MS Estonia
Scale model of MS Estonia
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History | |
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Name |
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Namesake | Estonia (as Estonia) |
Owner |
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Operator |
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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 |
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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 |
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Speed | 21.1 knots (39.1 km/h; 24.3 mph) |
Capacity |
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MS Estonia was a
59°23′0″N 21°40′0″E / 59.38333°N 21.66667°E
Construction
The ship was originally ordered the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, 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 to Rederi Ab Sally, one of the partners in the Viking Line consortium (SF Line, another partner in Viking Line, had also been interested in the ship).[3]
Originally the ship was conceived as a sister ship to
Viking Line received a total of four new ships in 1980 alone, three of which were built for Rederi AB Sally. In addition to the Viking Sally, the
Meyer Werft had constructed a large number of ships for various Viking Line partner companies during the 1970s. The construction of the
Service history
Estonia previously sailed as Viking Sally (1980–1990), Silja Star (1990–1991), and Wasa King (1991–1993).[citation needed]
Viking Line
On 29 June 1980, Viking Sally was delivered to Rederi Ab Sally, Finland and was put into service on the route between
Silja Line
When her charter ended in April 1990, Viking Sally had an unusual change of service. She was painted in
The following spring Silja Star began her service with Wasa Line, another company owned by EffJohn. Her name was changed to Wasa King and she served on routes connecting Vaasa, Finland to Umeå and Sundsvall in Sweden.[3][5] It has been reported that the Wasa King was widely considered to be the best behaving ship in rough weather to have sailed from Vaasa.
Estline
In January 1993, at the same time when EffJohn decided to merge Wasa Line's operations into Silja Line, Wasa King was sold to Nordström & Thulin for use on Estline's Tallinn–Stockholm traffic under the name Estonia. 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 and ESCO), which in turn chartered the ship to Estline AB. As a result, the ship was actually registered in both Cyprus and Estonia.[3][5]
As the largest Estonian-owned ship of the time, the Estonia symbolized the independence that her namesake regained after the collapse of the Soviet Union.[9]
Decks and facilities
MS Estonia 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.
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Plans of the decks 0 to 5, as the tank deck
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Plans of the decks 6 to 10
As Viking Sally
9 | Bridge, sundeck[10]
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8 | Crew cabins, sundeck[11][10] |
7 | Crew cabins & facilities, sundeck[12]
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6 | Restaurant deck – Buffet dining room, à la carte restaurant, bar, outside and inside cabins[13] |
5 | Entrance & cafeteria deck – |
4 | Conference deck – Conference rooms, nightclub, cinema, inside and outside cabins[14] |
3 | Car platform[15] |
2 | Car deck[15]
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1 | Inside cabins,[13] engine room[12] |
0 | conference rooms[13]
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Sinking
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 (
, 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 sinking was one of the worst
See also
- List of RORO vessel accidents
- List of accidents and disasters by death toll
- List of shipwrecks in 1994
- Estonia (TV series), 2023 Finnish television series about the sinking of the ferry
References
- ^ "M/F Estonia". The ferry site. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
- ^ a b Final report on the capsizing on 28 September 1994 in the Baltic Sea of the Ro-Ro passenger vessel MN Estonia, Chapter 3: The vessel. The Joint Accident Investigation Commission of Estonia, Finland and Sweden, December 1997.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Wasa King" (in Swedish). Vasabåtarna.se. Retrieved 29 October 2007.
- ^ Chapter 11.3 – The DIANA II incident, archived from the original on 2 June 2001
- ^ a b c d e f g "M/S Viking Sally" (in Swedish). Fakta om Fartyg. Retrieved 29 October 2007.
- ^ "Viking Sally schedules 1980–1990" (in Finnish). FCBS Forum. Retrieved 29 October 2007.
- ^ a b c "Simplon Postcards: Viking Sally – Wasa King – Silja Star – Estonia". Retrieved 28 September 2014.
- ^ "MS Wellamo (1986)" (in Swedish). Fakta om Fartyg. Retrieved 29 October 2007.
- ^ "The Sinking of the Estonia." Surviving Disaster.[1] BBC.[dead link]
- ^ a b c "Viking Sally deck plan". Viking Line brochure (in Finnish, Swedish, and English). Vasabåtarna.se. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
- ^ "General arrangement". www.estoniaferrydisaster.net. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- ^ a b "Viking Sally General Arrangement plan". Vasabåtarna.se. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
- ^ a b c "Viking Sally Restaurant deck 6 plan". Viking Line brochure (in Swedish and Finnish). Vasabåtarna.se. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
- ^ a b "Viking Sally Conference deck 4 plan". Viking Line brochure (in Swedish and Finnish). Vasabåtarna.se. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
- ^ a b "Viking Sally cutaway". Viking Line brochure (in Swedish, Finnish, and English). Vasabåtarna.se. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
- S2CID 38587050.
- ISBN 978-3-540-43973-8.
- ERR. 8 October 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- ^ "There are memorials to the Estonia in both Tallinn and Stockholm". Sites of Memory: Historical Markers, Memorials, Monuments, and Cemeteries. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
Cited sources
- Whittingham, Robert B. (2004). "Design errors". The Blame Machine: why human error causes accidents. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 0-7506-5510-0.
- Final report on the MV ESTONIA disaster of 28 September 1994, Helsinki: Joint Accident Investigation Commission, 1997, archived from the original on 2 June 2001
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