diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index c0bf7ddaa..66bf5963b 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -161,6 +161,8 @@ Fixed bugs:
 
 * > 1 ssh invocations to a given host would fail. Bugzilla report 36207.
 
+* EmailTask was eating SMTP error messages. Bugzilla report 37547.  
+
 Other changes:
 --------------
 * New task <manifestclasspath> converts a path into a property
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/email/EmailTask.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/email/EmailTask.java
index c17855705..c5971481a 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/email/EmailTask.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/email/EmailTask.java
@@ -529,12 +529,13 @@ public class EmailTask extends Task {
             log("Sent email with " + count + " attachment"
                  + (count == 1 ? "" : "s"), Project.MSG_INFO);
         } catch (BuildException e) {
-            log("Failed to send email", Project.MSG_WARN);
+            Throwable t = e.getCause() == null ? e : e.getCause();
+            log("Failed to send email: " + t.getMessage(), Project.MSG_WARN);
             if (failOnError) {
                 throw e;
             }
         } catch (Exception e) {
-          log("Failed to send email", Project.MSG_WARN);
+          log("Failed to send email: " + e.getMessage(), Project.MSG_WARN);
           if (failOnError) {
             throw new BuildException(e);
           }