Run the Storm · A Savage Hurricane, a Brave Crew, and the Wreck of the SS El Faro

“**The most insightful exploration of this unthinkable disaster.”**** —*Outside***

**“Here is the pitch-perfect pairing of subject and author, a gripping deconstruction of one of recent history’s most terrible and vexing sea tragedies…A meticulous forensic study that, in Foy’s able hands, rises to the level of literature.”** **—Hampton Sides**

**“Fans of *The Perfect Storm* and *Into Thin Air* will love this exquisitely written and dramatic book. George Foy has an action story that doesn’t quit.” —Doug Stanton**

In the bestselling tradition of *The Perfect Storm* and *The Finest Hours*, a harrowing true account of the mysterious disappearance of the SS *El Faro*, a gigantic American cargo ship that sank in the Bermuda Triangle, taking with it thirty-three lives.

On October 1, 2015, the SS *El Faro*, a massive American cargo ship that made regular runs between Jacksonville, Florida and Puerto Rico, delivering everything from deodorant to new Chevrolets, disappeared in Hurricane Joaquin, a category 4 storm. The ship, its hundreds of shipping containers, and its entire crew plummeted to the bottom of the ocean, three miles down. The sinking was the greatest seagoing US merchant marine shipping disaster since World War II. The massive ship had a seasoned crew, state-of-the-art navigation equipment, and advance warning of the storm. It seemed incomprehensible that such a ship could sink so suddenly. 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 vanish for just one reason; it vanishes because many factors intersect—everything from hurricane-tracking algorithms to the decay of rubber gaskets on hatches to the arcane science of loading cargo containers to the psychology of a powerful ship’s captain. 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 on numerous interviews, George Michelsen Foy has crafted a brilliant account that brings to life the final voyage of *El Faro*, a story that lasts only a few days but which grows almost intolerably suspenseful as deep-rooted flaws leading to the disaster inexorably link together and worsen. We see captain, engineers, and crew fight for their lives, and hear their actual words (as recorded on the ship’s black box) while the hurricane relentlessly tightens its noose around the ship. We watch, minute by minute, all that is happening on board—the ship’s mysterious tilt to one side, worried calls to the engine room, ship-to-shore reports, the courage of the men and women as they fight to survive, 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.

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### Review

“Fans of *The Perfect Storm* and *Into Thin Air* will love this exquisitely written and dramatic book. George Foy has an action story that doesn’t quit. At the same, time he charts this emotional journey with captivating sensitivity. As readers, we, too, board the SS *El Faro*, and discover what is the very best and most enduring about ourselves. A literary page-turner, a joy to read.” —**Doug Stanton, #1 *New York Times* bestselling author of *Horse Soldiers*, *The Odyssey of Echo Company, *and* In Harm’s Way   ***

“Here is the pitch-perfect pairing of subject and author, a gripping deconstruction of one of recent history’s most terrible and vexing sea tragedies. *Run the Storm* is a meticulous forensic study that, in Foy’s able hands, rises to the level of literature.” **—Hampton Sides, author of *In the Kingdom of Ice***

“Make no mistake, Foy is a natural story teller, but what impressed me was his uncommon ability to weave his deep knowledge of the ship, weather systems, and navigation to accelerate the story, instead of slowing it down. Foy is an experienced mariner who clearly knows his stuff, which gives the reader confidence in his account, and allows us to get lost in an amazing story that builds to a wild finish.” **—John U. Bacon, *New York Times* bestselling author of *The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism***

“*Run the Storm* is a dramatic, thrilling adventure story, as well as a cautionary tale about the dangers of going to sea—even today, in our age of satellite communications and real-time weather forecasting.  George Foy uses the surviving audio tapes of the crew’s final hours on the doomed ship to chilling effect, and he convincingly shows how a series of seemingly unrelated errors and omissions metastasized into a full-scale disaster. A remarkable book.” —**William Geroux, author of *The Mathews Men***

“With just the right pedigree to tell this familiar story…Foy connects the detail with the domino each represented in causing one of the nation’s deadliest maritime disasters.” **—*Florida Times-Union***

“A fact-filled, exciting tale of a ship’s tragic final voyage.” **—*Kirkus***

“Foy does the best job. He tells the story briskly and confidently while working in helpful asides: how cargo containers are fastened to a ship deck, how forecasts are determined, how huge ships stay upright (and how they don’t). *Run the Storm*…gracefully covers everything you’d want to know about *El Faro*’s sinking and the 33 lives that went with it.” **—*Outside***

### About the Author

George Michelsen Foy is the author of *Finding North: How Navigation Makes Us Human *and *Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute Silence, *as well as twelve critically acclaimed novels. He was a recipient of a National Endowment of the Arts fellowship in fiction and his articles, reviews, and stories have been published by *Rolling Stone, The Boston Globe, Harper's, The New York Times, *and *Men's Journal,* among others. A former officer on British coastal freighters, he teaches creative writing at NYU, holds a US Coast Guard coastal captain’s license, and divides his time between Cape Cod and New York.