killing almost 1,000 sailors and sending tons of gold and silver coins to the bottom of the ocean.
The ships had left Cuba, planning to return to Spain with their treasures. Although fortified to fight pirates, their only defense against the hurricane was to stay close to the Florida shore. Yet, while between Fort Pierce and Cape Canaveral, the winds picked up too quickly for the ships to find safe harbor.
A French ship, accompanying the fleet, was able to ride out the storm because it had ventured far from shore, and most of its crew survived.
The following year, Spanish ships were able to recover about 80 percent of the silver and gold. The rest was found 250 years later, in the 1960s.
Atocha
In September 1622, the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, departed Havana as part of a 28-vessel convoy, headed back to Spain. While carrying gold, silver, copper, jewels and tobacco, the Atocha encountered a hurricane and rammed onto coral reefs near Dry Tortugas. The ship quickly sank in 55 feet of water, drowning almost all onboard.
Spanish authorities in Havana dispatched five ships to salvage the Atocha’s precious cargo and guns. But little was retrieved because of the relatively deep water, and another hurricane that October scattered the wreckage even further. Today, the Atocha shipwreck is a popular dive spot.
Christopher Columbus fleet
In June 1502, during his fourth and final voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus had hoped to dock his fleet in Santo Domingo, on the south side of Hispaniola. However, Don Nicolas de Oravando, Hispaniola’s local governor, denied him access.
Meanwhile, Columbus suspected a storm was brewing and strategically moved his ships to the west side of the big island. During early voyages, Caribbean natives had warned him to be wary of “horrible tempests,” or “huracans.”
Although the hurricane broke all this ships free from their anchors, all of Columbus’ ships survived with only some damage. Despite Columbus warning Oravando to keep his ships in port, the governor sent them out into the storm. Twenty-five of his ships sank and about 500 men lost their lives.
El Faro
When El Faro left Jacksonville on September 30, en route to San Juan, Tropical Storm Joaquin was about 300 miles northeast of the central Bahamas, its top winds already reaching 70 mph.
Although the National Hurricane Center predicted the system would intensify into a hurricane and move slowly southwest toward El Faro’s path, the ship forged on.
“The captain knew he was charting a course that would take him within 200 miles of what was expected to be a hurricane,” said Masters, of Weather Underground.
Then Joaquin rapidly intensified to Category 3 strength. The Coast Guard received a last distress call from the ship at 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 1, while it was near Crooked Island in the Bahamas. The crew reported its propulsion system had lost power and the vessel was listing 15 degrees to the left.
A marine positioning database revealed the last known position of the El Faro was “right in the northwest eyewall of Joaquin,” Masters said. At the time, the ship was battling 120 mph winds and 30-plus foot waves.
All 33 onboard are believed to have perished, including 28 Americans. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating why the ship was caught by surprise.
“Our only goal,” said Bella Dinh-Zarr, vice chair of the safety board, “is to find out what happened and figure out ways to prevent this from happening again.”
