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The MS Jan Heweliusz was a 1977 Norwegian-built roll/on - roll/off Polish ferry named after astronomer Johannes Hevelius (Polish: Jan Heweliusz), serving the Ystad (Sweden) – Świnoujście (Poland) route. It was owned by the state owned Polish Ocean Lines (or Polish Baltic Shipping (Polferries)?? and operated by its subsidiary company Euroafrica Shipping Lines, commencing July 1977. In September 1986 the ship suffered a serious fire. No one on board was injured, but the ship was heavily damaged. The ship was repaired by covering the damaged areas with concrete, which increased the weight of the ship by 60 tons and dangerously affected its stability. The fire was one of almost thirty incidents that involved the ship, from the fire to collisions with fishing boats, listing & ballast problems and engine failures. It is reported that the Jan Heweliusz suffered a major stability problem in 1977 because of faulty valves regulating the ballast tanks and during 1982 rolled on to its port side whilst loading lorries and rail wagons at Ystad. The Heweliusz was meant to be a twin of the 1974 built Mikołaj Kopernik ferry, but it was one deck taller, causing stability problems. The Kopernik operated without major incidents whilst under Polish authority. In 2008 it was sold for further service in Turkey, continuing to serve there for six more years under the name MF Harput. During stronger winter winds, the ferry rolled heavily. It also had other technical problems, including the improper use of the anti-rolling system.
January 10th - 14th 1993 A three-person team worked late into the evening of January 13th but could not fully seal the leak, leading to departure two hours late on its last Świnoujście - Ystad voyage, at 11.30pm instead of 9pm, under the command of Andrzej Ulasiewicz. The crew & passengers totalled 64 with many of the passengers being the drivers of the 28 lorries in-transit on the ferry. The lorries were carrying a variety of cargos. In addition to the lorries there were also ten rail freight cars in-transit from five European countries. Because of the delayed departure a shorter route had been selected, which would increase the amount of open water to be travelled by the ship. In winter the route was generally closer to the island of Rugen. The weather warnings at the time of departure appeared not to be of great concern, with winds measuring Beaufort scale 6 - 7. By 2.40am the weather conditions were noticeably deteriorating, with Storm Verena producing winds measuring more than had been forecasts the ship struggled with stability, the crew reduced its speed, causing a loss in steering. Additionally, the strong port side winds led the crew to fill the port side ballast tanks, contrary to operational recommendations, in an attempt to increase stability. By about 4.00am and 15 miles off Cape Arcona (Arkona), on the north-east corner of the island of Rugen, the ship encountered hurricane force winds being Beaufort scale 12 reaching 180 kph / 110 mph. The ship began to list as the waves reached a height of six metres (20 feet), and the wind gusts struck both sides of the ship, finally capsizing at 5.10am in 27 meteres (88 feet) of water. No doubt the capsize was quickened by the increasing list breaking the fasteners holding the lorries and railway vehicles and the effect of the full port side ballast tanks. Of the 55 souls who died, ten bodies were never found. The speed of the capsize did not allow launching of the lifeboats and the very cold water left little time for successful rescue. Such was the severity of the storm that ferry sailings from the nearby German port of Sassnitz had been cancelled. The MS Jan Śniadecki was deployed in the rescue effort as were helicopters from Parow, near Stralsund and from Denmark. However issues with the exact location provided for the sinking ferry delayed rescue efforts and survival in the cold water, temperature 2C (36F), would not be long, even the surviving nine crew members in a lifeboat suffered hypothermia, being later treated at German hospitals. The ship sank at coordinates 54°36′58″N 14°13′16″E, settling on its port side with the keel facing southwards. Over the years a crust of barnacles and mussels have attached themselves to the external surfaces of the ship. The lower decks which included the double bottom covered by the train deck and the car/lorry deck at some point separated from the boat deck by about 12 metres, the boat deck held the passenger cabins. Likewise the captain’s bridge had separated from the rest of the ship and was considerably damaged and embedded in sand. The Marine Chamber of Appeals in Gdynia blamed the accident on the poor technical condition of the ship and the decision of the captain for allowing the ship to sail in such an unseaworthy state. The captain died in the sinking. In 2005, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg ruled that the official investigation of the sinking was not impartial and granted €4,600 in damages each to eleven relatives of the victims. Insight from elsewhere Three years had passed since the political transformation [in Poland], yet there were still no agreements with neighboring countries for coordinating maritime rescue operations. This affected what happened on 14 January 1993. Almost nothing worked as it should - the situation went as badly as imaginable. Moreover, the crew did not expect a hurricane. They relied on a weather forecast indicating winds of only force 6–7 on the Beaufort scale. Haste was also a factor. Instead of taking the “winter route” along the German island of Rügen, which would have provided shelter from the wind, they chose a shorter path. There was a delay, they were rushing, and the trucks on the lower deck were not properly secured. After the disaster – silence and pretence Investigations dragged on for years. Parts of the documentation disappeared, while others were classified. Families of the victims received only symbolic compensation after the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled that Poland had violated their right to a fair trial. But no one was ever truly held accountable. As people in Świnoujście said: 'Heweliusz sank twice – once in the Baltic Sea, and once in the paperwork.'
Built: Norway Page added December 2nd 2025.
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