MS Mikhail Lermontov

Mikhail Lermontov in original construction and livery
Career
Name:	Mikhail Lermontov
Namesake:	Mikhail Lermontov
Owner:	Baltic Shipping Company
Operator:	Baltic Shipping Company
Port of registry:	Leningrad, Soviet Union
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
Status:	Sunk 1986
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

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.

MS Mikhail Lermontov

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. 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.^{[citation needed]}

Start of MS Mikhail Lermontov's last voyage

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 harbour master of Picton, Don Jamison, conned the ship out of Picton. His presence, and his knowledge of the area, should have assured the safety of MS Mikhail Lermontov.

However, Jamison 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, Jamison continued towards the cape. About one mile from the cape, Jamison made the decision to take MS Mikhail Lermontov through the passage. A Russian officer tried to discourage Jamison, but the harbour master assured him it would be fine.

Disaster

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. Jamison hoped he could beach the ship to stop it floating out to sea.

Jamison 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. MS 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 MS Mikhail Lermontov was in trouble, were gruffly told that their assistance was not required. Luckily for the passengers, 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 an LPG tanker that was in the area, the MV Tarihiko.

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.

Wreck

MS Mikhail Lermontov rests where she sank, lying on her starboard side at depths ranging from 25 to 30 m in dark, murky water. Popular with SCUBA divers, the site is served by local dive shops in Picton and Kaikoura. It is possible to swim inside the ship, although care must be taken and guides familiar with the wreck are recommended. Three divers are known to have died while exploring the ship, including one diver whose body is still possibly trapped inside.

External links

• New Zealand Disasters - Shipwreck: Mikhail Lermontov
• The Last Cruise of the Mikhail Lermontov at NZ Maritime Record
• A full length documentary made in 2000, "Destination Disaster: The Sinking of the Mikhail Lermontov". Free to view with Adobe Flash on NZ On Screen.