1 NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD ----------------------------: IN RE: : : THE EL FARO INCIDENT OFF : NTSB Accident No. THE COAST OF THE BAHAMAS ON : DCA16MM001 OCTOBER 1, 2015 : : ----------------------------: Interview of: THERESA DAVIDSON Tuesday, January 5, 2016 U.S. Coast Guard Office Portland, Maine BEFORE: BRIAN YOUNG, NTSB MIKE KUCHARSKI, NTSB This transcript was produced from audio provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 2 APPEARANCES: On Behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard: U.S. Coast Guard On Behalf of the Interviewee: GREG LINSIN, ESQ. WILLIAM BENNETT, ESQ., Blank Rome LLP NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 3 1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2 (Time not given) 3 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: So the purpose of our 4 NTSB investigation is a complete safety investigation. 5 We want to increase safety. 6 any fault or blame or any liability. 7 what we can do to prevent this from happening again. 8 9 We're not here to assign We want to see So we, as representing the NTSB, thank you very much for making yourself available and being here 10 and we would like to extend our, you know, complete 11 condolences and we're very sorry how this tragedy has 12 affected you and your family. 13 MS. DAVIDSON: Thank you. 14 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: We are working hard to 15 find out what this probable cause was and how we can 16 prevent it from happening again. 17 NTSB and I know, 18 So that's our job as -- MR. On behalf of the Coast Guard 19 we feel the same way and we're looking to try to 20 prevent accidents like this from happening in the 21 future. 22 MS. DAVIDSON: Thank you. 23 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: So one of the, kind of 24 the rules an interview is you are allowed to have 25 representation which obviously you've already done. NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 If 4 1 we would just ask that you guys not testify for the 2 interviewee and that your comments should be limited 3 and objections are not grounds for the NTSB to refrain 4 from asking questions. 5 So you're here to advise and coach as much 6 as possible. 7 the engineering investigator for the accident. 8 function in this is to find out about the propulsion 9 system and why it was lost and what that could have 10 So again, my name is Brian Young. I'm My done to cause part of the accident. 11 Because I'm local and here I thought it was 12 a good reason to help kind of, you know, establish a 13 relationship being a Mainer and you know sometimes it 14 helps break the ice and most of the questions obviously 15 deck related but I have a little understanding of the 16 nautical part of it. 17 nautical brains of this operation. 18 But and Mike are the real I'm the guy in the engine room who just gets 19 yelled at by the captain typically. 20 function as the engineering. 21 investigation goes we have parties to the 22 investigation. 23 technical expertise to our investigation and Coast 24 Guard is one, ABS is one and TOTE is one. 25 So that's my And as the NTSB There are people who can provide They are parties to the investigation. So NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 5 1 what we do is we ask people who have technical 2 expertise to provide us with information that we can 3 help solve the probable cause. 4 parties in the investigation just so you know. 5 So that's the different And after the interview today please feel 6 free to ask any questions at any time. 7 what we can. 8 of the other interviews will be part of the public 9 docket which will be released probably months from now. 10 We'll answer And again, this transcript along with all Okay. If at any time you don't understand 11 the question or don't know the answer it's fine. You 12 know, it's, we're not here to grill you. 13 to see what you know and give us as much information as 14 you know to try to help us get the probable cause. We just want 15 And if you need water or a break or need to 16 whatever just, it's, we try to make it as casual as we 17 can and please feel free to just take a break as 18 needed. 19 go put coins in the machine for my car so I don't get 20 towed away. But if it does come to two hours I do need to 21 If you don't mind maybe we'll just introduce 22 ourselves going around the room for the transcription. 23 This is Brian Young with the NTSB. 24 MR. LINSIN: 25 I-N-S-I-N. And my name is Greg Linsin, L- I'm representing Theresa Davidson. NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 6 1 2 MS. DAVIDSON: captain. 3 4 Theresa Davidson, wife of the MR. BENNETT: My name is William Bennett. I'm with Blank Rome and I also represent Ms. Davidson. 5 MR. My name is I'm 6 a civilian Marine casualty investigator with the United 7 States Coast Guard. 8 officer. 9 I am a licensed Merchant Marine In addition to that I'm working on a human 10 performance group the decisions that were made 11 affecting this accident. 12 Carrie Bell. 13 representing Ms. Bell also looking at the nautical 14 operations involved. 15 16 She's not on the call today so I'm INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And on the phone? And, Mike? 17 18 And our group chairman is Ms. INVESTIGATOR KUCHARSKI: Good morning, Mrs. Davidson. 19 MS. DAVIDSON: Good morning. 20 INVESTIGATOR KUCHARSKI: My name is Mike 21 Kucharski. 22 is really the nautical type. 23 light there you probably maybe already know but I 24 retired out of AMO. 25 I'm the group chairman of operations which And just a little side I also sailed master and as you probably NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 7 1 heard I was captain on that ship when it was the 2 Northern Lights, when it was converted over and 3 lengthened but not on the container operation and my 4 deep condolences. 5 MS. DAVIDSON: 6 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 7 Thank you. Maybe we can start, would you prefer Mrs. Davidson or Theresa or do you -- 8 MS. DAVIDSON: Theresa is fine. 9 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Theresa is fine, okay. 10 Just from my personal background a lot of times when I 11 was out on the ship my wife and I would communicate 12 frequently via the e-mail, the cell phones and whatever 13 technology we had. 14 communicate with your husband when he was working on 15 the ship? 16 How often and how did you MS. DAVIDSON: Almost every day. You know, 17 when he could he would call and when he wasn't within 18 cell range when he couldn't call or text he would e- 19 mail from the ship's e-mail. 20 21 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And would you communicate mostly when he was in port then via phone? 22 MS. DAVIDSON: When he was in port it was 23 usually texting when he first got into port. He would 24 always tell me he got there safely every single time. 25 And then he would say well I'll call you later when I NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 8 1 have time when we're done and then we would chat a 2 little bit. 3 4 But he was usually pretty busy when he was in port so there weren't really lengthy conversations. 5 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And how about from the 6 ship would you ever communicate over the Marisat phone, 7 the satellite phone? 8 9 MS. DAVIDSON: that. No, he never called me on Just e-mails from the ship's e-mail. 10 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And did they have, I 11 remember when I used to sail I had a, they called it 12 chief engineer at blah, blah, blah. 13 mail address. 14 or was there like a group for the ship that, a group e- 15 mail or would he have his own personal address? 16 17 Would he be able to e-mail from his desk MS. DAVIDSON: El Faro captain. 18 I had my own e- I don't know. It just said Was that his own? INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Probably, yes. So it 19 wouldn't be just a general El Faro group or a crew. 20 would be from the captain, okay. 21 MS. DAVIDSON: Right. 