I remember this as a 5 year old kid. I lived in a small village outside Stockholm. I head 800+ people died which is more than the village itself. I cried for days cause I thought every human died until my mother showed me a map of the planet and said there is people everywhere.
Fun fact: The murder that took place on Estonia (then called Viking Sally) is among the most famous murder mysteries in Finland and has never been solved.
Wow got a sense of deja vu last summer also in july i was on a ferry from turku finland also to germany and me and my brother slept on the top deck of the ferry pretty wild, sad what happened to them
In denmark we had a man named Herman Himle who was on that ferry back in the day (under a different name) was he actually guilty. He appear to be that person that has a lot to say & if it annoys the authorities then he will be happy to say it. If he actually committed then why was he acquitted in finnish court? He has been throwing a lot around since that appears to be nutts & bolts, but one said: he claimed he did IT. A lot of words in the documentary doesnt make sense & i highly doubt his words as he is full of hot air...
No fricken mystery, if Estonia was used by Americans to transport Russian military hardware from Baltic States. I guess someone grom KGB had enough and sank Estonia.
@@farfaraway4285 ah yes, the old “fell into the lifeboat” guy. And didn’t he change into civilian clothing before “falling into the lifeboat” or am I confusing coward captains?
Mate, you give the best recount of maritime events/disasters. I share your channel with as many captains and skippers as I can, in hope that if we cannot prevent these things from happening at least we can be more prepared when they do. Thank you
I remeber this accident from when i was a young man. It was especially devastating because only 4 years earlier a fire on board MS Scandinavian star cost 159 people their lives, these years were rough for Scandinavian passenger shipping...
That one was attempted insurance fraud. Scandinavian Star was barely legal, this was the first journey after some neck breaking deals and firefighters discovered at least three separate fires.
@@user-yi3yx2fn7g I know, i have an aunt that travelled with Scandinavian star a few days before the fire, she said the ship was in complete disrepair, cabins were being constructed or refurbished while the ship was operating, hoses and extension cords were strewn in the isles and through where the fire doors should close in case of fire.
@@darraghmckenna9127 lol I travelled on that ferry in 1990 and THAT was a crusty, rusty, dusty wreck held together by glue and tape! I was terrified the entire trip and it's amazing it held together for three years afterwards! I find nothing weird in that sinking. Screws INSIDE the ferry, in our cabin, were rusted loose!
More so ,, I’m terribly not going on a boat ,, ship ( any kind ) I’m have bad vertigo ,, found this out in the late 80s ,, sick was a understatement . 🤦♀️
Estonia is the one sinking that really, really freaks me out. Because it looks so much like ferries I've been on so many times over the years. Like, modern. Or at least, modern to me.
I just can't believe that level of incompetence with even getting out a clear. Mayday. ... If you don't do anything at all during an emergency at least get that call out.. wouldn't a person be yelling "mayday mayday our ship is listing heavily, I don't know why but it's getting worse send help Mayday"
As he explains in the video, yes they WERE saying that. The problem was they weren't saying precise information about their exact coordinates because the GPS was at a crazy angle and nobody could get to it to read the position for awhile. And constant updates on exact condition depends on actually knowing the condition, which they probably didn't themselves.
I was on an overnight ferry the other day and guys in the bar were talking about this. Being Ex Navy, I had my evacuation route planned, even in the event of a capsize! Stand by!
I’m obviously no marine engineer or ship builder but I am a metal fabricator. The design to have the front of this ship open up seems really silly to me.. that should have been at the rear.. the pressures on the front crashing into waves would be massive
I think thats what the raising front section was supposed to function as, a way to keep pressure off the bulkhead of the loading port, but once that was gone like you said going at that speed in that weather its not suprizeing those hinges failed
I remember this. I had just started first grade. A classmate of mine told the class his mom was supposed to have been on the ship but had missed it for some reason I don't recal.
