the sinking of the ms estonia
swallowed by the cold and merciless
baltic sea
enclosed by central and northern
european countries is one of the most
extraordinary and beautiful seas
however
its beauty tends to be treacherous as
the harsh climate in the baltic sea
makes it pretty inhospitable
for centuries the baltic sea has been
infamous among seafarers with a number
of shipwrecks lying on the bottom of the
sea to prove it
in 1994
the stormy waters of the baltic took
away the lives of hundreds of victims
and one of the greatest peacetime
sinkings in the history of europe
welcome to dark history
where we unravel the most disastrous
events in history
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the disaster that shook the continent
and the entire world happened on
september 28 1994
the ship involved was ms estonia
a huge german-built cruise ferry owned
by the swedish estonian s-line marine
shipping company
on that day the ferry carried 989 people
of which 803 were passengers traveling
from tallinn estonia to stockholder
sweden
the ferry departed from talon the day
before on september 27th at 1915.
weather stations forecasted rough
weather on the open sea
nothing unusual for this part of the
year though
despite the slight list to starboard the
captain and his crew had things under
control despite the fact they were
sailing through waves of up to 20 feet
high
six hours after ms estonia left the port
at o121
its radio operator began sending mayday
signals half an hour later the ship
disappeared from radar screens
ms estonia was anything but a small ship
and seemed capable of withstanding the
bad weather at sea
it was built in 1980 in the meyer
wharfed shipyard in pampenburg west
germany
the ship was an 11 deck vessel
515.16 feet in length and with a tonnage
of 15 598 gross tons
it was indeed a huge vessel designed to
accommodate 2000 passengers and 460 cars
ms estonia was a roro type of vessel
short for roll-on roll-off
meaning that the vehicles are driven on
and off the ship on their own wheels via
built-in ramp
before the sinking ms estonia sailed for
14 years under flags of four different
operators
then in january 1993
it was purchased by the s line and
became the largest estonian vessel and a
symbol of the country’s recently
regained independence
for more than a year and a half
ms estonia sailed from talon to
stockholm
it was quite a busy line because estonia
was a popular destination for swedish
tourists
on september 27 1994 the ship was
boarded by 803 passengers around half
the ferry’s capacity
there were also 186 crew members
taking the number of people on board to
989.
when ms estonia left the port at talon
the weather was nice and calm
however once it sailed away from coastal
waters weather conditions began to
change
what ms estonia encountered could be
called rough weather by all means
the wind speed was between 15 and 20
meters per second
on the beaufort windforce scale such
conditions are categorized as moderate
gale but at the same time call for a
warning gale pennant
the waves reached a height of up to 20
feet
just five feet short of the highest
measured wave height on the baltic sea
however it seemed
the weather conditions were still within
the usual bad autumn weather on the
baltic
once ms estonia entered the stormy
waters the passengers began to feel the
disturbances due to the increased
rolling and pitching of the ship
strong wind blowing from the port was
also causing problems as the ship began
to list slightly to starboard
unfortunately it was not only because of
the wind that the ship started to lean
to one side
before departing it was fully loaded
with vehicles and cargo but in such a
way that the weight of the cargo was not
arranged evenly
the ship was leaning to port from the
very first moment of the trip
the strong wind just made it worse
even though an image of a ship leaning
to one side might sound terrifying it
was a common thing in seamanship
it was certainly not the factor that
caused the disaster
but once things began to go bad the
uneven disposition of the cargo did its
part in sinking the ship
despite the bad weather and heavy waves
hitting the port bow
ms estonia was sailing confidently on
its course with the speed of 14 knots
the trip to stockholm lasted 14 hours
and the captain was determined not to be
late even though he departed a couple of
minutes behind schedule
around zero 100 hours a giant wave hit
was followed by a loud metallic bang
coming from the bow
sailors on the storage deck reported it
to the second officer on the watch
who ordered the inspection of the
loading ramp and the visor
ms estonia had a special feature
installed on the bow called the visor
the visor allows the bow to articulate
up and down
similar to visors on motorcycle helmets
allowing access to the loading ramp and
cargo deck
the inspection of the indicator lamps in
the storage deck showed nothing wrong
with neither the visor nor the loading
ramp so the second officer continued the
journey keeping the course at the same
speed
however the loud bang was just the
beginning as the passengers and crew
members reported more unusual sounds in
the following 10 minutes
at 0-115
the second officer ordered a new
inspection
this time there was no need for sailors
to check the indicator lamps as instead
of the visor
there was a massive opening on the bow
the visor detached from hinges
letting the ramp fall open
practically without the bow the water
was rapidly entering the storage deck of
the ship
with tons of sea water in the cargo deck
the ship started to list heavy to
starboard
an alarm was raised immediately and all
four engines were shut down to reduce
the ship’s speed
however there was practically nothing
the crew could do
the listing was unstoppable
in just 15 minutes the ship had rolled
60 degrees and the water was breaching
into upper decks
the passengers were completely confused
about what was going on
the water was rapidly coming from all
holes and the chaos erupted
many passengers withdrew earlier to
their cabins because of the seasickness
they got during the trip
a lot of them failed even to leave their
cabins before the water reached them
those who were alerted by the water and
