The Sinking: Part I

The Sewol after Salvage in 2017*

On April 16, 2014, my husband and I were sitting in a restaurant in the Myeongdong neighborhood of Seoul eating bibimbap for lunch. The large screen TV was tuned to the news, which we ignored because neither one of us spoke any Korean then and now only enough to be polite and get around. We had still not quite gotten the hang of Seoul; otherwise, we would not have been there: Myeongdong is not our type of place (mostly American retail outlets), and bibimbap is nothing to write home about. Suddenly, everyone in the restaurant stopped what they were doing and became very quiet. All eyes were focused on the TV, and while I couldn't understand what was being said, I could see from the video footage being played that a ship of some kind had sunk in one of the seas that surround the Korea peninsula. 

Later in the day, an aunt contacted me on Messenger to ask if I was okay. It took me a minute to connect the dots between what I had seen on the TV and her concern, but, when I did, I looked up the accident to read that everyone had survived the capsizing of the Sewol Ferry and assured her that if we decided to visit Jeju (the Riviera of South Korea), we could get there faster via the bullet train. 

Everyone survived. I read it with my own two eyes on CNN. 

Except it was a lie. 

The next day, we learned that of 476 passengers and crew members, 304 people died. About 250 of those people were students on a field trip sponsored by Danwon High School in Ansan City, a suburb between Incheon to the west and Seoul to the east. I thought I had simply misunderstood the reports. I had not, but more on that in Part II. 

Not only did most of the passengers die; their deaths were preventable. 

To assert that mistakes were made is an understatement of a magnitude I can't begin to address in the time and space I have. Like any good technical writer, I'll highlight the most important events as they unfolded with bullet points. 

• 1994. A-Line Ferry, a Japanese company, commissions Ferry Naminoue. 
• 2012. Chonghaejin Marine purchased the ferry at the behest of its board members, including Yoo Byung-eun. Despite the fact the company made illegal and dangerous modifications to the vessel, it passed inspection. 
• 2013-2014. The Sewol was registered to carry a maximum of 937 tons with 1703 tons of ballast water after the modifications had been made. 
• However, the company added 37 tons of marble to the gallery room at the bridge deck at the back of the ship. 
• Captain Shin, a regular captain on the Sewol, had repeatedly warned his superiors that the ferry was frequently overloaded with unsecured cargo and that crews were compensating for the extra weight by pumping out the ballast water. They threatened to terminate his employment if he continued to complain. 
• The Sewol made a total of 241 trips between Incheon and Jeju and back, making the 264-mile run (about 13.5 hours each way) three times a week, leaving Incheon in the evening to arrive at Jeju in the morning. Chonghaejin Marine spent a total of ₩ 2,600 on annual training. That's the equivalent of $2.60 US. In other words, the company spent a few dollars on ink, paper, and laminating to post "training certificates" throughout the ship. There was no training. 
• To make matters worse, cargo was hardly ever secured as required.

Incoming Tangent. My dad served in the Navy, so bear with me while I talk ballast, a concept he taught me because I'm furiously curious and needed to know why water was stored under my grandparents' speedboat. It's sort of an irony that the hulls of ships need to be pumped with water to keep from keeling over, but larger vessels (and much smaller speedboats) need ballast water to keep their center of gravity low so they aren't buoyant enough to tip over because water (unlike a solid) will always seek to maintain equilibrium. There are pumps on every large ship that can pump water in and out as the weight of the ship changes during stops to load/unload cargo and passengers. Dad also taught me that the way to remember port=left is that they both have four letters. Starboard=right. The bow is the reference point for determining port and starboard, and aren't you glad you know that now? Tangent Concluded. 

At 9:00 p.m. KST on April 15, this 20-year old renovated vessel set sail from Incheon with 2,143 tons of cargo (remember it was restricted to 937) with 476 passengers and crew (325 of whom were Danwon students) and 761 tons of ballast, which was supposed to be a minimum of 1703 tons. Included in the extra weight, was 37 tons of marble used to decorate the gallery room at the back of the ferry added after the initial inspection determining the weight and ballast restrictions. Ballast water had been pumped out so inspectors wouldn't notice the extra cargo. In other words, there was way too much weight on the ship and not nearly enough ballast to support it. 

At around 7:30 a.m. the next day, the captain went to his quarters and left two crew members in charge of navigation. At about this time they entered the Maenggol Channel. The channel, which has strong currents and is surrounded by shallow areas, is not easy to navigate even under what was reported to be the best of circumstances. Breakfast was being served in the cafeteria: recovered CCTV shows happy people socializing. 