Ex US Navy fireman here. I'm trained in shipboard emergencies. Specifically for firefighting, flooding, fuel spills, ruptured pipes, chemical/biological/radioactive contamination/containment/removal. I was also a certified rescue swimmer. We trained constantly for personnel overboard operations, fires, flooding, abandon ship, chemical/biological/nuclear contamination and cleansing. Civilian operations never do this to any significant level and their passengers are also never properly trained or prepared for any types of disaster. If you've ever been on a cruise ship you know what I'm talking about. The civilian sector doesn't want their passengers to know just how dangerous travel aboard ship is so they deliberately avoid any types of training that could actually save lives. They also won't hire people like me and pay us what we're worth based on our military training and qualifications. I worked for a short time in the offshore oil industry aboard a crew transport vessel and I was only paid $60 a day for working 10 hours per day 7 days a week and living onboard and on call 24 hours per day for 6 weeks at a time. My next job as a fully qualified industrial painter paid $120 per day for 8 hour work days. Edit: This was back in 1988.
Well, that sucks. I get paid just as much with good health, and I don't even have close to the certifications and responsibilities that you have. My home and family is less than 5 mins. away. I literally put part in machine press button remove and repeat.
@@imchris5000 To save lives? Properly inspect the vessel before, during and after the trip? To actually organize a proper evacuation? To minimize damage by initiation of proper safety protocols and securing the damaged area to prevent spreading? 🤷
There is an audio recording from the first mayday call untill the first rescue ships arrive. From there you can really tell how fast everything happen. And the sound of surprise and terror in the voices of Europas and mariellas captains when they realise there is no more estonia.
I worked, several years later, onboard the Rocky Giant from van Oord ACZ, that was contracted to cover the wreckage by Smit, whom was the main contractor. We laid special mats and dumped rocks on them, around the Estonia to “stabilise” the seabed for the concrete mats that would cover her. The first time we were there we had to do a survey with our ROV and when it “flew” over the wreckage it got eerily quiet on the bridge. Everyone understood how many people lost their lives and how many people were still down there in the wreckage. That was a moment I’ll never forget. We finished our part of the plan to make her into a Seaman’s grave, but they cancelled it after many protests from the victims families.
@@derektaylor2941 They wanted to make it a “Seamans” grave. The reason that they wanted it covered by concrete mats was because Russian Navy ships were constantly near the spot where it sank. Also there was a rich guy who hired an ROV vessel to find his wife’s body and wanted to retrieve her with divers once he found her. So the Swedish government decided to cover it so no one could disturb the wreckage and, most importantly, the bodies of the deceased. They were afraid that people would dive to the wreckage to retrieve valuables from the trucks and the deceased.
@@erikgoossens1 it is unusual though, compared to other ship wrecks. Whilst I make no judgement either way, I can understand why the conspiracy theorists believe there is something inside the ship that they want to remain there. Thanks for explanation.
It amazes me that there are not more RoRo ferry incidents considering I have read all it takes is an inch of water on an open vehicle deck to doom a ship. There would be nothing more terrifying than being trapped in a capsized ship with no light.
one reason is that after this incident, atleast in the nordic countries and estonia, they welded the front shut, and only use the back to load trucks and cars now.
Like Estonia, most accidents do not occur due to a single event, but many. Even an inch of water on the car deck won't automatically sink the ship. One inch of water on a RoRo 575 ft long, 100ft wide (about the Estonia or a Mariella class size) is about 130 tons of water. On a calm day with little movement, you'd not even notice that in the handling of the ship. Even on a violent sea, 130 tons is not going to capsize the ship- that's going to make it handle about the same as a badly loaded deck with 3 lorries on one side... With a ship weighing 37,500 tons (as with Mariella- don't know about Estonia) you won't sink from that. In any case there are drains all over the deck- named scuppers- which will either drain straight to the side or will have active pumps which switch on when detecting water. A clearer example of multiple events leading to a RoRo sinking is MV Herald of Free Enterprise... there were so many failures that happened and if only one failure had been detected and prevented then it would never have capsized- same with Estonia, perhaps (HOFE: bow door open, bow trim tanks flooded to match the linkspan, shallow water, increased speed, turning to port... take away any one of those and accident avoided). Re being trapped: I took part in a crew training event on Olympia (sister to Mariella, though just changed fleet) right after Estonia. When you're down on the lower decks, below water, with the power off, using torches because they even deactivated the emergency lights, with dry ice to simulate smoke and trying to get up to the top decks... that was not pleasant and that was in port and not on a ship in a storm. HTH.