22 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: It I think so. Okay. And during those 23 e-mails and communication would it be mostly business 24 or -- 25 MS. DAVIDSON: No. It would be about the NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 9 1 kids and I usually the house, you know, how they're 2 doing in school, their grades, you know, that kind of 3 stuff. 4 5 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: When is the pay check coming? 6 MS. DAVIDSON: If they're doing what they're 7 supposed to be doing. 8 when the pay check was coming. 9 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 10 Yes, he would always let me know MS. DAVIDSON: You know, what had to be done 11 at the house. 12 maintenance. 13 stuff from on the ship for me. 14 top of everything. 15 I bet. If I needed to order fuel or whatever He even, you know, kept track of all that INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: So, you know, he was on Yes. And was the e- 16 mail communication immediate where as soon as you type 17 it he would receive it or was there a bit of a delay? 18 MS. DAVIDSON: I don't really know. 19 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 20 MS. DAVIDSON: Okay. I mean he usually didn't get 21 right back to me if that's what you're asking. 22 know if it took a delay, if it took a while to go out 23 or not. I don't know. 24 25 I don't INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Okay. I just didn't know if you noticed a few hour delay for the NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 10 1 transmission because a lot of times either the ships 2 would collect all the e-mails in a batch and a batch 3 would get sent out or come back in or if it would be 4 just instant? 5 MS. DAVIDSON: I know that it happened on 6 the past on other ships but I'm not sure if it happened 7 on this one or not, honestly. 8 and wait for him to respond to me. 9 I didn't sit right by INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Got you. Something is 10 buzzing, sorry. And when you were able to communicate 11 in port that would be personal cell or text? 12 MS. DAVIDSON: 13 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 14 Right. Okay. And that was frequently, like you said whenever he arrived, right? 15 MS. DAVIDSON: Every time he arrived in a 16 port he always told me. 17 safely, whichever port he was in always. 18 usually, you know, we would talk a little bit later 19 when he was free. 20 Same thing every time, arrived INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And then Right, right. And 21 during the phone calls and I know same thing that you 22 said it's usually the husband telling we need oil, the 23 kids, blah, blah, blah. 24 about the job and say his position on the ship and how 25 he was treated by the company, any complaints or any But was there ever any concern NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 11 1 say concerns he had with his position as captain? 2 MS. DAVIDSON: Well there was some concern 3 that he spoke to me about, about when he applied for 4 the new ship and that of the four captains who were, 5 you know, the two captains on the El Yunque and the two 6 captains on the El Faro, none of them were chosen for 7 the first one. 8 offered a position on the, when the El Faro was going 9 to Alaska. 10 And he did ask, he was, instead he was So they offered him that. But he did ask 11 why he didn't, wasn't chosen and he told me 12 specifically that Melissa Clark said she wasn't going 13 to discuss it with him. 14 by that. 15 interview for the second one. But then afterwards he did sit for an 16 17 And he was a little frustrated INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: ship? 18 MS. DAVIDSON: 19 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 20 Right. And do you know the results of that? 21 22 For the second LNG MS. DAVIDSON: No, he never heard. I never heard who they chose. 23 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Okay. So there really 24 wasn't a clear answer as to why he wasn't picked for 25 the first? NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 12 1 MS. DAVIDSON: No, they didn't, I think he 2 was a little frustrated that they didn't tell him why. 3 He just wanted to know, you know, this is what he told 4 me. 5 something that, you know, you're looking for that I 6 don't have? He told me that he asked, you know, is there 7 And they said no, not necessarily. Is there 8 something I could improve on? 9 Well what was it then? And she said I'm not going to 10 discuss that with you. So there wasn't, there were 11 some things with the company where there wasn't clear 12 communication that, you know, might have been a, you 13 know, a little frustrating. 14 No, not necessarily. But he would just, always would just go do 15 his job to the best of his ability and just, you know, 16 hope that another e-mail he sent me he said, you know, 17 I'm just going to keep doing what I do and the best I 18 can and, you know, see what happens. 19 20 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And do you know about when that decision was made or the -- 21 MS. DAVIDSON: The first ship? 22 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 23 MS. DAVIDSON: Yes. That was a while ago. Not 24 this trip. It was before he had come, when he was out 25 the trip before, before he had come back from vacation. NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 13 1 So that was quite a while ago. 2 about the first one. 3 MALE PARTICIPANT: 4 MS. DAVIDSON: 5 MALE PARTICIPANT: 6 MS. DAVIDSON: 7 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: It wasn't this trip 8 I'm sorry. Right, right. MS. DAVIDSON: INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 11 MS. DAVIDSON: 12 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Earlier in the year. Yes. What was his normal rotation? 14 MS. DAVIDSON: About two months, you know, 70 days or so, 75 days. 16 17 This year some time but Yes, earlier in the year. 10 15 Some time in 2015 though? not -- 9 13 In 2015? INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And was it pretty steady ten weeks on ten weeks off or was it -- 18 MS. DAVIDSON: Well sometimes it was jumbled 19 up a little bit depending on, you know, if the other 20 captain needed to be home for personal reasons or 21 whatever. 22 because Captain Eric left, well Michael thought he 23 asked for a leave of absence so he didn't know how long 24 he was going back for. 25 So he did come back to work early this time He thought it was a short little, so he NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 14 1 didn't pack many things and I had to send him some 2 clothes and so but, yes, they didn't tell him how long 3 he was going to be there for. 4 5 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: So he went back early. 6 MS. DAVIDSON: 7 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 8 Really. He went back early. And did he actually wind up staying longer then? 9 MS. DAVIDSON: He ended up staying until, he 10 ended up, he only was home about three weeks on his 11 vacation or maybe closer to four. 12 his vacation and then he stayed and then he would have 13 gone into, I think it was just the beginning of his 14 rotation in October. 15 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: So he was short on And when would that 16 trip, when would he have been relieved? 17 date that he would have been done or was it still up in 18 the air? 19 20 MS. DAVIDSON: me. I didn't ask. I don't know. Was there a He didn't tell He didn't really know. 21 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 22 MS. DAVIDSON: He just didn't know. I did ask, you know, how long 23 are you going to be there for when it was, he first 24 went back early. 25 between the two of us or e-mails. There were some texts back and forth I'm not sure which NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 15 1 it was and I said are they going to tell you? 2 3 And he said I asked. They didn't tell me. I'm like, okay. 4 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And then I guess 5 typically if it was ten weeks did that trip go on more 6 then ten weeks then? 7 8 MS. DAVIDSON: started? 