This is *your interpretation* of a secondhand report of what an investigator said. And you have a poor track record of correctly grasping what people actually mean in this case. What exactly does his finding contradict about the JAIC report? *Your* claim is that it contradicts the JAIC's assumption that the car deck doors must have failed. Well *show us* the JAIC's claim that the car deck doors must have failed or get off your high horse.
If you are not capable of making the leap to infer that the windows the JAIC say were smashed by the sea and then allowed the sea to flood in were the ones which were dipping into the sea due to the list and facing the oncoming waves as the ship drifted, and not the ones on the sheltered side of the ship which were being lifted ever higher away from the water by the list, then why would we listen to any of your confused wot-I-reckon at all?
And it's the starboard side. The port side windows were the high up, sheltered and not-in-the sea ones. The starboard ones were the low down, pounded by waves, ever-more-underwater ones.
Just to fully father-Dougal the point, the water came in through the windows which were *in* the water, and not through the windows which were far away from the water.
Look. Let me give you a possible reason the JAIC avoid saying 'aft starboard windows and panelling broke when the ship was at 40°', - because it does not at any point - it is because IMV it knew perfectly well that had the windows and panels smashed, the turbulent seawater would have replaced the air in the higher superstructure, namely Decks 4 and 5 first, and the vessel would have capsized within minutes (as did
The Herald of Free Enterprise).
It was aware of this anomaly, hence to give the ship a slower time to sink, they propose it was the
aft windows that broke (and the Rockwater divers of Dec 1994 unwittingly confirm that the
aft windows and dividers were not broken at all.
This is because
there is no way the
Estonia could have floated on her superstructure with all the windows, doors and panelling smashed
for a further 27 minutes!!!
12.6.1
According to the hydrostatic calculations, a continuously increasing amount of water on the car deck would make the aft windows of deck 4 the first possible flooding point to other areas. Soon thereafter the windows and the aft entrance doors of deck 5 would also be submerged. A little less than 2,000 t of water on the car deck would be sufficient to bring the first flooding points down to the mean water surface. In this condition the list would be about 35° . The lowest corner of the ramp opening would here be still a little above the mean water surface.
As soon as water was free to enter the accommodation decks all residual stability would be impaired and the ship in practice lost. Without an intact superstructure above deck 4, the largest possible equilibrium heel angle before a complete capsize would be 40° . This condition would be exceeded with about 2,000 t of water on the car deck.
So, at 40° the windows and breakables on Deck 4 and 5 did so according to the JAIC.
13.2.6
During the port turn water continued to enter the car deck and the list increased to 20-30 degrees where the vessel for some minutes stabilised as the water inflow decreased. By about 0120 hrs all four main engines had stopped, at intervals of a few minutes, starting with the port side engines, due to lack of lubricating oil pressure. The main generators stopped about five minutes later.
After the main engines stopped, the ESTONIA drifted with a list of about 40 degrees and the starboard side towards the waves. Water continued to enter the car deck through the bow but at a significantly lower rate. Waves were pounding against the windows on deck 4. Window panels and aft doors broke, allowing flooding of the accommodation to start. As the flooding progressed, the list and the trim by the stern increased and the vessel started to sink. At a list of about 80 degrees the bridge was partly flooded. This happened shortly after 0130 hrs as indicated by a clock in the chartroom whose hands had stopped at 2335 hrs UTC. The emergency generator stopped at about the same time but the accumulators supplied power for limited lighting. The sinking continued, stern first, and the vessel disappeared from the surface of the sea at about 0150 hrs.
Note, the JAIC manages to specify the starboard side, above. So the list of 40° happened at 1:20, and windows and dividers were smashed on Deck 4, immediately, when the main engines stopped, and flooding was complete at 80° circa 1:30am. (This would be when the last of the crew, Sillaste, escaped from the engine room via the funnel stairs.)
So in other words, because it stretches credulity to claim the 15tonne Estonia
floated on its smashed superstructure for an incredible
half an hour (when
The Herald of Free Enterprise capsized within a matter of four minutes of leaving port), the JAIC reverts to the vague 'aft' windows and panellings, but even then, the Rockwater divers report contradicts this claim.
A ship cannot possibly float on its superstructure for half an hour with all its windows and dividers smashed as the JAIC claims. It seems from the latest expedition in September, the doors and windows were not smashed at all. The vessel sank the same way as the
Wilhelm Gustloff, with its hull stricken and the [superstructure] car deck relatively intact, is the almost certain probability.