Hearing about the EPIRB made me instantly think of the El Faro. I don't believe you've made a video about it, but you should definitely add that to your list of "to dos"
@@waterlinestories I also cannot wait! I read a riveting piece from William Langewiesche on El Faro which was my gateway into this subject. Can't wait to see how you cover it!
Very well explained on this tragedy. I remember crossing the ‘Little Minch’ in the early 90s when i was a kid! I remember looking at the massive storm waves from inside our ship and thinking the sea will swallow us whole if we have a problem no one will have time to do anything. It was a terrifying experience.
Great video, however I do have one comment. Regarding the rescue helicopters you called them Super Puma and Agusta Bell as if they were the names of the helicopters themselves, however the Eurocopter/Airbus Super Puma is a model of helicopter that was used in the rescue effort, and Agusta Bell is the manufacturer of the european variant of the Bell 412, which is a different model of helicopter also used in the rescue. Again, fantastic video, I just wanted to add a minor correction to a detail I missed.
Great information I'm sure the survivors floating in the water were concerned about the correct name of the helicopters that were coming to try and save them wow are you just being smart I'm amazed that you're brilliance of British aircraft you should be up aircraft designer better yet you should be someone that names their crafts😂
A recent discovery series argued that there was unreported damage to the underwater hull and evidenced this with imagery. The consensus was it had been caused by an external force
Yeah that series is full of bulls*** if its the one im thinking of. There was unreported damage discovered yes. But it was investigated and found to have been from from contact with the sea floor and discoved only recently as the boat has shifted position over the years, revealing parts of the hull that where hidden when the original investigation took place.
I went on this ferry when she was Sally the Viking, it really was upsetting to think about her sinking and the tragic loss is so many lives, we had really enjoyed our trip over to France and back, made you realise how fleeting everything really is.
Very well made video. I've listened to the full radio broadcast of the mayday messages. It's very tough to hear. You can hear alarms blaring and all sorts of things falling as the Estonia lists when Tammes speaks. It's very likely that the ship was 60-70 degrees by the time he gave the position.
Worth noting is that the Estonia was owned by Estonia and Sweden at the time of the disaster, and the footage shown in the video was filmed from a Boeing Vertol helicopter from the Swedish Air Force. Eight helicopters from Sweden participated in the rescue operation and saved many lives. The full footage can be seen on the Swedish Armed Forces RU-vid channel.
I live in Finland, I vividly remember watching the news in the morning after the disaster. Not my favorite memory. This video, however, is an excellent presentation of the accident. Thank you.
I'm Swedish. I didn't know it at the time but I lived in the city that was hit the hardest by the tragedy as about 100 of the people who were lost came from said city. For well over a month the only thing I heard downtown were the church bells tolling for the funeral services (most without a casket) day in and day out. It was a very somber sound. I remember waking up that morning. I always woke up to the prolonged radio news at 06.45 but this morning my brain was very slow to react, so I didn't really hear what they were talking about. Instead I reacted because usually they shifted news story after a minute or so, but this seemed to just be one very long, very serious story. After a quick shower I went out to the communal TV and switched on the TV where the news showed the helicopters evacuating people from the life rafts. I still couldn't grasp what had happened and just stared at the TV in silence. One after another my fellow dorm mates joined me on the sofa. Somehow we managed to cram 8 people in a sofa made for 3. No one said a word; we were all just staring at the TV, but then one of the guys began to cry. A situation where 8 adults sit on top of each other and just stare at the screen in total silence for about two hours in indeed a traumatizing event.
@@swedishmeatball4382 It is still a difficult topic to discuss for many and now that I'm much older I completely understand why. I have some friends in Sweden who lost someone that night. I hope you're doing alright.
