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32-547: MS Estonia was a cruiseferry built in 1980 for the Finnish shipping company Rederi Ab Sally by Meyer Werft , in Papenburg , West Germany . It was employed on ferry routes between Finland and Sweden by various companies (first Viking Line , then EffJohn ) until the end of January 1993, when it was sold to Nordström & Thulin for use on Estline 's Tallinn–Stockholm route. The ship's sinking on 28 September 1994, in

64-640: A European ship, after the RMS Titanic (1912) and the RMS Empress of Ireland (1914), and the deadliest peacetime shipwreck to have occurred in European waters, with 852 lives lost. There is a memorial for the event in Tallinn and Sweden . Cruiseferry A cruiseferry is a ship that combines the features of a cruise ship and a Ro-Pax ferry . Many passengers travel with the ships for

96-401: 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. As

128-581: A mark on the contract with the words "This is the colour we are going to use". All Viking Line's ships were therefore painted in Apollo ' s original red colour that now is so characteristic for Viking Line. During the 1970s and 1980s, ferry traffic between Sweden and Finland expanded heavily. In 1970, Slite's second MS  Apollo was delivered from Jos L Meyer in West Germany. Her sister MS  Diana entered service two years later. Due to

160-422: A route between Simpnäs north of Stockholm and Mariehamn on Åland . In 1964 the company's first purpose built ferry MS  Apollo was delivered. In the early 1960s there was a heavy competition from several companies on the route Sweden - Åland. This led to a cooperation between Slite and Rederi Ab Vikinglinjen , which later became a part of Rederi Ab Sally . In 1966 the marketing company Viking Line

192-587: 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 Viking Saga and her sister ship Viking Song also entered service in 1980, having been built by Wärtsilä (now Aker Finnyards ) in Turku , Finland. Meyer Werft had constructed a large number of ships for various Viking Line partner companies during the 1970s. The construction of

224-580: The Baltic Sea between Sweden, Finland and Estonia, was one of the worst peacetime maritime 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. 59°23′0″N 21°40′0″E  /  59.38333°N 21.66667°E  / 59.38333; 21.66667 The ship

256-678: The Europa when their bank Nordbanken , which at the time had large sums invested in Slite's main rival Silja Line , withdrew their loan guarantees. After the loss of Europa , Slite had lost over 550 million SEK within two years, 200 million due to the increased costs for the Kalypso and 350 million lost in advance payments for the Europa . Consequently, Slite was declared bankrupt in April 1993. All Slite's ships were sold by compulsory auction after

288-519: The MS ; Viking Saga . In October 1987 Rederi Ab Sally was sold to Effoa , the main owner of rival company Silja Line. The situation of having the main competitor owning 33% of Viking Line became untenable and Sally's shares of Viking Line were sold to Slite and SF Line. Sally's remaining ship in Viking Line service, the Viking Sally , was chartered to Slite for the next three years. Around

320-591: The North Atlantic . Cruiseferries also operate from India , China and Australia . In the northern Baltic Sea, two major rival companies, Viking Line and Silja Line , have for decades competed on the routes between Turku and Helsinki in Finland and Sweden 's capital Stockholm . Since the 1990s Tallink has also risen as a major company in the area, culminating with acquisition of Silja Line in 2006. The term "cruiseferry" did not come into use until

352-494: The Wasa 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 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

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384-469: The ship's bow consisted of an upwards-opening visor and a car ramp that was placed inside the visor when it was closed. An identical bow construction had also been used in Diana II . Estonia previously sailed as Viking Sally (1980–1990), Silja Star (1990–1991), and Wasa King (1991–1993). On 29 June 1980, Viking Sally was delivered to Rederi Ab Sally, Finland and was put into service on

416-440: The 1980s, although it has been retroactively applied to earlier ferries that have large cabin capabilities and public spaces in addition to their car- and passenger-carrying capacity. Rederi AB Slite Rederi AB Slite was founded by Carl Bertil Myrsten together with his siblings Inga Gattberg, Sven Myrsten and Lars Myrsten in 1947. The oldest brother Robert Myrsten had his own shipping company Rederi AB Robert Myrsten and

448-454: The bankruptcy. SF Line made bids on the Athena and the Kalypso but lost them to the heavily investing Malaysian cruise company Star Cruises . SF Line became the sole owner of Viking Line and changed its name to Viking Line Ab. After the auction of Slite's ships and other assets, it became clear that the bankruptcy was unnecessary. All the debts could be paid for with the money gained from

480-578: The cruise experience, staying only a few hours at the destination port or not leaving the ship at all, while others use the ships as means of transportation. Cruiseferry traffic is mainly concentrated in the seas of Northern Europe , especially the Baltic Sea and the North Sea . However, similar ships traffic across the English Channel as well as the Irish Sea , Mediterranean and even on