9 10 From the amount of time he INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: ship, yes. 11 Was actually aboard the When he went back early. MS. DAVIDSON: Well I'm not sure. 12 back in August. 13 think he might have gone back the middle of August. 14 15 So and this was October 1st. He went INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: So I So probably close to about ten weeks? 16 MS. DAVIDSON: 17 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 18 no known vacation date, right? 19 MS. DAVIDSON: 20 he didn't tell me. 21 in October. 22 when I asked him. 23 Yes, right. No. Okay. And with really Well unless he knew and I had asked him earlier. It wasn't It was probably maybe the end of August INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And was there anything 24 coming up say in October or November that you guys may 25 have been looking forward to or looking to get off the NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 16 1 ship to go to, any event or anything, nothing? 2 MS. DAVIDSON: 3 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 4 can't have a normal schedule. 5 6 No. MS. DAVIDSON: It's frustrating. We're used to it. INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 8 MS. DAVIDSON: Yes. And I don't worry too much about it and he doesn't worry too much about it. 10 you have to stay a little longer you do. 11 is. 12 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 13 MS. DAVIDSON: 14 That's how it is. 7 9 It's tough when you If That's how it Yes. We don't stress about it really. 15 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Yes. How about on the 16 ship, did he have a normal, I know with a cargo ship 17 nothing is normal. 18 schedule on a day to day basis? 19 at a certain time every night or was it very random? 20 21 But was there any sort of a normal MS. DAVIDSON: Would he go to sleep I don't know. I don't know. I don't think I've ever asked him that. 22 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Okay. And do you know 23 if he was on any sort of medication or anything that 24 may have prevented him from sleeping normal or any 25 prescription medication that he was on? NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 17 1 2 MS. DAVIDSON: prescriptions. 3 4 He didn't take any INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: No health issues as far as you know? 5 MS. DAVIDSON: Nothing, no. He had like a 6 little knee replacement surgery. 7 replacement. 8 tore his patella maybe three or four years ago and 9 that's the only thing -- It was a little knee surgery on his, he 10 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 11 MS. DAVIDSON: 12 It wasn't a That's good. -- he's had in years and years. 13 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Yes, and did he, when 14 he got out of Maine Maritime Academy did he have an 15 entire career of going to sea or did he ever take a 16 different job shore side anywhere? 17 18 MS. DAVIDSON: time. 19 20 He's been shipping the entire INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And he got out of Maine Maritime in -- 21 MS. DAVIDSON: 22 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 23 he been sailing captain? 24 MS. DAVIDSON: 25 The whole time. '88. '88. And how long has I think he started sailing captain when he was with Crowley. I don't know the NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 18 1 exact time of how long that has been. 2 3 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: other positions other than captain for TOTE? 4 MS. DAVIDSON: 5 mate. 6 TOTE. Yes, he started as third He took a job as third mate just to start with 7 8 And has he sailed in INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And worked his way up to captain? 9 MS. DAVIDSON: Well he went right from third 10 mate to captain because he's only been with TOTE for 11 three years. 12 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Okay. At any time when 13 he was working for TOTE was he actively looking for 14 other shipping companies to work for? 15 MS. DAVIDSON: Michael has been actively 16 looking for other companies every time he worked for 17 any company. 18 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 19 MS. DAVIDSON: Okay. So, yes, he was. He wanted, 20 his ultimate goal was to get on one of the new, you 21 know, LNG ships. 22 to be on, you know. 23 that. 24 25 I'm sure probably any captain wanted I don't think he's unique with INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Yes, yes. Do you know if anybody from his ship had gotten selected to go to NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 19 1 the new ships? 2 MS. DAVIDSON: I do know that a guy he was 3 friendly with, Ray Thompson, I think did. 4 chief. 5 had mentioned it to me that he did. 6 of anyone else. He was the Yes, Michael had thought that, I think, Michael 7 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: But I don't know And just coming back to 8 the previous question about looking for other ships and 9 companies and he was always doing that, was there any 10 reason that he wasn't happy with TOTE or is it just 11 normal for him to look for other ships all the time? 12 MS. DAVIDSON: Well he wanted to be on one 13 of the newer class ones if he could. 14 take the job in Alaska. 15 Alaska, has pilotage in Alaska. I mean he would He has a lot of experience in 16 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 17 MS. DAVIDSON: Does he. And he worked for years there 18 with ARCO and Polar. But he would have rather been on 19 a new one, a new ship. 20 get on, what he said was TOTE 2, the second one. He was hopeful he was going to 21 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 22 MS. DAVIDSON: 23 He was still hopeful that, you know, that would happen. 24 25 TOTE 2. INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: So he did spend a lot of time in Alaska previous to this? NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 20 1 2 MS. DAVIDSON: Right, he did. I've even been up there twice with him. 3 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 4 MS. DAVIDSON: 5 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Really. Valdez. Do you have a ball park 6 time, about how many years ago was that just if you can 7 remember when you were out there too? 8 9 MS. DAVIDSON: was his second job. Okay. Well he started, it He started with ARCO. So that 10 would have been, he was only with Texaco for a year so 11 it would have been '89. 12 with them for about 11 years and then ARCO switched 13 over, changed over to Polar and may have been about 14 another three years with Polar. 15 16 He started with ARCO. He was INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: I'm not sure. And that was all out in Alaska? 17 MS. DAVIDSON: That was all out of, yes, out 18 of Long Beach too, Valdez and Washington, all that 19 area. 20 21 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: there. 22 MS. DAVIDSON: 23 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 24 MS. DAVIDSON: 25 That's a long time out Right. Okay. And that's why he got his pilotage there. NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 21 1 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Yes, yes. And this is 2 probably a dumb question. 3 do you know if they ever had any rough weather? 4 you hear about it? 5 6 MS. DAVIDSON: They had lots of rough INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Okay, just, so he's handled ships in rough weather? 9 MS. DAVIDSON: 10 Sure, yes. INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 11 going with that. 12 was in out there in Alaska? 13 mate, chief mate, captain? 14 That's where I was And do you remember what position he MS. DAVIDSON: Was he third mate, second Well he started as third mate 15 and I think he went up to chief with Polar. 16 have to check. 17 18 Did weather. 