I grew up hearing stories and seeing reports of disasters like this, Herald of Free Enterprise etc and every time I go on a ferry now I’m always paying attention to lifeboat stations, lifejacket locations and am looking to get seated as close to a way out as possible. What a terrible disaster, and completely avoidable, this was.
this channel is doing God s work, people take many things for granted, no way I am sleeping or below deck in any ship for any period of time lol and will do a reconnaissance tour of everything like you said, and all thanks to what I ve seen here
I hope none of the failure to just say, "mayday" wasn't hinged upon ego or pride? A ship listing over at 15 degrees is significant & is a mayday condition. I've seen a ship where furniture & large vending machines were cascading across the floor like pool balls, careening off each other & the walls. IT's a terrifying event when things inside a ship are tossed like nothing and I can not fathom the levels of fear these folks must've endured. RIP...... WoW, thanks for the story.
@@something7239 Don't feel bad. Remember it as a lesson. TRUST NOTHING on the Internet until you've confirmed it yourself. Not photos. Not audio. Not words. Verify first... because the Internet is half truths incarnate.
@@dexio85Some are from Estonia but most of the video footage is from Concordia I believe. Its defo Estonia where the little red liferafts are being tossed about in the swell, filmed by a chopper. Pretty haunting video footage of those rafts, in some videos, about half of the people in the raft are dead. I remember theres a clip on Ytbe where a young, attractive, fit looking kid gets airlifted out of a raft, he survived, but the raft is partially filled with dead bodies just floating face down. The look on his face... Like a ghost. The fear of cold exemplified. I also recall a young fella saying he knew something was wrong, went to evacuate up the stairs, but his gf, mum & dad just froze at the entryway, he was carried up the stairs with the crowd & that was the last time he saw them, looking shell shocked & bewildered. Awful.
Book by William Langewiesche has a section describing the sinking. It was pure Darwinian survival as the young and strong were able to climb out of the ship
Loving your channel. I keep coming back for these interesting accounts. Coming from South Africa, I wanted to just recommend looking into the history of South African maritime incidents/accidents sometime. You'll find such interesting stories. The collision of the SAS Tafelberg and Kruger was quite a major tragedy and the survivor stories are quite harrowing.
When I called in the Mayday, first words out of my mouth after saying the ship name would have been "We are sinking rapidly." It was not shock by the radio operator, it was pure incompetency.
Seeing news reports on TV just after this disaster, traumatized me for life and made me feel very uneasy about open seas and deep unknown waters. I was 9 years old when this disaster happened in 1994, and since I am Swedish, it hit close to home with such a disaster happening to a ship sailing to and from Sweden and where you or someone you know, could have been among the victims. But yeah, the helicopter footage from the rescue work and seeing the inflatable liferafts on the stormy sea, it marked me for life... Even today at age 38, I much prefer to stay on land or at least see land if I'm on a ship.
Same, but I was an “adult”, barely 18 and living in my first own home. Estonia happening right after Princess Diana’s death felt almost apocalyptic, I remember waking up to both, vividly. This was before internet, so quickest way to find news was text-tv, me & ex were glued to it, trying to find updates and checking all news broadcasts from all possible channels (I think we had 4 back then). Im a Finn and we traveled to Marienhamn in summer ‘95, it was hot & muggy July week, but I refused to go swimming.. all I could think was all the bodies, somewhere in that same dark water. I was melting, but I just couldnt make myself go into the water. On my first ferry trip to Stockholm after Estonia, I was super aware of every creak the ship made, I dont think I slept much at all. I cant even imagine how it mustve felt like as a child..
How refreshing to see a video that not only has presented the facts correctly, but is not sensationalist and as a bonus, presented by a real person and not an irritating AI voice. I can only imagine what it's like for those on a sinking ship. I was once 'lucky' enough to participate in an emergency crew simulation of an evacuation- ironically from Mariella's sister, Olympia. On the upper decks with great windows and plenty of doors leading out to the lifeboats, it's not so bad. But imagine being down in the bowels, with the lights switched off, the emergency lights deliberately deactivated, using only torches and the corridors full of dry ice to simulate smoke and you understand how they really pushed up training post Estonia. Oh and of course, we were in port with the deck level and not listing nor tossing about on the open seas.
