Reflections from a Captain, a Scholar, and a Fellow Mariner
Rachel Slade’s Into the Raging Sea is more than a book. It’s a reckoning.
This deeply researched and powerfully written account of the loss of the El Faro and her crew of 33 American mariners is one of the most important sea stories of our time. It is both a tribute to those who were lost and a call to all of us in the industry to lead better, train better, and never look the other way.
I’ve spent more than 30 years making a career on and near the Atlantic Ocean. I’ve seen storms, mistakes, near misses, and heroism. As a doctoral candidate researching virtuous leadership, human flourishing, and resilience in high-risk industries, I can say this with conviction: Into the Raging Sea should be required reading for every leader responsible for lives, vessels, and decisions under pressure.
Slade unpacks the tragedy with precision and deep empathy. The storm itself is terrifying, but the most chilling element isn’t nature—it’s culture. The culture aboard the El Faro—and within the company—was hierarchical, brittle, and fearful. It rewarded silence and punished dissent, ultimately leaving good mariners with no safe path to speak up.
In my research, I focus on how virtuous leadership transforms brittle organizations into resilient ones. Slade shows us what happens when leadership fails—when virtue is replaced by control, when authority replaces prudence, and when the humanity of the worker is ignored in favor of metrics and margins.
These 33 mariners deserved more than what they were given. They deserved leaders with courage and justice. They deserved a culture where truth could surface, where concerns were met with action, not dismissal.
To the families of the El Faro crew: we see you. We remember. And in the work we do every day—in classrooms, on the water, in the boardroom—we carry their legacy forward.
Slade didn’t just write a sea story. She wrote a warning. And for those of us who lead, she handed us a guide.