I read that whole piece, fascinating and horrid at the same time. They had 30 minutes but so many people didn't recognize what was happening. The captain got a mayday out but I have to wonder why there was no command to get life vests on and lower the lifeboats. More people might have survived. One guy, though he did make it, stopped to brush his teeth as the boat was listing almost on its side.
And in the lifeboat we read about, upside down with a black bottom it wasn't seen until morning and by that time half the people on it had died from the cold. Why are any lifeboats black on the bottom? I hope that has since changed. And the people in the lifeboat, why did none of them think to huddle together? They could have rotated people into the middle like penguins do during storms.
Incredibly sad obviously, but so many died even after they made it into lifeboats is an additional tragedy.
As for the hole in the side, they already know the bow visor that opens up to load vehicles came off first. It was even recovered. I can't see how the hole in the side is going to be implicated. When it first happened the news said the door for the cars wasn't properly latched. Hinges coming off or not properly latched, either way the hole in the side seems irrelevant.
It seems the 'alert' was put out in Estonian, without realising people needed it in Swedish and English, also - most passengers were Swedish and Estonian would have sounded like Double Dutch to their ears. The horn that was supposed to be a final warning, didn't sound until it was certainly too late for anyone to do anything more.*
Because the ship was listing at over 30º angle, it could not right itself. Ships are designed to be self- balancing, however, once it lists too far in one direction, the crew could then use the enormous ballast tanks filled with water to try to rebalance to the other side. However, on this occasion all the ballast tanks were already full. Because of the list, what was the wall, was now almost the ceiling. The steps leading up the eight-storey ship was now like climbing up a wall. People were having to use the stair railings as a ladder. Crew who made it to the deck were handing out life jackets and life rafts were inflated. However, people didn't know how to use them. the rope ladders attached to the raft should have been in the water for people to climb up, so many drowned because they could not get over the high sides. People had to be helped up by others already in the raft. As for the life boats proper, because of the list, with one side of the ship submerged in the water, they were too high up to be released and would have crashed down on the people below, or smashed into smithereens.
The bow visor was recovered but it is not known whether it came off before the boat sank (=the cause) or after it. If the boat was hit by something, like a submarine, from the outside, then that could distort internal structures (think of squeezing a tin). If an explosion from one of the military trucks (which were on the ship), then that could have had the effect of blowing the bow door out. Bear in mind, this ship had made thousands upon thousands of crossings as do tens of other similar ships run by Viking Line, Silja Line, Estline (now called 'Tallink', I believe) every day, so even a bow door coming loose needs to be explained.
*The boat sank within 24 minutes of the 'May Day' message, and even that was not done properly. Marine protocol means you are supposed to say 'May Day' three times. The guy contacting other ships in the area took a long time to say it, and then only twice. He even led with 'Good morning' on one occasion.
'May Day' is believed to be derived from the French '
m'aidez' ['help me!]. The original CQD call of the Titanic (come quickly, in distress) was replaced by SOS which could be easily tapped out telegraphically as 'dash-dash-dash - dit-dit-dit- dash-dash-dash', or 'dot-dot-dot-dit-dit-dit' repeatedly. However, in the age of electronic communication 'May day' said three times became the conventional marine call of distress, then others know you were
really in trouble.
