She is at a loss as to where to begin. She says the Coast Guard should have inspected the ships more thoroughly and enforced those inspections. The entire maritime system, she said, appears to be geared toward keeping the old ships at sea in the name of protecting the jobs of American seamen and shipyard workers. They have been kind to us, but they are supposed to yell and scream for the safety of their men. I can't blame them in one sense.
Jobs are scarce.
If the unions shut down a lot of these old ships, their members lose jobs. She said the companies should equip the men with survival suits that protect against hypothermia, which killed most of the men on the Marine Electric. They don't have to keep running these ships into the ground. You can't do that. That's not the right way.