Lost at Sea...

Perhaps by now you've already heard about the latest maritime disaster in the Baltic, the sinking of the M/V Finnbirch that went down in last week's snowstorm.

It was some of the worst winter weather to hit the Baltic region in years. A massive low pressure system swept down out of the north, pounding Sweden, Norway, and Finland with heavy snowfall and howling winds.


Further south, the damage was even worse. The northerly winds pushed the surface layers of the Baltic down to the Polish, German, and Danish coasts where it piled up and caused extensive coastal flooding. The photo above is downtown Hamburg.

Hurricane-force gusts were driving a high storm surge into the coastal cities, pummelling German ports and driving many vessels ashore...and attracting the surfers.

But, by far, the most shocking headline was the startling loss of the M/V Finnbirch, a new, modern ro-ro freighter (roll-on, roll-off automobile carrier). Caught in the open by the ferocious winds and building seas, her cargo began shifting (probably because the contents of the containers were not properly 'blocked' in place--note the containers that have broken open) and in the afternoon hours of 1 November, her her crew radioed out a distress call saying that the ship had taken on a severe list to port. A few hours later, she was gone.

The M/V Finnnbirch was a long way from any safe havens, halfway between Gotland and Öland (Stockholm is labeled "Tukholma"on this map). As the heeling ship began to take on water, the distress call intensified to an outright 'mayday' and the Swedish Coast Guard promptly dispatched its recue helicopters into the howling snowstorm.

They flew a number of missions throughout the afternoon and evening hours, constantly buffeted by the high winds and blinded by the snow flurries. During the ensuing hours, they managed to pluck all but one of the M/V Finnbirch's crewmen from the decks or from the sea as the ship went down.

So, although the disaster could have been far worse, the startling loss of this modern ship designed in accordance with all the latest safety regulations is a grim wake-up call. Moreover, the sinking has reopened the lingering wound of the M/V Estonia, a ro-ro passenger ferry that sank in a similar storm in September of 1994, claiming the lives of 852 passengers and crew--mostly Swedes and Estonians.

In the M/V Estonia's case, it was the bow door (being salvaged in the photo above) enclosing the car deck and loading ramp that had failed, opening the front of the ship like a great mouth and flooding her in just minutes. The cause of the M/V Finnbirch's loss will no doubt be subject to similarly lengthy investigation into the design and safety of ro-ro vessels.