 Scale model of MSEstonia | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name |
|
| Namesake | Estonia (asEstonia) |
| Owner |
|
| Operator |
|
| Port of registry | |
| Ordered | 11 September 1979 |
| Builder | Meyer Werft,Papenburg,West Germany |
| Yard number | 590 |
| Laid down | 18 October 1979 |
| Launched | 26 April 1980 |
| Completed | 27 April 1980 |
| Acquired | 29 June 1980 |
| In service | 5 July 1980 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Capsized and sank on 28 September 1994 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Cruiseferry |
| Tonnage | |
| Length |
|
| Beam | 24.21 m (79 ft 5 in) |
| Draught | 5.60 m (18 ft 4 in) |
| Decks | 9 |
| Ice class | 1 A |
| Installed power |
|
| Speed | 21.1 knots (39.1 km/h; 24.3 mph) |
| Capacity |
|
MSEstonia was acruiseferry built in 1980 for the Finnish shipping companyRederi Ab Sally byMeyer Werft, inPapenburg,West Germany. She was deployed on ferry routes between Finland and Sweden by various companies (firstViking Line, thenEffJohn) until the end of January 1993, when she was sold toNordström & Thulin for use onEstline's Tallinn–Stockholm route.The ship's sinking on 28 September 1994, in theBaltic Sea between Sweden, Finland and Estonia, was one of the worst peacetimemaritime disasters of the 20th century, claiming 852 lives. An official inquiry found that failure of the locks on the bow visor caused water to flood the car deck and quickly capsize the ship. The report also noted a lack of crew action. A 2023 investigation noted additional construction flaws in the bow visor.[3]
59°23′0″N21°40′0″E / 59.38333°N 21.66667°E /59.38333; 21.66667
The ship was originally ordered from theMeyer Werft shipyard inPapenburg,Germany by a Norwegian shipping company led by Parley Augustsen with intended traffic between Norway and Germany. At the last moment, the company withdrew their order and the contract went toRederi Ab Sally, one of the partners in theViking Line consortium (SF Line, another partner in Viking Line, had also been interested in the ship).[4]
Originally the ship was conceived as a sister ship toDiana II, built in 1979 by the same shipyard forRederi AB Slite, the third partner in Viking Line. When Sally took over the construction contract, the ship was lengthened from the original length of approximately 137 metres (449 ft) to approximately 155 metres (509 ft) and the superstructure of the ship was largely redesigned.[4]
Viking Line received a total of four new ships in 1980 alone, three of which were built for Rederi AB Sally. In addition to theViking Sally, theViking Saga and her sister shipViking Song also entered service in 1980, having been built byWärtsilä (nowAker Finnyards) inTurku, Finland.
Meyer Werft had constructed a large number of ships for various Viking Line partner companies during the 1970s. The construction of theship's bow consisted of an upwards-openingvisor and a car ramp that was placed inside the visor when it was closed. An identical bow construction had also been used inDiana II.[5]
Estonia previously sailed asViking Sally (1980–1990),Silja Star (1990–1991), andWasa King (1991–1993).[citation needed]
On 29 June 1980,Viking Sally was delivered to Rederi Ab Sally, Finland and was put into service on the route betweenTurku,Mariehamn andStockholm[4][6] (during summer 1982 on theNaantali–Mariehamn–Kapellskär route).[7] She was the largest ship to serve on that route at the time. As with many ships,Viking Sally suffered some mishaps during her Viking Line service, being grounded in theÅland Archipelago in May 1984 and suffering some propeller problems in April of the following year. In 1985 she was also rebuilt with a "duck tail".[4][6] In 1986, apassenger was murdered on board. In 1987,another murder and attempted murder took place. The latter remains unsolved.Rederi Ab Sally had been experiencing financial difficulties for most of the 1980s. In late 1987,Effoa andJohnson Line, the owners of Viking Line's main rivalsSilja Line, bought Sally.[8] As a result of this,SF Line andRederi AB Slite forced Sally to withdraw from Viking Line.[4][6][8]Viking Sally was chartered to Rederi AB Slite to continue on her current traffic for the next three years.[4][6][8]
_(cropped).jpg)
When her charter ended in April 1990,Viking Sally had an unusual change of service. She was painted inSilja Line's colours, renamedSilja Star and placed on the same route that she had plied for Viking Line: Turku–Mariehamn–Stockholm.[4][6] The reason for this was that Silja's new ship forHelsinki–Stockholm service was built behind schedule and one of the Turku–Stockholm ships,Wellamo, was transferred to that route until the new ship was complete in November 1990.[9] Also in 1990 Effoa, Johnson Line and Rederi Ab Sally merged into EffJohn.