7 8 But while he was out there INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Okay. I would And what made him go join and work with TOTE? 19 MS. DAVIDSON: Well he previously had 20 shipped with IAS, Interocean American Shipping and so 21 he worked on those ships and he knew some of the 22 personnel from there. 23 think Michael knew Melissa Clark from there. 24 25 Melissa Clark used to work, I And when he worked with, so he left the Crowley ships because there was an incident where they NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 22 1 were asking him to do something that was unsafe on the 2 ship as captain. 3 one port to another port when he was told by, that the 4 steering wasn't safe. They wanted him to take the ship from 5 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 6 MS. DAVIDSON: Okay. He told me that the Mercedes 7 Benz, I don't know people had come on and looked at the 8 equipment and said it was not safe, to not move it to 9 the other port. 10 And the people in the office wanted him to do it anyway. 11 And he said I'm not going to do that. So he 12 ordered two tugs to move the ship and when he came back 13 from vacation they weren't too happy with the bill and 14 told him he was no longer employed. 15 took the third mate job with TOTE. 16 up over there. 17 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: So that's why he That's why he ended And did you ever hear 18 any problems like that with TOTE where he had issues 19 with the company giving him a hard time for any safety 20 reasons? 21 MS. DAVIDSON: 22 it if they asked him to. 23 No, no, he wouldn't have done INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Right, right. So he 24 left Crowley because of this steering problem/incident 25 and then went to TOTE as third mate. NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 23 1 MS. DAVIDSON: 2 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 3 ship he started on? Right. Was it one of the steam ships? 4 MS. DAVIDSON: 5 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 6 MS. DAVIDSON: 7 And do you know what With? TOTE. TOTE, he was on the Pacific tracker. 8 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 9 MS. DAVIDSON: Pacific. I think that one was only 10 like maybe two trips with the Pacific tracker or two 11 times out, whatever you call that. 12 MALE PARTICIPANT: Contracts. 13 MS. DAVIDSON: 14 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Okay. And then at some point 15 with TOTE after the Pacific job obviously he shifted 16 over to the Caribbean route. 17 Faro or maybe -- Did he go directly to El 18 MS. DAVIDSON: 19 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 20 No, he was on the El Morro. The El Morro. And that was the one that they scrapped, right? 21 MS. DAVIDSON: Right, yes. He went over 22 there to, they needed some organization over there and 23 they needed to replace two of the captains and some of 24 the personnel and Michael told me that it was really 25 unorganized so he did a lot of work, you know, NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 24 1 organizing getting everything, you know, so it was very 2 professional. 3 And just, he wanted things done correctly, 4 you know, by the book. 5 book. Everything he did was by the 6 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 7 MS. DAVIDSON: He did that and then he took 8 that to the, they scrapped it. 9 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 10 11 MS. DAVIDSON: Yes, yes. They scrapped it. He took it there and then he went right to the El Faro. 12 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And I know again this 13 is kind of when I was on my ship I wouldn't tell my 14 wife a lot of what happened out there. 15 you always want to protect the ones you love. 16 You know, it's But did he ever give you any sort of 17 indication as to the condition of the El Faro? 18 say boy this thing is a wonderful ship? 19 piece of junk. 20 you? 21 Did he This is a I mean how did he portray that ship to MS. DAVIDSON: Well he didn't really talk 22 about the ship in general but he did send me a text one 23 time and said that there was propulsion and gyro 24 issues. It was in the end of August. 25 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Okay. NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 25 1 2 MS. DAVIDSON: And that the main server was down. 3 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 4 MS. DAVIDSON: The computer server? Yes, right. And so they got 5 into, you know, port a little late that time because of 6 that. 7 didn't, I didn't know how old the ship was. 8 tell me. But that's the only time I can think of that, he 9 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: He didn't Right, right. When he, 10 the propulsion issue, again, I know with the captains 11 they just think things magically happen down in the 12 engine room. 13 when they say propulsion issues was there any more 14 description or -- They have no idea what's going on. 15 MS. DAVIDSON: 16 MALE PARTICIPANT: 17 But No, that was it, that was it. He just yelled at the chief. 18 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: That's more like it. 19 Get those squirrels running down there. 20 that's typically what happens, you know. 21 engineer that's what I expected to hear. 22 You know, As an But anything related to the safety of the 23 ship? Did he say anything like, you know, I have holes 24 in the hull or there's water leaking here or anything 25 you might have heard about the -NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 26 1 MS. DAVIDSON: 2 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 3 No. -- safety aspect of the ship or anything? 4 MS. DAVIDSON: No. 5 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Typically onboard ships 6 we do life boat drills every week. 7 there anything he might have passed on to you about the 8 life boats or how they operated? 9 MS. DAVIDSON: Anything, again is Nothing about how they 10 operated. 11 they were doing some, you know, doing a drill. 12 knew he had one time some people on there and they were 13 doing, I don't know if it was the Coast Guard. 14 But I remember him doing, mentioning that I can't remember who it was. And I There was like 15 a two week period where he had some people on there and 16 they were doing some things but I don't know what it 17 was. 18 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Right, right. And how 19 about his crew. 20 the captain. 21 great, this chief mate is a bum? 22 get any sort of indication as to what kind of crew he 23 was working with? 24 25 I mean obviously everybody works for Did he ever say to you this chief is MS. DAVIDSON: I mean did you ever I think he thought he had a great crew. NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 27 1 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Anybody specifically 2 that may have been called out to you like as good or 3 bad? 4 mate. Anybody that he said I really like this chief He's really good or can you remember? 5 6 MS. DAVIDSON: said that anyone was really great, no. 7 8 I don't think he's really INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And any problems with anybody that maybe he had to fire or reprimand? 9 MS. DAVIDSON: Yes, he did tell me about one 10 time people had like a falling out and Michael did have 11 to fire someone who threatened another employee. 12 then another guy didn't come back to the ship when he 13 was supposed to come back. 14 15 I'm not sure if he got fired or what. And But those are the only two things I can think of offhand. 16 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: That's typical, yes, 17 typical especially guys go to sea they just, they get 18 carried away. 19 happen. 20 have any buddies he hung out with from the ship or from 21 TOTE, anybody he confided in? MS. DAVIDSON: Did he The only one he ever mentioned was Ray. 24 25 These things But how about any strong friendships. 