Shipwreck: How a Captain, Company, and Culture Sank the SS El Faro

by Maeve McGoran

2015 saw the worst American maritime disaster in decades. The captain of the SS El Faro commanded his crew to sail straight into a hurricane. The ship sank and all 33 crew members died.

The sinking raised troubling Why did the captain choose to sail into the hurricane? Why did no one on board or on shore stop him? And why was such an old and heavily loaded ship even allowed on the water?

The crew of the SS El Faro is gone, but their haunting final hours were preserved by the ship’s black box. In Shipwreck, we hear immersive reenactments from their last voyage and new revelations from investigators, crew members’ families, and mariners who sailed on previous voyages of the El Faro. The narrative investigation reveals how corporate greed, government indifference, and a culture of obedience led to the shocking outcome.

The same forces that sank the El Faro are still at work today—not just in cargo shipping, but across the entire maritime industry, which carries millions of passengers every year.

What happened to the El Faro wasn't just a tragedy. It was a warning we can't afford to ignore.

Special thanks to the Fund for Investigative Journalism for helping fund this reporting.

Genres: Audiobook, History, Nonfiction

Audible Audio

Published August 7, 2025

Reviews

[Zee Ahmad · Rating 3 out of 5]

An account of the 2015 sinking of the cargo ship El Faro, weaving in the crew’s final (reenacted) blackbox recordings, hurricane Joaquins rapid intensification, and the investigation that followed. The story itself is genuinely gripping, and the audiobook (really more of a podcast) has strong narration, but it was waaayyy too repetitive. I mean, how many times can you say it was primarily the captain’s fault?? Good, but it could’ve been much tighter.

RIP 🪦 to the 33 crew members who died in a disaster that could have been avoided by ego or corporate greed.

[Dennis Myers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a book – it’s 10 episodes of a podcast stitched together. It benefits from good pacing and interviews, as well as recreations of the recovered bridge audio. But it’s certainly not a book.

[Toni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting true crime documentary but the audio version with the reenactment of the black box conversations was atrocious!

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this investigative reporter’s audio book on the sinking of this cargo ship that sailed directly into the path of a category 5 hurricane. Captain Michael Richardson received the most blame from the final report, but as narrator Maeve McGoran states, there was plenty to go around.

Not only was Maeve’s narration very good, so were the actors who re-created the scenes onboard the ship that were taken from what parts of the ship’s black box recording could be retrieved. The book also looks at the maritime industry and highlights the question of safety versus profit well, especially in the last chapter. An excellent listen for those interested in disasters at sea.

[SUSAN MCDONNELL · Rating 5 out of 5]

good book about the maritime industry

[Hunter Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding presentation that thoroughly reviews what happened in the horrible tragedy. The actors portraying the voice recordings from the black box did an absolutely amazing job. Listening to the families was heartbreaking. Of course this is horrible, of course a tragedy, but in a country that is ruled by the 1% this "culture of greed" is so ingrained into everything it is sad and pathetic, but to be expected. Sorry, but if you have a wealth that starts with bill, or trill you are a sociopath. The company was willing to pay millions and millions to their stable of devils lawyers than pay recompense to the families or make significant changes. This is our world, we let the rich laugh as we thumb up a millionth of their crumbs.

[LadyofDreams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book! I didn’t know anything about the SS El Faro, or that it sank during Hurricane Joaquin in 2015. The book tells the story of the ship, the crew and uses actual transcripts from the black box on the ship to reveal what happened in the last few hours of the lives of the crew of the ship, and the ship itself, before it sank. There are still a lot of questions; but the book does a really good job at piecing everything together and explaining the shortcomings of the system, in terms of the crew seeing a problem, but not feeling that they have the ability to address it, or perhaps take other actions that might have changed the outcome. The sad thing about the story, is that the laws still seem to be geared towards protecting the shipping companies rather than The crews of the ships. I strongly recommend this book!

[Ursula Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an investigative journalist's look in the sinking of the ship El Faro. The captain's mistakes and company lack of safety focus and mistakes by the Coast Guard are all examined. The major mistake was the captain, who did not realize how dangerous hurricanes are at sea and not listening to his crew. The tragic consequences were the loss of the vessel and all 33 crew members who had no chance to escape. The poor condition of the vessel, company culture (ties to politicians and the coast guard) ensured no accountability would made. Eye opening about merchant marine business, the coast guard and congress. Safety is not a primary concern and profits come first. Takes a bit to get going and the reporter doesn't have the best narration voice. Still a great series.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riveting telling of the sinking of the El Faro during Hurricane Joaquin in 2015. Great in depth research into all aspects of the ship, crew, and hurricane. The audible brought the story to life with interviews and actor voices to represent crew members based on the released transcripts from the ship's black box. I learned a ton about container shipping and maritime trade. Awful circumstances and ultimately I think the blame lies with the decision to sail into or near the Hurricane.... but I believe the captain should only take partial responsibility (not as much as the author seems to want to dictate).

[Mackenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This audiobook was written so well and you can tell how thoroughly the author did their research. I am so glad this story is being told and it has really opened my eyes. My single gripe is that the female voice actor sounded a little cheesy, but besides that a fantastic read. I hope this audiobook brings more awareness to the corruption within the maritime industry. I deeply respect the author and anyone who worked on this despite how intimidating it must have been to say negative things about large corporations and even the government.

[Deirdre E Siegel · Rating 5 out of 5]

American tragedies - shootings, sinkings, bombings; lost lives because profit before people.
Why when a country’s administration runs into budgetary constraints it reduces funding to emergency first responders,
so that profit is not interrupted when someone / anyone mentions allocating legal responsibility,
before proof is smeared / smudged / concealed for the better profit margin.
Thank you Maeve McGoran for your times of frustration, hurdle jumping, side stepping, patience and perseverance
required to provide these collected words, very much appreciated :-)

[AttackGirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was the radio calls actual or recreated? I considered suicide but no lifelong responsible Captain would ever kill his crew nor sink an old ship. Most learn to love quirks and personality of what they Captain. Has no one in the NTSB never named their car, motorcycle, boat, generator… you get the point.

Do they really not know the eye is the safest place, ugh.

[I Love Cake · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is actually a documentary series about the investigation of a 2015 cargo shipwreck. It shows how irresponsible the captain, the US Coastguard, and the corporate owners were regarding the safety and human life of the crew. It is a very interesting account of maritime law in the United States.

[Missy Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this on Audible. It’s sad that tragedy has to strike before being corp and the Government get to work. This sad story may have been averted if people were not so afraid of their bosses but were told to do the ‘right thing and be safe’ instead of the all mighty dollar. My heart goes out to those families in this unsung sad event.

[Tiffany Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this while I ran errands today. It comes off as more of a podcast than an audio book. I don’t remember hearing about the SS El Faro in 2015. This was incredibly interesting and very heartbreaking.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It never ceases to amaze me that even in a major disaster, you only hear a small piece of the news. I've only been aware of the criticism of the late Captain, not the sheer laziness of the shipping companies.

[Susi · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars Really enjoyed this podcast style audio book. I did not know much about this event prior to, and I really liked how the author presented the information and reached her conclusions.

[Parrotfish5 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very well done and very disturbing.

[Jesseca Moreda]

While this was really interesting and informative as a whole, hearing the blackbox transcripts acted out was unsettling and felt voyeuristic. It was a little much.

[Rachel E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating, tragic story, well told.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never have I been so interested in maritime law and tradition. Well researched, beautifully told, incredibly sad telling of an event I knew nothing about previously. Excellent all around.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story

[Lori (I will do proper reviews one day!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 ⭐️

[Clayton Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting telling of a misadventure where no one survived.

[Patty Hagar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fascinating and really well done. The storytelling was thorough and organized in a way that always answered my questions the moment they popped into my head.

[Dana Zanotti · Rating 5 out of 5]

well written but very sad how big business blamed everyone but themselves about this tragedy

[Stuart Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really good.

[Rachel Hawpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

First finish of 2026. This was both sad and terrifying.

[SY NA · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a free Podcast from Audible. It basically goes over the SS El Faro sinking that happened in 2015 (https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/A...). This podcast is much in the vein of various True Crimes podcasts made popular by Serial back in 2014 and focuses on the events that led to the sinking of the ship.

At the end of it all, the reasons for the sinking is as old as time. The owners of the boat wanted to keep on sailing it even though it needed maintainence. They exercised too much control over the captain (the captain is solely responsible for decisions made during the vessel's sailing, but they can just as easily fire him once the boat reaches port) such that the captain was forced to make sub-par decisions based on his hoped for continued employment. The boat wasn't just under maintained, it was also too old and was previously retrofitted such that it was worse in poor weather than it otherwise should have been. The inspections that should have taken place to prevent issues were never done, and...you get the idea.

The podcast masterfully deals with each of the above and also re-enacts parts of the conversation that happened upon the bridge (they did recover the black box from the ship), and also some of the aftermath that happened after (what happened in the hearings, what penalities were inflicted on the company, and what the families of the lost did afterwards).

This is definitely one of the best podcast in this vein that i've heard and deserved all the flowers its received. It does deal with a pretty easy to understand event, a sinking of a ship, and goes into a pretty deep dive of the entire topic. Its sad to say that this will probably happen again because human lives are relatively cheap compared to how much this type of commercial traffic makes monetary sense.

Highly recommended, albeit a bit depressing when you realize that business needs will always trump human lives.

[Jeff Brawner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a fun listen. Well, fun is not exactly the best choice of words considering the topic. It only takes a few hours and the reading draws you into the narrative so well. You cannot finish the book without feeling compassion for the common man on the ship, but also have anger toward the captain as well as to the entities (government and corporations) that helped contribute to the disaster.