Dude, I worked on a Land Ship Logistic (LSL) with a flat bottom. We were told that with 3 inches of water on the tank deck, She would roll over in 22 seconds. Enjoy you kip .
Constructive critisism: It should have at least been mentioned that the reasons and findings about the sinking are disputed. It could not be ruled out that weapons were smuggled, that it was sabotage, there maybe was a bomb threat aboard just before leaving habour, according to some sources. The swedish government wanted to completely cover the wreck in concrete as soon as possible and without consent swedish from nation and people involved ships dropped rubble over the wreck. @waterlinestories
The Estonia sinking was a national tragedy in three countries: Estonia, the flag country of the vessel; Sweden, since over half of the victims were Swedes, and Finland, since it was the lead country in the rescue effort. In Finland the early 90's were a grim time to begin with, due to the Depression, and the Estonia disaster felt like a culmination of that whole era.
That this happened AFTER the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster was a shocker in Europe. I traveled on a Swedish Roro from Amsterdam to Newcastle last November through a huge North Sea Storm. I was extremely impressed at the professionalism and seamanship I saw the crew demonstrate.
@@johnnunn8688 because everybody knows conspiracies are not real. The rich and powerful are ABSOLUTELY NOT doing shady deals, ever. Not once in history! Brilliant and high IQ post brother!
@@johnnunn8688 There were claims of foul play, possibly involving military equipment. These theories only gained traction when governments in the area made it illegal to try to recover anything from the ship, going as far as to want to pour concrete over the ship below, so that no one would be able to enter it.
One thing more what report pointed out. Estonia or Viking Sally how it was first named, was designed sailing coastal waters not open, and the locking systems were desinged accordingly. Report speculates, that it might have contributed to material fatique. The report also states of overall bad maintenance of the vessel.
They extracted the bow visor in order to examine it ashore, and it sat for a long while at a dock that was visible from the motorway through Stockholm. I remember seeing it there many times, it was kinda eerie.
First rate videos with high intellect and integrity. I have one question and that is with your introductions you appear to speak with no script or notes yet you perfectly relate what you have to say. Are you working from memory with your introductions or do you know enough in order to ad-lib. Best wishes Peter London UK
😂 I wish I were that good. I actually use a teleprompter. It’s the only way I could be as precise. Even then there’s a fair amount of editing out the garbled tongue twisters.
Thanks for your kind reply. I hope you continue with these excellent videos. Many of us enjoy vicarious excitement and adventure from your work but of course loss of life is sad but at sea anything can happen. These videos are far superior to the rest on You Tube and a cut above the American output. Best wishes in all you do. Peter Starr London UK
Thanks Peter. I actually lived in London for 15 years. My wife’s German so we moved to Germany after our son was born. Now we live in the middle of nowhere. Big change from London
I remember when the news reported this accident. But mark my words that there was not a big follow up. No big headlines.... not much. It was a remarkable event. I remember the news saying the bow open in the middle of the sea and it sank very fast. Period. No documentaries, no rescue images. At least in my country Hispania, we didn't get many news about it.
My classmates had friends and their families drowning in this disaster. There was a school trip from the neighbour county on that ship. I have tales about the govmt reaction to this. To be short: in the beginning everything was reasonable, but about 6mo into it, something changed. Things got WEEEE-IIII-RRRRRD and very VERY shady decisions were made. That's where the conspiracies started. I was only 17 at this time, but omg our govmt was doing really bad. Oh, I'm Swedish, forgot to mention. EDIT: Forgot to mention that just ask if anyone wants me to clarify things. I just wrote a short comment here on yt, but there is SO MUCH SHADYNESS from the Swedish govmt regarding this tragedy.