The following springSilja Star began her service withWasa Line, another company owned by EffJohn. Her name was changed toWasa King and she served on routes connectingVaasa, Finland toUmeå andSundsvall in Sweden.[4][6] It has been reported that theWasa King was widely considered to be the best behaving ship in rough weather to have sailed from Vaasa.
In January 1993, at the same time when EffJohn decided to merge Wasa Line's operations into Silja Line,Wasa King was sold toNordström & Thulin for use onEstline'sTallinn–Stockholm traffic under the nameEstonia. The actual ownership of the ship was rather complex, in order for Nordström & Thulin to get a loan to buy the ship. Although Nordström & Thulin was the company which bought the ship, her registered owner was Estline Marine Co Ltd, Nicosia, Cyprus, which chartered the ship to E.Liini A/S, Tallinn, Estonia (daughter company of Nordström & Thulin andESCO), which in turn chartered the ship to Estline AB. As a result, the ship was actually registered in both Cyprus and Estonia.[4][6]
As the largest Estonian-owned ship of the time, theEstonia symbolized the independence that her namesake regained after the collapse of theSoviet Union.[10]
MSEstonia consisted of 11 decks, counting from the lowest (0) to the highest (10). Passenger facilities were located on decks 6, 5, 4, and 1, while the crew members occupied decks 8 and 7. Decks 2 and 3 were dedicated to cargo.
| 9 | Bridge, sundeck[11] |
| 8 | Crew cabins, sundeck[12][11] |
| 7 | Crew cabins & facilities,sundeck[13] |
| 6 | Restaurant deck –Buffetdining room,à la carte restaurant, bar, outside and inside cabins[14] |
| 5 | Entrance & cafeteria deck –Tax-free shops,cafeteria, snack bar,discotheque, air seats, children's playroom, outside and inside cabins[11][15] |
| 4 | Conference deck – Conference rooms,nightclub, cinema, inside and outside cabins[15] |
| 3 | Car platform[16] |
| 2 | Car deck[16] |
| 1 | Insidecabins,[14]engine room[13] |
| 0 | Sauna, swimming pool,conference rooms[14] |
| Nationalities | Deaths | Survivors | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
 Sweden | 501 | 51 | 552 |
 Estonia | 285 | 62 | 347 |
 Latvia | 23 | 6 | 29 |
 Russia | 11 | 4 | 15 |
 Finland | 10 | 3 | 13 |
 Norway | 6 | 3 | 9 |
 Germany | 5 | 3 | 8 |
 Denmark | 5 | 1 | 6 |
 Lithuania | 3 | 1 | 4 |
 Morocco | 2 | 0 | 2 |
 Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Ukraine | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 United Kingdom | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Belarus | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Canada | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 France | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Nigeria | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 852 | 137 | 989 |
Estonia sank on Wednesday, 28 September 1994, between about 00:50 and 01:50 (UTC+2) as the ship was crossing theBaltic Sea, en route fromTallinn, Estonia, toStockholm, Sweden.
The official report concluded that the bow door had separated from the vessel, pulling the ramp ajar. The ship was already listing because of poor cargo distribution, and the list increased rapidly, flooding the decks and the cabins. Power soon failed altogether, inhibiting search and rescue, and a full-scale emergency was not declared for 90 minutes. Of the 989 on board, 137 were rescued. The report criticised primarily the ship's construction, as well as the passive attitude of the crew, failing to notice that water was entering the vehicle deck, delaying the alarm, and providing minimal guidance from the bridge.
The HBO documentary raised other possibilities for the sinking including a hit or collision with an object of about 1000 tons.
The sinking was one of the worstmaritime disasters of the 20th-century.[17][18] It is one of the deadliest peacetime sinkings of a European ship, after the RMSTitanic (1912) and theRMSEmpress of Ireland (1914), and the deadliest peacetime shipwreck to have occurred in European waters, with 852 lives lost.[19] There are memorials for the event inTallinn andStockholm.[20]
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1994 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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