22 23 They don't come back. INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: together onboard the ship. Ray. And they worked Did they communicate NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 28 1 afterwards at all? 2 MS. DAVIDSON: 3 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 4 Last -Like when he was on vacation. 5 MS. DAVIDSON: Well last March they were 6 going to a leadership class, they went to a leadership 7 class together at the AMO. I think it's in Florida. 8 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 9 MS. DAVIDSON: Dania. Dania. And his wife went and 10 I was supposed to go but my brother passed, my brother 11 was in Hospice so I didn't end up getting to go. 12 never got to meet Ray or his wife. 13 one he really talked about, Ray that I can remember. 14 So I But he was the only I mean he had a lot friends. He was always 15 talking to different guys but I, a lot of them I never 16 met. You know, they're not from Maine. 17 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 18 not real Mainers right. 19 a break or anything? You doing all right? 20 MS. DAVIDSON: 21 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 22 They're You need I'm okay. Not too hard questions yet? 23 MS. DAVIDSON: 24 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 25 It's too bad. No, I think I'm all right. That's good, yes. about, so it seemed like he had a good crew. How Not too NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 29 1 many concerns with the ship or none at all. 2 about the company itself, TOTE, how did he portray the 3 way he was treated and say managed by the company? 4 5 But how Did he ever complain about the way the company treated him? 6 MS. DAVIDSON: Only when he didn't get the 7 answers that he wanted that I mentioned earlier. 8 was the only thing he ever said. 9 10 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: That When it comes to the new ship? 11 MS. DAVIDSON: Right. Just wondering why. 12 But he thought he would, you know, he was hopeful that 13 he was one of the forerunners for the second one. 14 don't think he was too worried about it. 15 complain about anything else. 16 complaining because he really thought he would be on 17 the second one and if not he had the job in Alaska. 18 19 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: MS. DAVIDSON: He really wasn't When the El Faro went They offered him that position. 22 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 23 MS. DAVIDSON: 24 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 25 He didn't over to Alaska he would remain there? 20 21 So I Captain's job? Yes. And how about on the day to day operation of TOTE managing the ship, would NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 30 1 he have to communicate to the company and do you know 2 like maybe who he reported to if there was anybody? 3 MS. DAVIDSON: I don't know who he reported 4 to. I know he had a lot of e-mails all the time going 5 back and forth to the company but I don't know who they 6 were to. 7 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Okay. And I know 8 there's not a lot that, you're not involved with the 9 day to day operation. 10 MS. DAVIDSON: Right. 11 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: But just again if he 12 might have mentioned something to do said, I've got to 13 talk to this guy John or Tim or whatever just all the 14 time. 15 anybody in particular that seemed to be a direct report 16 that he would communicate with. He's always, just wanted to know if there was 17 MS. DAVIDSON: I don't know. 18 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Okay. Did he ever say 19 anything on how much cargo they carried? 20 saying boy they get more and more cargo the ships are 21 carrying or less and less or anything? 22 23 MS. DAVIDSON: No, I just know there were cars and containers on there. 24 25 Anything INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And when it comes to quantity of anything? NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 31 1 MS. DAVIDSON: No. 2 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: How about his schedule. 3 Did he ever say that he was getting pushed to meet a 4 certain schedule, that he had to be in Puerto Rico on 5 time or -- 6 7 MS. DAVIDSON: 10 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Okay. And that's one of the things we're looking into is was there any push that he was getting pressure to meet a schedule. 11 12 Even when he was late in August he didn't say anything about any issue. 8 9 No. MS. DAVIDSON: He never said anything like that. 13 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And we do know in 14 August that there was a change of course I think 15 because of weather and again that's, there was no 16 retribution or any problem from the company when they 17 decided to change course? 18 19 MS. DAVIDSON: I didn't even really know he changed course until after October 1st, to be honest. 20 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Okay. I've got you, 21 yes. It seemed, from what we understand is that the 22 big push was to get the ship southbound because they 23 were carrying so many refrigerated containers to get to 24 Puerto Rico and on the way back there was a little 25 extra time in the schedule because there wasn't as much NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 32 1 cargo coming up. 2 There was one time that when they did leave 3 Puerto Rico they left with one boiler and they got 4 permission to do it from Coast Guard. 5 bell? 6 with only one boiler? 7 you've heard? Did you ever hear anything about leaving a port 8 9 Does that ever ring a bell what MS. DAVIDSON: from. Does it ring a I'm not sure where I heard it I'm not sure if I heard it after all of this or, 10 when Michael sent me the text about losing propulsion 11 he said they had to shut down the boilers. 12 same time? 13 week. 14 Is that the The end of August, like the 24th, last MALE PARTICIPANT: The communication about 15 shutting down the boilers was after they had gotten 16 into port. 17 Is that right? MS. DAVIDSON: Is that what you recall? It may have been in that 18 same, the same time when he said the propulsion but I'm 19 not sure. 20 and e-mails. 21 I would have to go back and look at my texts INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Okay. And with the 22 whole question about the boilers there were five Polish 23 laborers aboard the ship. 24 that your husband might have said what they were 25 actually doing aboard the ship? Again, was there any mention NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 33 1 2 MS. DAVIDSON: I didn't even know they were on there. 3 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Okay. I think for 4 right now I was going to stop with my questions and 5 maybe turn over to 6 review my notes but thank you very much. 7 your -- and I'll take a break and 8 MS. DAVIDSON: 9 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 10 You're welcome. -- help so far. You need a coffee or a water? 11 MS. DAVIDSON: 12 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 13 I appreciate No, I'm all right. Okay, thanks. Go ahead, 14 MR. Yes, this is 15 with the Coast Guard. Just a couple of follow ups. 16 Did you ever use personal e-mail to communicate with 17 your husband? 18 MS. DAVIDSON: 19 MR. My e-mail. Right, I mean did he ever use 20 like his wireless device to send and receive e-mails to 21 you outside of the ship's e-mail system on his own 22 personal account? 23 MS. DAVIDSON: No, he would send it from the 24 ship. He would just, if he was going to use his, he 25 didn't use his own personal to talk to me, no. It was NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 34 1 either the ship or a text or a phone call. 2 MR. And then those texts that you 3 mentioned the one about the boiler issues and the 4 server issues and so forth, did you retain those texts? 5 Do you have those still? 6 MS. DAVIDSON: 7 MR. I do, yes. We may talk to you about 8 seeing those. They would be very helpful and also 9 establishing the date which we're trying to get. 10 MS. DAVIDSON: 11 MR. All right. So as a crew member family 12 member did you have any instructions how to contact the 13 ship if you had a shore emergency? 