rolling of the ship started to run and
tried to reach the upper decks
the water was coming in so quickly
though that it closed almost all
accesses to upper decks
at one point due to the breach of the
water
the entire ship lost the electricity
people were trapped in the dark
[Laughter]
those who reached the upper decks began
pushing life rafts and jumping into the
cold water of the baltic sea
the water temperature of 10 degrees
celsius the rain and the turbulent sea
was of no help to those who escaped the
sinking ship
a lot of life rafts were capsized or
swallowed by waves
people were floating in the freezing sea
some of them wearing only light clothes
once everything was over it became
apparent that most of the survivors were
physically strong people
it took a lot of strength to overcome
giant waves in the cold and merciless
baltic sea
at o121
ms estonia sent the first mayday signal
the signal was recorded by the marine
rescue coordinating center at the
finnish city of turku but was very weak
and unclear
at 0-123
ms estonia sent a direct message to
another fairy ms silja europa calling
for help
the third officer behind the radio on ms
estonia reported a bad list and a
blackout and asked for ms silja europa
and other fairies to come to their
assistance
unfortunately
due to the blackout he was unable to
report the exact position of his ship
still the captain of ms silja europa
directed his ship toward ms estonia’s
route
he forwarded the call for help to the
nearest ferry ms mariella
and other ferries in the vicinity and
rescue stations in sweden and finland
the third officer from ms estonia
managed to send his coordinates five
minutes after the first message
59 degrees
22 minutes latitude and 21 degrees 40
minutes longitude east
that was the last message heard from ms
estonia
at that moment
the list was more than 90 degrees with
the starboard side completely submerged
at 0-150
ms estonia disappeared from radar
screens
the ferry sank with the stern going down
first
ms mariella was the first fairy to
arrive at the scene at 0-212 and find
only life rafts scattered all over the
place
by that time
ms estonia was already at the bottom of
the sea
soon
four other ferries arrived including ms
soldier europa whose captain was
assigned to coordinate the rescue
operations
fairies launched life rafts into the
water and used rescue slides to save
people from the cold sea
the first helicopters arrived at 0.305
playing a significant role in saving the
survivors
finnish helicopters transferred them to
land stations while the swedes opted for
a quicker but riskier solution
they used cords to attach the life rafts
and transfer them to ferries on the side
in the end
the decision proved to be on the spot as
a single swedish helicopter saved more
people than all fairies
combined despite the brave effort of
rescuers the final casualty toll was
devastating
on board ms estonia there were 989
people
of which around 310 reached outer decks
half of these succeeded in boarding life
rafts
in the end
rescuers saved only 138 people
the rest died either from drowning or
from hypothermia
around 650 people didn’t manage to leave
the ship and sank along with it
it took less than an hour from the first
loud sound until ms estonia sank
the ship wreckage was later found lying
on the seabed at a depth of 300 meters
its visor was found a quarter of a mile
away
immediately after the disaster joint
accident investigation commission from
estonia finland and sweden was formed
the investigation that lasted for two
and a half years labeled the visor
failure as the reason why ms estonia
sank
as stated in the report the first loud
metallic noise was connected to the
failure of the visor locking mechanism
later sounds were probably a result of
the failure of the rest of the locking
mechanisms
once they all failed
the visor simply detached and left a
massive opening on the bow
allowing the water to come into the
cargo deck
because of the size of the gap on the
bow the water flooded the deck in just a
couple of minutes and incited listing to
starboard
the visor was recovered from the seabed
and subjected to thorough testing to
determine if it had any design flaws
it was determined that under the
condition of the low waves
the strength of the visor along with its
locking mechanism and hinges was
completely adequate
however
the strong waves on september 28 1994
hitting the underside of the visor have
put too much pressure on the locking
devices the deck hinges and the lifting
cylinder mountings
due to the repeating pounding action of
the waves the system simply collapsed
and the visor broke off
similar incidents happen on other
vessels built in the same german
shipyard
a few years before the disaster
ms diana 2 had precisely the same
problem that allowed the water to
ingress into the ship
however
the ferry crew saved the ship by
reducing the vessel’s speed and
returning the ferry to the port
as soon as the final report was
published in 1997
a series of controversies erupted
the first came from the german
manufacturer
who claimed that the visor failure was
not the starting point of the sinking
instead
they claimed the ferry was hold on the
starboard side after which the water
entered the cargo deck
the visor detached only after the deck
was flooded
indeed a 2020 underwater footage of the
shipwreck recorded a 13-foot hole in the
ship’s hull
the rupture was instantly put in
connection with some earlier
controversies regarding the transport of
military equipment
the estonian head of the commission
formed to consider new findings
even claimed the ship had collided with
the submarine
however the latest report labeled the
size of the rupture too small to sink
the ship in less than an hour
the german designer made one more
accusation against the ship owner on
account of improper maintenance of the
visor and ramp mechanisms
for which they provided photographic
evidence
finally it was revealed that the ferry
was not even designed to be used outside
coastal waters
today
17 years past the sinking of ms estonia
controversy still shed light on one of
the greatest fairy disasters since the
sinking of the titanic i hope you found
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