512-507: The early 1980s. Despite having the big Viking Sally on the Stockholm - Turku route plus two new large ships on the capital route between Stockholm and Helsinki, Sally was not able to invest in more new ships. This left a spot open for Slite and SF Line to take over the capital route. In 1986, Slite's MS  Olympia , at the time the largest passenger ferry in the world, was put into service between Stockholm and Helsinki, replacing Sally's

544-570: The increasing internal competition between the three companies within Viking Line, the original route between Kapellskär and Naantali was clogged with Viking Line ships during the first years of the 1970s. The companies tried new routes for their increasing fleets. Rederi Ab Sally and SF Line started traffic between Stockholm and Turku , and Sally also acquired two ships for the Stockholm- Helsinki route. Slite in turn chose to start 24-hour cruises between Stockholm and Mariehamn with

576-595: The largest Estonian-owned ship of the time, the Estonia symbolized the independence that her namesake regained after the collapse of the Soviet Union . 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. Estonia sank on Wednesday, 28 September 1994, between about 00:50 and 01:50 ( UTC+2 ) as

608-620: The order of the Europa was signed, the Finnish shipyard Wärtsilä Marine went bankrupt. Wärtsilä had built the Athena for Slite and was about to finish her sister, the Kalypso . The bankruptcy resulted in an increased cost for the Kalypso , about 200 million SEK . Matters became worse when the Swedish krona was allowed to float in the autumn of 1992. Because of this, the almost finished Europa built in Germany, suddenly became 500 million SEK more expensive. Slite became unable to pay for

640-513: The route between Turku , Mariehamn and Stockholm (during summer 1982 on the Naantali –Mariehamn– Kapellskär route). 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 the Åland Archipelago in May 1984 and suffering some propeller problems in April of the following year. In 1985 she

672-602: The same time, SF Line and Slite ordered new ships again. Slite's MS  Athena  (1989) replaced the Apollo III in 1989 and by 1990 it was time for the Viking Sally to be replaced with Athena's sister, the MS  Kalypso . The Olympia was scheduled for replacement in 1993 when the jewel of the company's crown, the world's largest passenger ferry, MS  Europa was to be delivered. The timing of ordering of new expensive cruise ferries couldn't have been worse for Rederi AB Slite. In October 1989, just weeks after

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704-475: The ship sales. It has been speculated that Nordbanken did everything they could to break Slite in order to help their financially poor Silja Line. In March 1993 the Europa entered service for Silja Line as the Silja Europa . The company was then forced to sell all of its fleet. One of their largest vessels (MS Olympia ) was sold to Irish Continental Group and chartered out to P&O Ferries where it

736-420: The ship was crossing the Baltic Sea , en route from Tallinn , Estonia, to Stockholm , 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

768-435: The ship). Originally the ship was conceived as a sister ship to Diana II , built in 1979 by the same shipyard for Rederi 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. Viking Line received

800-515: The venerable SS Svea Jarl , purchased in 1976 from Silja Line and renamed SS  Apollo III . To finance the purchase, the 1970-built Apollo was sold. In 1979, Diana was replaced by the new building MS  Diana II . For a couple of years, Diana II serviced on the Stockholm-Turku route but Sally pushed her back to Kapellskär-Naantali with their bigger MS  Viking Sally . Economic difficulties plagued Rederi Ab Sally in

832-474: Was also rebuilt with a "duck tail". In 1986, a passenger 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 and Johnson Line , the owners of Viking Line's main rivals Silja Line , bought Sally. As a result of this, SF Line and Rederi AB Slite forced Sally to withdraw from Viking Line. Viking Sally

864-655: 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. Also in 1990 Effoa, Johnson Line and Rederi Ab Sally merged into EffJohn. 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. It has been reported that

896-475: Was chartered to Rederi AB Slite to continue on her current traffic for the next three years. When her charter ended in April 1990, Viking Sally had an unusual change of service. She was painted in Silja Line 's colours, renamed Silja Star and placed on the same route that she had plied for Viking Line: Turku–Mariehamn–Stockholm. The reason for this was that Silja's new ship for Helsinki –Stockholm service

928-509: Was founded and by now Ålandsfärjan Ab , later SF Line , had joined the cooperation. Viking Line initially had three ships, Ålandsfärjan Ab's SS  Ålandsfärjan , Vikinglinjen's SS  Viking and Slite's Apollo . Since the name of the marketing company came from one of the other founding companies, Carl Bertil Myrsten demanded that the colour of Viking Line's ships would originate from his company. The discussion regarding colour ended when Inga Gattberg took her favourite lip stick and made

960-427: 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 maritime disasters of the 20th-century. It is one of the deadliest peacetime sinkings of

992-415: Was not part of Rederi AB Slite. The Myrsten family, from Slite on the island of Gotland , had been in the shipping business since 1867, when Johan Niclas Myrsten founded the dynasty. In mid-1950s two newbuilt cargo ships , MS  Slite and MS  Boge were delivered to Slite. In 1959 and 1961 respectively they were rebuilt to be able to load cars and take passengers. These ships were then put on

MS Estonia - Misplaced Pages Continue

1024-525: Was originally ordered from 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

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