14 you have access to like the SAT phone number that you 15 could call in like a dire emergency to contact the 16 ship? 17 MS. DAVIDSON: In other words, did I never did. I think his 18 number was on the bottom of, it was attached to his e- 19 mail that he sent out from the ship. 20 number of the ship was on there but I never had, I 21 never needed to. 22 MR. I think the phone Did TOTE ever provide to you 23 as a family member like here's a communications 24 protocol just in case you have to reach the ship in an 25 emergency? NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 35 1 MS. DAVIDSON: 2 MR. 3 No. Some easy to understand way to do that? 4 MS. DAVIDSON: 5 MR. No. And I know that a lot of 6 families, you know, they're sick of hearing about, you 7 know, their husband or wife's job and so forth. 8 get barraged. 9 questions. 10 They So I'm just going to ask you a couple of One of them is like do you know, like 11 related to the ship what the safety management system 12 is? 13 MS. DAVIDSON: 14 MR. 15 No. Okay. And how about anything related to like voyage planning? 16 MS. DAVIDSON: 17 MR. No, I don't. Okay. And that's just so I 18 can understand, you know, like did Captain Davidson 19 talk to you all the time about the ship? 20 MS. DAVIDSON: 21 MR. 22 MS. DAVIDSON: 23 MR. 24 No. I'm guessing that. No. Did he talk to you about his concerns for hurricane seasons down in the Caribbean? 25 MS. DAVIDSON: No, no. He didn't. The one NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 36 1 time I brought up a Hurricane Erica when I had heard 2 about it on the news. 3 sailing for so long that I don't really, he was so 4 capable that I wasn't worried about anything. 5 But, you know, Michael has been I mean he was, he used to sail all over the 6 place and I never worried about it foreign and, you 7 know. 8 he went out. If I watched for every little thing every time 9 MR. Did he ever mention that there 10 was an instrument on the ship for measuring the wind 11 direction and speed and there were any problems with 12 that? 13 it's used to measure wind speed and direction. 14 ever say anything to you about that maybe not working? The ship has a device called an anemometer and 15 MS. DAVIDSON: Did he No, the only thing he ever 16 mentioned was the gyro because that, I don't know what 17 that is. 18 MR. That's the compass, electrical 19 compass to steer the ship. 20 the ship for cargo and stability and there were no 21 comments about the ship was heavily loaded or properly 22 loaded or anything like that? 23 MS. DAVIDSON: 24 MR. 25 We asked you about loading No. We interviewed the second mate, the navigator, Charlie Baird. He's a guy from up NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 37 1 here in Maine and he was the second mate on the voyage 2 in late August where they took the, you know, the ship 3 kind of looked like it was on railroad tracks that went 4 back and forth between Jacksonville and San Juan, back 5 and forth. 6 And then on the August voyage the ship made 7 a change. They came down the coast of Florida because 8 of Hurricane Erica, which you mentioned and then came 9 over the top of Cuba and into San Juan. And one of the 10 duties of the second mate, Charlie Baird was to give 11 the voyage plan. 12 13 Did Captain Davidson ever talk about Charlie Baird? 14 15 MS. DAVIDSON: He may have. I don't remember. 16 MR. Because on the accident voyage 17 Charlie Baird had sent him a text message directly to 18 Captain Davidson saying hey, you know the storm is out 19 there. 20 Captain Davidson responded and then Charlie Baird 21 suggested that there were alternate routes available 22 and then basically to characterize it, you know, that 23 was the end of, generally the end of the conversation. What are you going to do? 24 25 What's your plan? So it sounded like Charlie Baird was a Maine guy. They might have had a, you know, good working NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 38 1 relationship and we're trying to understand why they 2 took that deviation in August. 3 MS. DAVIDSON: 4 MR. I don't know. We asked you about like safety 5 concerns. Did he ever voice anything about, like any 6 repairs that were needed to the ship that were delayed 7 or postponed? 8 9 MS. DAVIDSON: No. I don't think Michael would have taken a ship out if he knew it needed 10 repairs. He wasn't that kind of, he was too safety 11 conscious himself. 12 He wouldn't have done it. MR. And then did he ever talk to 13 you about Captain Axelson (phonetic), that Captain 14 Axelson left or resigned and Captain Davidson had to 15 come back because of that? 16 Captain Axelson might have left TOTE's employment? 17 MS. DAVIDSON: Did he say any reasons why He wasn't really sure why. 18 did ask him if he, he said that he was told for 19 personal reasons. 20 But, you know, I don't know. MR. And did he ever mention like 21 filing a grievance with the union? 22 Davidson ever talk about that because he wasn't 23 selected for one of the new ships? 24 25 MS. DAVIDSON: Did Captain He told me that he felt that they were looking for someone in their forties, it was NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 I COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 39 1 an age thing and not someone of his age in the fifties 2 and that's why they hadn't offered the job to any of 3 the captains who were already there, who were older. 4 MR. Did he ever talk about, for 5 example, TOTE second guessing his decisions because one 6 of the important things we're doing in this 7 investigation is trying to find out the decisions 8 people made. 9 Jacksonville just to characterize them they, you know, 10 And in the interviews we conducted in TOTE basically said hey, we hire the captains. 11 We give them broad discretion and they run 12 the ships. And so what I'm trying to understand is if 13 TOTE provided oversight for the masters as you 14 understand it? 15 MS. DAVIDSON: 16 MR. I don't know. Did he ever talk about being 17 evaluated by the company, like an annual evaluation or 18 performance review or anything similar to that? 19 MS. DAVIDSON: Not formally. But he did 20 tell me that some people from the company had come on 21 the ship and they told him what a great job he was 22 doing and really thought that it was, you know, the 23 ship was really up to par and they were very, very 24 happy with everything. 25 MR. Did he, I know that Brian NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 40 1 asked you before, but did he ever say and maybe you've 2 already answered it but who he reported to, who was his 3 boss? 4 MS. DAVIDSON: 5 MR. No, I don't know who it was. And did he ever say like 6 within TOTE who would be like responsible for the 7 nautical operations? 8 MS. DAVIDSON: 9 MR. No. And then did, a lot of us 10 keep, you know, like personal record books. 11 example, you carry a green book around in your back 12 pocket and you make a lot of notes about shipboard 13 operations. 14 For Did he keep any kind of records like that? MS. DAVIDSON: He was very, very much into 15 keeping records. 16 He even made like a whole computer program to organize 17 everything on the ship so that when he went to one of 18 the ships, I think it was the El Morro the record 19 keeping wasn't so great. 20 He wrote everything down, everything. So he made sure that everything was written 21 down, everything was, you know, easily accessible for 22 when, you know, certificates came up or inspections or 23 everything. 24 call it a man journal. 25 did every day. He was like that at home. He kept a, we Every day he wrote down what he NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 41 1 2 MR. those like the shipboard operations notes at home? 3 4 And did he retain copies of MS. DAVIDSON: home. 5 MR. 6 own computer on the ship? 7 8 No, no, he didn't take those And did he have, you know, his MS. DAVIDSON: He had a laptop on the ship. I don't know what else he had on the ship. 9 MR. That was his? 10 MS. DAVIDSON: 11 MR. Right. Okay. And do you just know 12 offhand if that kind of stuff, like one of the great 13 technologies today is like cloud storage where a lot of 14 your documents get put up into the, wherever cloud 15 storage is. 16 Mac that might have had cloud storage? Do you know if that computer was like a 17 MS. DAVIDSON: 18 I don't remember what it was though. 