MS Mikhail Lermontov

1986

Marlborough Sounds, the harbour master's command Location: Port Gore, Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand · Coordinates: 40.92°S 174.03°E · Casualties: 1 · Survivors: 738 · Depth: 36 m · Cause: grounding — Ran onto rocks at Cape Jackson in the Marlborough Sounds at 17:37 on 16 February 1986 while being piloted by the local harbourmaster, Don Jamison. Jamison ordered a close pass of the headland that took her outside the charted channel. Holed on a submerged reef, she was beached at Port Gore but slipped off the bank and sank during the night. · Fate: located · diveable · Type: passenger liner · Soviet CCCP · Tonnage: 20,352 tons · Crew: 330 · Flag: Soviet Union · Launched: 1971 Soviet passenger liner, cruising the New Zealand coast with 408 passengers, mostly Australian and American tourists. Ran onto the rocks at Cape Jackson in the Marlborough Sounds at 17:37 on 16 February 1986 during a close-pass manoeuvre ordered by the New Zealand harbourmaster, Don Jamison. She was beached at Port Gore to save her, then slipped off the bank and sank overnight. One dead, a refrigeration engineer; all 738 aboard were taken off by fishing boats and the New Zealand Navy. A Cold War curiosity: a Soviet ship lost on a New Zealand pilot's command. The Vessel The MS Mikhail Lermontov was a Soviet passenger liner of the Baltic Shipping Company, built at the Mathias-Thesen-Werft yard at Wismar, East Germany between 1969 and 1972 and commissioned on 30 October 1972. She was 176 metres long, 20,027 gross tons, and powered by twin diesel engines producing approximately 21,000 horsepower. Her accommodation comprised approximately 700 passengers (predominantly in cabin-class rather than class-differentiated accommodation) plus a crew of approximately 400. She was named after the 19th-century Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov and had been specifically designed for the Soviet Union's cruise passenger service to western tourists. The specific Soviet foreign-exchange earnings from western tourist cruise operations were substantial in the early 1970s; Mikhail Lermontov and her sister-ships (Ivan Franko, Shota Rustaveli, Taras Shevchenko, Aleksandr Pushkin) were the principal vessels of the Soviet cruise fleet operating in western tourist markets. Her operational role in 1986 was as a cruise passenger vessel operating in the Pacific (New Zealand, Australia, and South Pacific islands). Her specific voyage of 1986 was the third of a series of New Zealand coastal cruises under charter to the Australian travel company CTC Cruises. The specific voyage itinerary was a 10-day cruise: Sydney → Auckland → multiple South Pacific islands → return to Sydney. Her master on her final voyage was Captain Vladislav Vorobyov, 54, a career Baltic Shipping Company o The Disaster At approximately 17:38 on 16 February 1986, MS Mikhail Lermontov struck a submerged rock at approximately 15 knots speed off Cape Jackson, at the south entrance of Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand. The specific rock was approximately 2 metres below the water surface; the grounding was in a sheltered channel with substantial tidal currents. The specific grounding damage was substantial. The ship's hull was holed in multiple locations along her port bow and central cargo section; the specific breach was approximately 30 metres long and opened multiple watertight compartments simultaneously. Progressive flooding began immediately; the ship's pumps could not address the flooding rate. Captain Vorobyov's operational response was standard. The ship was progressively slowed and stopped; the passengers were organised for evacuation; the ship's wireless equipment was used to transmit distress signals. The specific distress signals reached New Zealand coastal authorities within minutes of the grounding. The specific evacuation was conducted under relatively favourable conditions. The weather was calm, the water temperature was approximately 18 degrees Celsius (warm enough for extended survival), and the specific proximity to New Zealand coastal communities meant that rescue vessels could reach the area within approximately 30-60 minutes. The ship's lifeboats were successfully launched; multiple New Zealand coastal vessels responded to the distress calls. Over the subsequent approxima