Commissioner William P. Doyle’s Statement on the Disappearance of the TOTE ship EL FARO

October 7, 2015

On Thursday evening, October 1, 2015, the ship EL FARO went missing. The ship was en route from Jacksonville, Florida to San Juan, Puerto Rico. On Monday, four days after the ship vanished, the Coast Guard concluded it sank near the Bahamas in about 15,000 feet of water. One unidentified body in a survival suit was spotted, and the search continues today for the other 32 crew members.

Commissioner Doyle, a 1992 Massachusetts Maritime Academy graduate, sailed as an engineer aboard the SS MAYAGUEZ on the Philadelphia – Jacksonville – San Juan trade route in 2001. Commissioner Doyle issued the following statement today:

“I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the employees, contractors, families and friends of TOTE Maritime, including my brothers and sisters of the Seafarers International Union and the American Maritime Officers Union, on the recent disappearance at sea of the vessel EL FARO. I am praying for the safe rescue of any survivors, as well as for those who have passed.”

“It is with a heavy heart that my deepest sympathies are extended.

A Mariners Version of Psalm 23:

The Lord is my pilot; I shall not drift.

He lights me across the dark waters. He steers me through deep channels.

He keeps my log.

He guides me by the star of Holiness for His name’s sake.

As I sail through the storms and tempests of life, I will dread no danger, for You are

near me; Your love and care shelter me.

You quieten the waves with oil, my ship rides calmly.

The Lord looks over me while waiting at sea for a safe harbor

And at the end of my voyage, I shall rest in the port of my Lord.”