There were claims of weapons from Sweden's weapon industry being transported. Not sure why they would transport them TO Sweden though. I agree, something dodgy was going on....Did they ever go through with pouring cement onto the ship to make it impossible to enter
@@JohnDoe-bd5sz The rumours about weapons are somewhat true, it turned out. At the time, our govmt denied it, but a few years later it was "discovered" that Estonia among other ferries transported military materals to and from Estonia and the other Baltic states. The reason for transport TO Sweden was prob since the Baltics had a lot of Soviet weapons they wanted to get rid of, Sweden offered to transport some of this to maybe do research on. They never poured cement on the ship, they just covered it with gravel. THIS story is insanity defined. Our awesome neighbour Norway has EXTENSIVE experience in deep diving activities and considering Estonia is kind of shallow at 80m it is INCOMPREHENSIBLE that noone asked Norway for help!! At first the intention was to salvage the entire ship, but after those first 6mo that was reasonable, all THIS kind of shit suddenly appeared and this is where the conspiracies started.
@@QertzonOfficalAt first it was belived to be only soft seabed at the site of the wreck. New investigations of the site have shown that part of the seabed is rock. Those parts match the holes in the hull.
A very thorough report of this terrible, terrible tragedy. Plus useful reflection of what could/should have been done to make it much less fatal. Lessons were learned, but as in all these cases - too late. RIP those who perished and remain in the vessel on the sea bed.
And a very well told story, that did not go into all of the conspiracies that lingered around the sinking, with claims of forbidden weapons or drugs transported, being the reason the ship sunk (I seem to remember claims that someone onboard found out costums would raid the ship, so they opened the bow to dump some vehicles containing the illegal stuff, but did not disengage the locking pals before opening the gate, making the hydraulic cylinders force the hinges to break)
@@JohnDoe-bd5sz Yes, I heard and saw those other causes - on different documentaries. I think that what we saw here was the truth. I thought the analysis that we saw of how the tragedy could have been avoided (or greatly reduced) was very useful.
@@nigelh3253 I agree, no matter why the bow port fell off, the captain and his crew terribly mismanaged the situation. This accident reminds me a bit of the "MS Harold of free enterprice" disaster, there someone forgot to close the bow and they sailed until the ship was full of water and again...No camera's to see what was going on. Luckily, today the laws have changed and these kinds of disasters would be all but impossible.
@@JohnDoe-bd5sz Yes the Herald of Free Enterprise was another Ro-Ro ferry (roll on, roll off). Almost 200 lives lost. Crew had a very lazy attitude - the man who should have shut the bow doors was asleep in his cabin! But nobody else bothered to check the doors and close them. Presumably this would have only taken a few minutes. Things like closing the door should have been double checked and not just left to one idle crew member. A disgrace.
Most of the water came under the car deck. Thats how 3 workers and passangers said. Coverments made huge error when they didint raide Estonia back then.
This sounds like stupidity. If a call is made and the message cannot be understood or is missing severity information, why is it not treated as immediate need for help. This just sounds like a prudent response.
Is that not a horrible boat design? A door in the front that if ever damaged even slightly, compromises the entire ship? Subjecting it to sink rather quickly as well?
7:48 why are there 2 pictures from Costa Concordia? Why are they not marked as such, even if they're used as representative of what the situation might have looked like? It would be somewhat understandable, but not clearly marking them is not okay, and quite frankly brings into question the research and accuracy of the entire video...
Does it, though? Lol. The ship sank while sailing, anyone with common sense would know that those were meant as reference material. Chill out man, this video was fantastic. Lol
Everyone here around the Finnish/Estonian/Swedish area knows she was sunk on purpose. They're diving to the wreck year after year and professionals say the massive hole on the starboard side of the vessel can not be explained other than by outside interference, especially when the hole's sides are bent outwards much like an exit wound. She sank in about 30 minutes, which is absolutely crazy. Russian weapons also on board...
All the evidence and modeling/simulation shows that the hole was caused by hitting rocks on the bottom as it sank and rolled. But of course if you like conspiracy theories nothing will ever convince you!