MS Jan Heweliusz

IMO: 7527904

By Jan Hevelius was a Polish Ro-Ro train ferry Polskie line Oceaniczne based in Gdynia. The ship sank on 14 January 1993 in the Baltic Sea, where 55 people lost their lives.

The ship

It was built by Jan Hevelius in 1977 at the shipyard Trosvik Verksted in Brevik, Norway. Named after the astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687) was the ship used on the rail ferry between Ystad, southern Sweden and Swinoujscie. Even with the maiden voyage in July 1977, when a bearing failure occurred on the machine, began a never-ending series of mishaps that accompanied this ship until his demise in 1993. For the first time there was in 1977 in a collision with a quay wall in the port of Ystad.

In 1978, by Jan Heweliusz got heavy list due to failure loading for the first time. With luck, the crew managed to stabilize the ship. In August 1982, the ship capsized a second time after it was believed to have been loaded firmly lying in the harbor of Ystad with seven freight cars for the transport of cement on one side, and lay there for several months with the left bridge wing on the quay wall. Again, it was possible by means of large cranes, the ship up again so that it could again begin operations in November of the same year. In January 1983, two overturned truck on the cargo deck, which were not or only insufficiently secured. The crew struggled to stabilize the ship. Several times it came to collisions and near-misses with the port facilities or other ships as a Swedish Customs boat in 1987.

In September 1986, there came on board a fire by a cooling unit of a truck, which expanded to five other trucks. 23 passengers and part of the crew had to go into the lifeboats, while the other part of the crew was busy unloading operations. The ship was then forced to repair in the shipyard.

The Downfall

On 14 January 1993, the ship was on its way from Swinoujscie to Ystad sank off the coast of the island of Rügen in the hurricane Verena at wind speeds of about 160 km / h and up to four meters high waves. The ferry was loaded with 28 trucks and 10 rail cars that were obviously poorly or not at all. To 03.28 clock, the crew reported problems with the charge to 04.35 clock got the ship 30 degrees list, the passengers were ordered to the rescue stations. To 04.37 clock the first paging with the request was issued for immediate help. 04.45 clock called the occupation " Mayday", the ship had already been there 70 degree list. After the second emergency call at 05.27 clock the ship disappeared from radar screens at 05.50 clock was driven bottom up, until it finally sank around 11.00 clock 20 nautical miles east of Jasmund.

Despite immediately initiated rescue operations only nine crew members were rescued. Due to the passenger lists is believed that 55 people were killed, 35 passengers and 20 crew members from eight countries (Poland, Sweden, Norway, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Yugoslavia ). However, only 37 bodies were recovered.

1999 noted the Maritime Office in Gdynia, that the ship should not have run out, as it was not seaworthy. Even before the disaster became known problems with the ballast system. Cause of the sinking was probably a defective loading gate. By Jan Hevelius had recently collided in the Swedish port of Ystad with the quay wall and appears to have been set inadequately repaired. Even in perfect condition, the ship should not have put to sea because of the gathering storm. In nearby Sassnitz ferry were all canceled due to the bad weather of the German authorities.

The wreck

The wreck Ján Heweliusz was abandoned by the shipping company and has become a popular target of recreational divers in the Baltic Sea. It is marked with black / red / black light buoy at 54 ° 36 ' N, 14 ° 13' O54.614.216666666667 in a minimum of 10 to a maximum depth of 25 meters on its port side and is completely covered with the typical for the Baltic Sea mussels. Due to unsuccessful attempts to salvage some parts of the upper deck heavily in danger of collapsing. The tailgate is demolished and is located off of the ship.

Trivia

The identical sister ship was built in 1974 Mikolaj Kopernik, after the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. It remained until 2009 in service since June 2008 Harput Turkish flag and met after a long Aufliegezeit on February 3, 2014 scrapped in Aliağa one.