Mikhail Lermontov at Tilbury in 1983 |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Mikhail Lermontov |
| Namesake: | Mikhail Lermontov |
| Owner: | Baltic Shipping Company |
| Operator: | Baltic Shipping Company |
| Port of registry: | Soviet Union, Leningrad |
| Builder: | V.E.B. Mathias-Thesen Werft Wismar, East Germany |
| Yard number: | 129 |
| Launched: | 31 December 1970 |
| Acquired: | 18 March 1972 |
| In service: | 21 April 1972 |
| Identification: | IMO number: 7042318 |
| Fate: | Sank 16 February 1986 near Marlborough Sounds |
| Notes: | [1][2] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Ivan Franko class passenger liner |
| Tonnage: | 19,872 gross register tons (GRT) |
| Displacement: | 4,956 metric tons deadweight (DWT) |
| Length: | 175.77 m (576 ft 8 in) |
| Beam: | 23.60 m (77 ft 5 in) |
| Draught: | 7.80 m (25 ft 7 in) |
| Depth: | 13.50 m (44 ft 3 in) |
| Installed power: | 2×7-cylinder Sulzer-Cegielski diesels combined 15666 kW |
| Propulsion: | Two propellers |
| Speed: | 20 kn (37.04 km/h; 23.02 mph) service speed |
| Range: | 8,000 mi (13,000 km) |
| Capacity: | 1334 passengers (maximum) 700 passengers (cruise service) |
| Crew: | 347 |
| Notes: | [1][2][3] |
MS Mikhail Lermontov was an ocean liner owned by the Soviet Union's Baltic Shipping Company, built in 1972 by V.E.B. Mathias-Thesen Werft, Wismar, East Germany. She was later converted into a cruise ship. On February 16, 1986 she ran aground on rocks near Port Gore in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand, and sank, resulting in the death of one crew member.
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MS Mikhail Lermontov, launched in 1972, was the last of the five "poet" ships: Ivan Franko, Taras Shevchenko, Alexandr Pushkin (now Marco Polo), Shota Rustaveli and Mikhail Lermontov, named after famous Ukrainian, Georgian and Russian writers (Ivan Franko and Taras Shevchenko being Ukrainian, and Shota Rustaveli being Georgian), built to the same design at V.E.B. Mathias-Thesen Werft, Wismar, East Germany. Mikhail Lermontov, born 1814 and died 1841, was known as the "poet of Caucasus."
MS Mikhail Lermontov was originally used as an ocean liner on the Leningrad—New York run.[4] However, the Soviet government realised that there was more money to be made by converting her to a cruise ship, and the accommodation and facilities on board were significantly improved during the 1970s.
On February 16, 1986, Mikhail Lermontov was cruising in New Zealand for the CTC cruise company. On that day she left Picton for the Marlborough Sounds, carrying mostly elderly Australian passengers. The Picton pilot, Captain Don Jamieson (who was also Picton harbourmaster), piloted the ship out of Picton. His presence, and his knowledge of the area, should have assured the safety of MS Mikhail Lermontov.
However, Jamieson believed that the passage at Cape Jackson was nearly twice as wide as it actually was, and that there were no dangerous rocks or reefs in the passage. Operating without a chart, Jamison proceeded towards Cape Jackson.
Hugging the shoreline to give the Australian passengers a good view of the area, Jamieson continued towards the cape. About one mile from the cape, Jamieson made the decision to take MS Mikhail Lermontov through the passage. A Russian officer tried to discourage Jamieson, but the harbour master assured him it would be fine.
Captain Jamieson had earlier in the day been consuming quantities of beer and vodka that contributed to the sinking.
At 5.37 pm, travelling at 15 knots, Mikhail Lermontov struck rocks about 5.5 m below the waterline on her port side. Water poured up into the decks, and the seriously damaged ship limped towards Port Gore. Jamieson hoped he could beach the ship to stop it floating out to sea.
Jamieson beached Mikhail Lermontov successfully, but lowering the anchors to keep her there was impossible as the electricity in the ship had failed. As a result, the ship drifted into deeper waters. Water-tight doors were broken open by the pressure of the sea water gushing into the ship. Mikhail Lermontov was doomed.
As was common in the Soviet Union, the top priority in catastrophes was avoiding negative publicity, even at the cost of human life, hence no distress signal was sent to the local authorities, and rescue ships, seeing that Mikhail Lermontov was in trouble, were gruffly told that their assistance was not required. Fortunately, the rescue ships knew that their assistance was required, and stood by to evacuate the passengers.
By 8.30 pm, many passengers were being loaded on to these rescue ships of their own accord, but the Russian crew refused to disembark. The passengers were put onto several ships in the area, including the LPG tanker, MV Tarihiko, (Capt Reedman) and the SeaRail road-rail ferry Arahura (Capt John Brew).
As darkness set in, Wellington Radio ordered all passengers to disembark as MS Mikhail Lermontov listed further to starboard. Within 20 minutes of the last passenger being rescued, the ship had disappeared completely. Crew member Pavel Zagladimov died, while 11 of those rescued had minor injuries.[5]
MS Mikhail Lermontov rests where she sank, lying on her starboard side at depths ranging about 38 m in. It is popular with Scuba divers and the site is served by local dive shops in Picton and Kaikoura.[6] It is also one of the biggest diveable ship wrecks in the world[7]. The dives range from easy 12 to 18m dives around the wreck, to penetration and decompression dives to depths of 36m. It is possible to swim inside the ship, although care must be taken and guides familiar with the wreck are highly recommended. Three divers are known to have died while exploring the ship, including one diver whose body is still possibly trapped inside.[8]
O'Connor Tom. Death of a Cruise Ship. Cape Catley Ltd, Whatamango Bay, Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand 1999.
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