On the morning of February 16, 1986, the luxury Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov steamed down Tory Channel towards Picton, on the last leg of a two-week cruise.
She would never again make it out of the Marlborough Sounds.
That night, she lay in 30 metres of water in Port Gore, her hull sliced open with gashes totalling 25 metres length in 3 places. Miraculously, all but one of her passengers and crew were rescued in a Dunkirk-style operation, in bad weather and at night, involving dozens of vessels ranging from fishing boats to an inter-island ferry.
THE SINKING OF THE MIKHAIL LERMONTOV.
The sinking of the Michael Lermontov is one of the most intriguing episodes in New Zealand’s maritime history.
Even the fact that this ship, the most prestigious cruise ship of the Soviet Union, was cruising around these parts in the 1980’s may seem hard to believe now.
But it was a popular cruise option at the time, being halfway through a busy cruise season, and the ship that could carry up to 550 passengers in comfort was carrying 408 passengers (mostly elderly Australian citizens) and 330 crew on its fateful last journey.
An excellent article that covers what led up to the sinking, how the boat struck the rocks, and the subsequent rescue efforts can be found at this New Zealand Geographic article here. But for a more concise summary of the story, I will use this article from this link.
On 16 February 1986 the Mikhail Lermontov left Picton at 3:10pm, carrying 738 passengers and crew. On board was the Marlborough harbourmaster Don Jamison. The ship headed up Queen Charlotte Sound towards the open sea.
The captain had gone to his cabin, leaving Jamison in charge. As the ship neared Cape Jackson, Jamieson took a course to bring the Mikhail Lermontov closer to the cape. The navigator queried the move, believing that this course could take the ship into danger, but Jamison had decided to take the ship through the 460 metre wide passage between Cape Jackson and its outlying lighthouse. No one notified the captain of the decision.
At about 5:20pm the Mikhail Lermontov, travelling at a speed of 15 knots, grounded on rocks on the right-hand side, suffering severe damage to the hull. The ship kept moving, but as she took on water, rolled to one side.
The captain now returned to the bridge and tried to head towards Port Gore where the Mikhail Lermontov could be beached on the shore, instead of sinking in open water. An hour later the ship had lost all power and drifted onto a sandbank to wait for help. But the incoming tide lifted her off the sandbank into deeper water and she sank at about 10:50pm.
Rescue ships were on the scene quickly. It was raining and the rescue was not easy to carry out. All passengers and crew were taken off, apart from a Russian engineer who was thought to have drowned when the Lermontov first hit the rocks. His body was not recovered.
The passengers were taken by a tanker and an inter-island ferry to Wellington the next morning. Only 11 had minor injuries.
A preliminary inquiry found that Jamison was operating outside the limits of the Marlborough Harbour Board pilot area, but in an area he knew extremely well. For some unknown reason he had tried to take the Mikhail Lermontov through a narrow passage where the water was too shallow for the size of the ship. Jamison’s only explanation was that he was suffering from mental and physical exhaustion after working 80 hours a week for the previous four months.
The Minister of Transport at the time, Richard Prebble, decided not to hold a formal inquiry. Don Jamison later refused to speak publicly about the loss of the ship, but surrendered his pilot’s licence. The Soviet authorities held their own inquiry and the captain of the Mikhail Lermontov was given a suspended four-year prison sentence.
A settlement was made out of court between the Marlborough Harbour Board and the ship’s owners for damages.
The wreck could not be salvaged, but oil from her tanks was recovered over the next two months. Since then three people have died while diving on the wreck.
LOGGING REQUIREMENTS.
To log this cache you have to fulfil 2 requirements. Failure to do so will see your log deleted, so please read CAREFULLY!!
The posted coordinates take you to one of the last remnants of the sinking, Lifeboat #10, situated outside Mariner’s Mall in Picton.
The lifeboat used to have picnic tables in it, but these are now gone.
Here is what you need to do.
#1 - Firstly, Locate the red valve on the inside of the lifeboat. It is on the starboard side, near the bow. (See photo below). You will need to tell me what the single digit number is where the yellow box is on the photo below. (HINT - if you are having trouble reading it, try taking a photo and zooming in on the image). MESSAGE ME THIS NUMBER BEFORE LOGGING.
#2 - Secondly, you must take a photo of the lifeboat with either yourself in the picture; OR your geocaching name in the picture; OR you giving the ‘thumbs up’ sign, as shown in photo below. INCLUDE THIS IN YOUR LOG.
Please message me your answer for requirement #1, and when you get the all clear you will need to add the photo for requirement #2 to your log.
Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy your trip to Picton.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.