Boat rental in Sõru · Fiskars — Lifeboat (1981)

MS Estonia lifeboat. Ideal for coastal and island excursions and observing seals. MS Estonia was constructed in 1980 at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. Meyer Werft shipyard also commissioned the MS Estonia lifeboats that year. They completed ten lifeboats and one patrol boat. The lifeboats were made unsinkable by filling the space between the hulls with foam. The technical specifications of the boat are as follows: length 9.18 m, width 3.40 m, draft 1.48 m, engine Sabb 22, speed 6 knots. On September 28, 1994, at 01:22, the MS Estonia helmsmen sent out distress call: "Mayday! Mayday!". The ship sank in less than an hour. The shipwreck is located at coordinates 59° 22′ 54″ N, 21° 41′ 0″ E, about 40 km away from Utö island and 50 km away from Hiiumaa. According to the final report of the international investigation commission published in 1998, MS Estonia was so tilted when sinking that the lifeboats could not be opened, the sinking ship dragged them to the bottom, from where the sea pushed some of them - full of water or upside down - to the surface. The lifeboats after MS Estonia sank drifted towards the Estonian coast, mainly to Hiiumaa. Only the patrol boat was found empty near Hanko in Finland. The final report of the shipwreck revealed that divers found one lifeboat attached to the davits while examining the sunken Estonia. The others floated to the surface. The MS Estonia sank with 989 people on board on its way from Tallinn to Stockholm. As the ship was tilted when sinking, only 310 people managed to reach the ship's deck, of which about 160 managed to climb to life rafts and individual overturned lifeboats. The shipwreck managed to save 137 people. Lifeboats without people arrived near Hiiumaa. One of them was owned by the then Emmaste municipality, which decided to start repairing the boat for use for various community purposes. In recent years, the boat was neglected and began to deteriorate. As the boat was in poor condition, its use also decreased. With the initiative of Sõru Merekool (Sõru Maritime School), the boat was renovated so that it could be used again for the benefit of the community and for maritime education.