Jan Heweliusz (ship)
 |
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
.svg){kind=small}
The January Heweliusz was a Polish RoRo railway ferry the Polish Ocean Lines , based in Gdynia ( Gdynia ). The ship sank in the Baltic Sea on January 14, 1993, killing 55 people.
The ship
The Jan Heweliusz was built in 1977 in Brevik (Norway) at the Trosvik Versted A / S shipyard. The ship named after the astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611–1687) was used on the railway ferry connection between Ystad in Sweden and Swinoujscie (Poland). Even with the maiden voyage in July 1977, when the engine suffered damage to its bearings, a never-ending series of breakdowns began that accompanied this ship until it sank in 1993. The first time there was a collision with a quay wall in the port of Ystad in 1977.
In 1978 the Jan Heweliusz got a heavy list for the first time due to an incorrect load . With a lot of luck, the crew managed to stabilize the ship again. In August 1982, capsized the ship a second time after it encounters lying in the harbor of Ystad with seven freight wagons for the transport of cement was probably loaded on one side, and lay there for several months with the left bridge wing at the quay wall. Here, too, it was possible to raise the ship using large cranes, so that it could start operating again in November of the same year. In January 1983 two trucks overturned on the cargo deck that were not or only insufficiently secured. The crew struggled to stabilize the ship. There were several collisions and near-accidents with the port facilities or other ships, such as a Swedish customs boat in 1987.
In September 1986 a fire broke out on board due to a refrigeration unit of a truck, which spread to five other trucks. 23 passengers and part of the crew had to get into the lifeboats , while the other part of the crew was busy with fire fighting. The ship then had to go to the shipyard for repairs.
The downfall
On January 14, 1993, the ship, which was on the way from Swinoujscie to Ystad, sank off the coast of the island of Rügen in hurricane Verena with wind speeds of about 160 km / h and waves up to four meters high. The ferry was loaded with 28 trucks and 10 railroad cars, which were apparently poorly or not at all secured. To 03:28 the crew reported problems with the charge to 4:35 the ship was 30 degrees flip side , the passengers were ordered to the rescue stations. At 4:37 a.m., the first radio call was made asking for immediate help. At 04.45, the crew called “ Mayday ”, the ship was already listing 70 degrees. After the second emergency call at 05.27 a.m., the ship disappeared from the radar screens, at 05.50 a.m. it drifted keel up until it finally sank around 11.00 a.m. 20 nautical miles east of Jasmund .
Despite immediately initiated rescue measures, only nine crew members could be rescued. Based on the passenger lists, it is assumed that 55 people were killed, 35 passengers and 20 crew members from a total of eight countries ( Poland , Sweden , Norway , the Czech Republic , Romania , Hungary , Austria , Yugoslavia ). However, only 37 bodies could be recovered.
In 1999 the Maritime Authority in Gdynia determined that the ship should not have set sail because it was not seaworthy. Problems with the ballast system had become known even before the accident. The cause of the downfall was probably a defective loading gate. The Jan Heweliusz had collided with the quay wall in the Swedish port of Ystad shortly before and was apparently not adequately repaired. Even in perfect condition, the ship should not have set sail due to the approaching storm. In nearby Sassnitz , the German authorities stopped all ferry connections because of the bad weather.
The wreck
The wreck of the Jan Heweliusz was abandoned by the shipping company and had meanwhile become a destination for recreational divers in the Baltic Sea . It is marked with a fired individual danger sign at 54 ° 36 ' N , 14 ° 13' E at a depth of a minimum of 10 to a maximum of 25 meters on its port side and is complete overgrown with the mussels typical of the Baltic Sea . Due to unsuccessful rescue attempts, some parts of the upper deck are in great danger of collapsing. The tailgate has been torn off and is off the ship. Several fatal diving accidents occurred on the wreck .
Insofar as the location of the wreck is close to a busy shipping route, there is a certain risk for ships with greater drafts. As long as the hull still exists as a whole, a rusted, deeply sinking part could push the opposite side upwards. In order to identify possible dangers, the wreck is checked for such changes in altitude at certain intervals. Commissioned by German federal authorities, the survey ship Deneb is on a wreck protection mission in the Baltic Sea with two divers.
Trivia
The identical sister ship, built in 1974, was called Mikolaj Kopernik , after the astronomer Nikolaus Kopernikus . It remained in service until 2009, since June 2008 as Harput under the Turkish flag, and after a long layover it arrived in Aliağa on February 3, 2014 for scrapping .
The documentary series What Really Happened? in 1994 with Hendrik Hey , one of their episodes addressed the misfortune.
Web links
- The sinking of the "Jan Heweliusz" . In: Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), January 14, 2020.
- Datasheet and accident diary of Jan Heweliusz on a Swedish portal page about passenger ships ( memento from April 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- Information about wreck diving on the Jan Heweliusz
supporting documents
- ↑ Ralph Sommer: "Jan Heweliusz" wreck expired: death trap for adventurers . In: Schweriner People's Newspaper . January 27, 2011.
- ↑ Searching for wrecks in the Baltic Sea , 29-minute documentary by Michael Nieberg , broadcast on June 16, 2018 in the series Die Reportage from NDR, accessed June 29, 2018