The third mate and the helmsman gave conflicting testimony about what happened in the channel. Based on their statements, this is what I think. The third mate ordered the helmsperson to make a couple of right (starboard) turns to set the course of the ship straight through the channel. She realized that the ship was heading too far starboard and ordered the helmsperson to make a five-degree turn in "the opposite direction." That's not and officially sanctioned command, so he got confused and made yet another 5-degree starboard turn instead of a turn to port. For a ship that measured 2,398 feet in length with a much higher center of gravity than at which it was supposed to be operating, 15 degrees is a massive turn that is difficult to correct. The unsecured cargo slid to the left, as you should be able to see from the photo. That may seem counterintuitive but think of it this way: I would estimate that the curve in I-40 between my hometown and another town about 15 miles away heading west is about 15 degrees. In our Subaru, I can manage it at 75 m.p.h. without any problems. In my truck, with a much higher center of gravity, well, let's just say that the entire contents of a Starbucks trenta black iced tea (no water, no classic) and full open bag of wasabi peas ended up in the passenger floorboard one time I tried to go around that curve at the speed limit. The stuff in your vehicle, like the water in the ballast wants to maintain its equilibrium, so it will lean in the opposite direction from the curve you're taking. 

In fact, within minutes, the ferry was leaning 30 degrees to port. To put this in perspective, if you go from standing straight up to suddenly leaning 30 degrees to your left, you're headed for the ground. Human bodies get 20 degrees to self-correct; a top-heavy ship, which is exactly what the Sewol was, can capsize at 10 degrees. 

Sleeping crew members were suddenly thrown against the walls of their quarters, at which point they all ran to the bridge. The captain ordered the communications officer to instruct passengers to shelter in place, repeatedly, even as he was planning his own escape by helicopter. At no point was anyone told to put on a life jacket, start moving toward lifeboats, put on more clothing to dive into the channel to stay warm. Nothing. Just stay where you are. Survivors reported that water was flooding their cabins while this message continued. 

The first person to call South Korea's version of 911 (which is 119) at 8:52 a.m. came from Choi Duk-ha, one of the students from Danwon. He was connected to the Korean Coast Guard (KCG) at 8:54. He was able to give the location of the ferry and a description of the circumstances. 

He did not survive. 

Fishing boats and other commercial ships arrived on the scene 40 minutes before the KCG to rescue people who instinctively jumped into the water. The captain and other members of the crew evacuated via helicopter even as the message to stay put was still going out over the intercom system. For thinking only of themselves, he and one other crew member were charged with murder and are serving life without parole. And there was much public outcry regarding the KCG's lackadaisical response. A child tried to save others, and the best the government could do was arrive 40 minutes later? It made no sense. It makes no sense. 

I write this four days after SCOTUS rolled back the doctrine known as "Good Neighbor" or "Chevron." This rollback effectively reduces the power of the EPA to regulate smokestack emissions, putting decisions into the hands of mostly conservative, unelected judges (who are not environmental experts) to interpret laws that are often open ended. The ruling opens the way for rolling back other agencies' abilities to regulate other types of environmental dangers. We're talking about people here, not owls, as one of our former presidents disingenuously and compactly framed the real issue. And I say that as someone who cares about owls every bit as much as I care about human beings. People are misled my these oversimplifications: one Twitter user naively posted to an account I follow that it would not be in a company's best interest to poison their consumers.

He should tell that to the families of the 304 people aboard the Sewol who were simply collateral damage to Chonghaejin Marine. 

This isn't just familial trauma. It's generational, cultural, and even international. There was a time when I felt detached from tragedies like this because people far away are abstractions in our minds, but I'm taking them personally now. It's not just about the people I love being in harm's way. It's about the love I have for the stranger who does not want their loved ones subjected to the aberrant will of corporations and corrupt governments supplanting our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Stay tuned for Part II, where I discuss sects, lies, and censorship...or not. This is heavy stuff. 

And now for the "Like, Subscribe, and Follow" portion of the "content." I'm not interested in making money, but it's really hard to keep writing when I feel like no one is reading. If you appreciate my stories, please leave a comment, if it's nothing more than a thank you or "I didn't know about this." It helps. And the beauty of a blog is that it can, one day, grow into a collection of publishable essays. 

Be kind. Love y'all!

*"2017 MV Sewol in Mokpo New Port" by Trainholic is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.