19 20 MR. Do you know if his personal e- mail account was like a Gmail account or -- 21 MS. DAVIDSON: 22 MR. 23 I don't think it was a Mac. It was a Gmail, yes. Okay. That's all I have for now. 24 MS. DAVIDSON: 25 MR. Okay. Thank you very much. NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 42 1 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: We'll go to Alaska now. 2 Maybe it's a little cooler there than this room. 3 Mike, if you're available to ask some, any questions. 4 INVESTIGATOR KUCHARSKI: No, I think you've 5 covered them all that I was going to ask. 6 Thank you, Ms. Davidson. 7 information, for providing the information. 8 9 10 Thanks so much for your So no grievance, your husband did not file a grievance with AMO for not getting the masters job on the new ship? MS. DAVIDSON: I don't think it was filed but I'm not certain. 13 14 Great job. And actually one slight question. 11 12 But, INVESTIGATOR KUCHARSKI: you so much. 15 Okay, great. Thank That's it. INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: This is Brian Young 16 with the NTSB. 17 with Crowley he didn't take a ship out because of a 18 steering problem. 19 Just two follow up questions. I know Did you ever hear of a time with TOTE that 20 there was any reason that he may not have left on a 21 scheduled departure because of any reasons, safety 22 reasons or propulsion issues or anything that he did 23 not go when expected? 24 MS. DAVIDSON: No. 25 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And do you know if NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 43 1 there were ever any say letters of warning or letters 2 of reprimand from TOTE against your husband for any 3 reason, any infractions or anything? 4 MS. DAVIDSON: I don't think so. They were, 5 he told me they were really, really happy with the work 6 that he did especially when he came over to the El 7 Morro and really got that up to par. 8 9 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And did El Faro need that kind of attention too? 10 MS. DAVIDSON: I don't know. I just know he 11 continued with, you know, he did everything by the book 12 and had it highly organized. 13 organized. 14 He was very, very INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Before Captain Axelson 15 resigned was he a steady relief, kind of baseball on 16 the job for a while? 17 MS. DAVIDSON: He was. 18 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Would you say for the 19 entire time that they were aboard the El Faro, was it a 20 constant -- 21 MS. DAVIDSON: 22 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 23 As far as I know. They were steady back and forth? 24 MS. DAVIDSON: Yes. 25 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Okay. Believe it or NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 44 1 not that's all the questions I have. 2 MS. DAVIDSON: 3 MR. Okay. with the Coast 4 Guard. I just have a couple of follow ups. 5 you know if Captain Davidson applied for a position as 6 a San Juan pilot? 7 MS. DAVIDSON: I don't know. One, do I think he 8 probably would have had to get his pilotage first and 9 he didn't have it. 10 MR. Okay. 11 MS. DAVIDSON: I'm sure he was probably 12 thinking that in the back of his mind because he had to 13 have his licenses for everything, you know. 14 MR. How about, did he mention any 15 cargo damage coming back from a trip or contacting you 16 after a voyage say that, you know, and it doesn't have 17 to be a hurricane but we had a storm at sea and some 18 containers got damaged or some vehicles broke lose or 19 anything like that? 20 MS. DAVIDSON: I know he mentioned it. I 21 couldn't tell you when, if it was for this company or 22 another company. 23 MR. But sure that kind of stuff happens. Did he ever send you 24 photographs whether they're, you know, like text 25 message photographs or photographs from voyages he was NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 45 1 on to show you interesting things that occurred? 2 MS. DAVIDSON: No. 3 when he was in his office. 4 the ship I saw. 5 MR. I mean we would FaceTime But that's the only part of And then, you know, we're 6 working very hard to make sure we cover every single 7 angle involved with this accident. 8 friends or associates that might be helpful for us to 9 talk to that we might not have considered? 10 MS. DAVIDSON: 11 MR. Are there any With TOTE or just in -Well that could shed some 12 light on, you know, this accident, friends of Captain 13 Davidson's or people that he associated with that he 14 might have talked to? 15 MS. DAVIDSON: I don't know that, Michael 16 was friendly with one of the San Juan pilots, Robert 17 Candelario (phonetic). 18 to me. He did send a condolence text Do you want names outside of TOTE or just -- 19 MR. Yes, I mean, you know, all of 20 us have friends that we talk to. 21 I'm not just talking about a list of friends. 22 that he might have talked to about shipping on the 23 vessels or anything like that. 24 25 MS. DAVIDSON: I'm just thinking, Anybody Right, well he had, he was very friendly with Wayne Brandenberger (phonetic). NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 He 46 1 used to work with, at ARCO. I can't think of the name 2 of the company it is now. 3 with ARCO too but I think the two of them work 4 somewhere together. Captain Wells used to work 5 MR. What was the second one? 6 MS. DAVIDSON: 7 remember his first name. 8 worked with him at Crowley and what's the captain, 9 Scott, I think it's Wiegand, W-I-E-G-L-A-N-D, W-I-E-G- Captain Wells. And let's see, Alex Ramirez 10 A-N-D, I think is his last name. 11 the other captains at Crowley. 12 I don't I think he was one of And he had, you know, friends here at home. 13 Jimmy Griffin is on the, I think he's still on the 14 Maine responder, Portland. 15 for MERSC (phonetic). 16 He lives in Windham too and graduated with Michael. 17 that enough? 18 And Cedric Harkins works He's a chief engineer for MERSC. MR. Yes, that's fine. I'm just 19 trying to make sure we cover all the bases and make 20 sure we get all the information. 21 MS. DAVIDSON: 22 MR. 23 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: Thank you very much. You're welcome. That's all I have. And if, Brian Young 24 with the NTSB again. 25 questions for us or anything that we didn't ask you But if there's anything you have NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 Is COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 47 1 that you feel may assist us in this investigation feel 2 free to let us have it. 3 now or at any point down the road you have our contact 4 information. 5 But if you have any questions But if you do have any questions for us, 6 whatever we can help answer for your we're more than 7 happy to. 8 MS. DAVIDSON: 9 we just want to know what happened. 10 Like the other family members INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: And that's what we want 11 to as well. You know, we appreciate your talking to us 12 and telling us what you've heard and what you've seen. 13 So we really appreciate your time. 14 MS. DAVIDSON: 15 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: 16 questions for us? 17 18 You're welcome. Yes, thank you. No We've been firing questions at you. MS. DAVIDSON: I know I can't think of anything offhand. 19 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: It's your turn now. 20 But please feel free to contact us at any time, any of 21 you, whatever we can do to help you. 22 MS. DAVIDSON: No, I just want to know what 23 happened because it is very hard on my daughters and I 24 to hear crazy things that the press says that, you 25 know, that Michael was risky when he couldn't be any NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 48 1 farther from the truth of how he was. 2 and it's hard for us to listen to so we would like to 3 know what happened. 