Dear Yankee | Our Readers Respond

We received many wonderful online comments on our November/December story “A Fatal Mistake,” about the sinking of the container ship El Faro. Here are four of the most memorable.

I’m in Malaysia and have never, ever gone to sea. There is therefore a severe limit as to what I could possibly visualize of what a ship like this and its crew go through. Without this article, many of us wouldn’t have known the human side of things. It would merely have remained “a container ship in the U.S. that sank during a hurricane.” —Ahmad

Mike Davidson was one of the few people I considered a friend in my life. I wish I had known the other 32 people on board only so that I could celebrate them as well. Mike was as ambitious as he was cautious, as personal as he was professional. I mourn all those who went beneath the sea that day. —Tom

My cousin Dylan was aboard the El Faro, and a day hasn’t gone by that I haven’t thought of him. Beyond the grief, I find myself reflecting on the bright future he had ahead of him…. This was his first trip for [El Faro owner] TOTE, as he had just graduated Maine Maritime Academy the previous spring. I’d like to think if it wasn’t for a corporation’s greed and the arrogance of the captain that they’d all be with us today. I don’t like talking bad about the captain, as I know he has friends and family grieving as well, and largely I blame it on the pressure he was under from the company…. —Ian

One year ago, I gasped in horror and burst into tears at the news that an American ship was missing in a hurricane. Because it was personal—my son is a midshipman at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. All I could think about was the anguish of their families, because if my boy chooses to sail postgraduation, I will be the one on land … constantly thinking of him being at sea. —Tracie

Write us! Send your comments to editor@YankeeMagazine.com. Please include where you live. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

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