Rochelle Hamm’s husband died in the sinking of El Faro amid Hurricane Joaquin in 2015. This strong woman is turning her grief into power.
“My husband was a family man, he was a fun guy,” Rochelle said. “Everyone loved him. And still to this day, he’s all everybody talk about.”
Each day, she is reminded of him by a green hard hat with his name “FRANK” on it; she identified it as his handwriting. The hat was found two months after Frank’s disappearance. To this day, Rochelle keeps the hat, still encrusted with sand and dried seaweed, in a bag next to her bed.
Rochelle is advocating for Hamm Alert, a new safety system that will keep ships in port during major storms. “When there’s a blizzard and it snows and all these things up north, there are no planes flying out,” she said. “I want the same thing to happen in the shipping industry.”