4 INVESTIGATOR YOUNG: It's ridiculous All right. I think 5 we're all set and we'll conclude the interview 6 officially on the recording. 7 8 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went off the record.) 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NEAL R. GROSS (202) 234-4433 COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 (202) 234-4433 49 CE R T I F I CA T E MATTER: El Faro Incident Accident No. DCA16MM001 Interview of: Theresa Davidson Portland, Maine DATE: 01-05-16 I hereby certify that the attached transcription of page 1 to 49 inclusive are to the best of my professional ability a true, accurate, and complete record of the above referenced proceedings as contained on the provided audio recording; further that I am neither counsel for, nor related to, nor employed by any of the parties to this action in which this proceeding has taken place; and further that I am not financially nor otherwise interested in the outcome of the action. NEAL R. GROSS COURT REPORTERS oW> TRANSmBERS 1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. (202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 Office of Marine Safety Transcript Errata Matter: El Faro Ref Nbr: DCA16MM001 Dear Ms. Davidson: Enclosed with this letter is a copy of the transcript of interview for Theresa Davidson taken on 1/5/2016. Kindly review this transcript for accuracy and provide corrections, if any, in the attached table. Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter. 1/12/2016 Brian Young Major Marine Accident Investigator TABLE OF CORRECTIONS TO TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW FOR Theresa Davidson TAKEN ON January 5, 2016 PAGE NUMBER 2 4 8 LINE NUMBER 38 38 38 41 13 14 16 17-18 43 46 14 15 14-15 16-17 CURRENT WORDING CORRECTED WORDING Greg Linsin, Esq. obviously deck related Was it his own? Gregory F. Linsin, Esq., Blank Rome LLP obviously are deck related Add: He also sent emails via his personal gmail account regarding personal matters. Axelsson Axelsson Axelsson Add: It was a Dell laptop. Axelson Axelson Axelson I don't remember what it was though Axelson MERSC Axelsson Maersk If, to the best of your knowledge, no corrections are needed kindly circle the statement "no corrections needed" and initial in the space provided. NO CORRECTIONS NEED. Initials above information information !/ 9!f}j I Ia Date OMS Transcript Errata 5.27.15 B L ANK ROME u, COU SHOt S AI l AW Phone: 202-772-5813 Fax: 202-572-1402 Email: Linsin@Blankrome.com January 22, 2016 VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL Thomas K. Roth-Roffy, P.E. Investigator-in-Charge NTSB, Office of Marine Safety 490 L'Enfant Plaze East, S.W. Washington, DC 20594 Re: SIS EL FARO: Transcript ofthe Interview of Theresa Davidson Dear Mr. Roth-Roffy: We represent Mrs. Theresa Davidson, the wife of Captain Michael Davidson, in connection with the civil litigation related to the loss of the El Faro and the investigations concerning that casualty being conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board ("NTSB") and the U.S. Coast Guard. In connection with the ongoing investigations, Mrs. Davidson was interviewed by Mr. Brain Young, Mr. Mike Kucharski, and Mr. on January 5, 2016. As requested by Mr. Young, in his letter dated January 12, 2016, Theresa Davidson has reviewed the draft transcript of her interview and submits the attached corrections. Mrs. Davidson understands the importance of the NTSB's investigation in this matter and wishes to express her family's appreciation to the NTSB not only for its ongoing work to locate the wreckage of the vessel and to investigate the causes of the casualty, but also its efforts to provide the family members of the crew with updates concerning key developments of the investigation. Mrs. Davidson recognizes that the NTSB is committed to conducting a thorough, professional investigation of the casualty and thereafter providing the results of its investigation, including the witness interview transcripts, to the public. Because of the importance of this investigation and the need to ensure that the investigative record, particularly the witness interview transcripts, faithfully reflect the information provided to the NTSB by the witnesses themselves, we are very concerned by the fact that the transcript of Mrs. Davidson's interview contains a series of opinions, comments, and personal perspectives provided by the investigator. The statements in question are listed below. While we do not believe that these statements were made by the investigator for any improper motive, we strongly believe that they do not belong in the official transcript of Mrs. Davidson's interview. We are concerned Watergate, 600 New Hampshire Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20037 www.BiankRome.com Boca Raton • Cincinnati • Houston • Los Angeles • New York • Philadelphia • Princeton • San Francisco • Shanghai • Tampa • Washington • Wilmington BLANK ROME ur COV 'SEIORS A l AW Thomas K. Roth-Roffy, P.E. January 22, 2016 Page 2 that the referenced statements, which do not reflect Mrs. Davidson's opinions, comments, or personal perspective, could nonetheless be unfairly attributed to or associated with her testimony. For this reason, we respectfully request that each of the following statements be fully redacted from the transcript before it is put in final form. Specifically, we request that that following language be redacted from Theresa Davidson's, January 5, 2016 transcript: • Investigator Young: "I'm the guy in the engine room who just gets yelled at by the captain typically. So that's my function as the engineering." (Page 4; Lines 18-20). • Investigator Young: "Just from my personal background a lot of times when I was out on the ship my wife and I would communicate frequently via the e-mail, the cell phones and whatever technology we had." (Page 7; Lines 10-13). • Investigator Young: "I remember when I used to sail I had a, they called it chief engineer at blah, blah, blah. I had my own e-mail address." (Page 8; Lines 10-13). • Investigator Young: "And during the phone calls and I know same thing that you said it's usually the husband telling we need oil, the kids, blah, blah, blah." (Page 10; Lines 20-23). • Investigator Young: "It's tough when you can't have a normal schedule. It's frustrating." (Page 16; Lines 3-4). • Investigator Young: "And I know again this is kind of when I was on my ship I wouldn't tell my wife a lot ofwhat happened out there. You know, it's you always want to protect the ones you love." (Page 24; Lines 12-15). • Investigator Young: "again, I know with the captains they just think things magically happen down in the engine room. They have no idea what's going on." (Page 25; Lines 1012). • Male Participant: "He just yelled at the chief" (Page 25; Lines 16-17). • Investigator Young: "That's more like it. Get those squirrels running down there. You know, that's typically what happens, you know. As an engineer that's what I expected to hear." (Page 25; Lines 18-21). • Investigator Young: "That's typical, yes, typical especially guys go to sea they just, they get carried away. They don't come back. These things happen." (Page 27; Lines 16-19). BLANK ROMEur COU SHO S AI l A V Thomas K. Roth-Roffy, P.E. January 22, 2016 Page 3 Thank you in advance for your willingness to consider Mrs. Davidson's request for redaction of these extraneous statements from her transcript. Mrs. Davidson acknowledges that there is legitimate public interest in understanding the cause or causes of the loss of the El Faro and its crew, and that these objectives can be achieved by ensuring the evidentiary record developed is as robust and as comprehensive as possible, with respect to relevant information provided by the witnesses. Redaction of the above referenced language supports these critical objectives. Sincerely, cc: Theresa Davidson Brian Young, NTSB, Major Marine Accident Investigator