"Лакония" кемесінің тарихы және апат қырқыны

Dutch built ocean liner that caught fire and sank in 1963
other ships with a similar name

TSMS Lakonia was an ocean liner that was launched in 1929 for Netherland Line as the ocean liner Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. In 1962 she became the Greek Line cruise ship TSMS Lakonia. On 22 December 1963 she caught fire at sea and on 29 December she sank. 128 people were killed in the disaster. In the 1930s Johan van Oldenbarnevelts regular route was between Amsterdam and the Dutch East Indies. She served in the Second World War as an Allied troop ship. She was refitted several times and latterly became a cruise ship. In 1962 Netherland Line sold her to a Greek company, the Shipping Investment Corporation, who renamed her Lakonia and for whom the Greek Line managed her for cruising. From April 1963 Greek Line operated her on cruises from Southampton. On 22 December 1963 fire broke out during a Christmas cruise. As the fire spread, alarms sounded too softly to be heard by most people aboard. Evacuation was hampered by the overcrowding of lifeboats and the loss of several boats to fire. Some deaths were caused by the fire itself, others by accidents when abandoning ship, and others by exposure or drowning in the sea. Lakonias crew successfully launched just over half of her lifeboats. Some passengers were able to reach the water via gangways and rope ladders. Two ships alerted by distress signals managed to save most of the others. On 24 December ocean tugs took Lakonia in tow and tried to tow her to Gibraltar. But the ship had developed a list and on 29 December she sank in the Atlantic. A board of inquiry traced the fire to faulty electrical wiring, but strongly criticised the maintenance of equipment, thoroughness of lifeboat drills, and the standard of supervision. Eight of the ship's officers were charged with negligence.

Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij built Johan van Oldenbarnevelt in Amsterdam. Her yard number was 194. She was launched on 3 August 1929 and completed on 13 March 1930. The same shipyard built a sister ship, Marnix van St. Aldegonde, which was launched in December 1929 and completed in September 1930. Both ships were built for Netherland Line to operate scheduled passenger and cargo services between Amsterdam and the Dutch East Indies. Johan van Oldenbarnevelt was named after a Dutch soldier and statesman of the same name who was beheaded in 1619. Johan van Oldenbarnevelt was a motor ship with two Sulzer marine diesel engines driving her two propellers. Between them the engines developed 1,555 NHP and gave her a cruising speed of The ship was 178.67 m long, had a beam of 22.80 m and her tonnage was
Johan van Oldenbarnevelt was the 89th ship built for the Netherland Line. When she was launched she was the largest ship yet built in the Netherlands. The artist Carel Adolph Lion Cachet and sculptor Lambertus Zijl decorated her interior with teak, marble, and many statues, mosaics, tapestries and chandeliers. As built, she had berths for 770 passengers: 366 in first class, 280 in second, 64 in third and 60 in fourth class. She had berths for 360 crew. She had four decks Until 1939 she was registered in Amsterdam.

When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Holland America Line chartered Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, re registered her in Batavia in the Dutch East Indies After servicing India, Singapore and Penang, she finally returned to her home port of Amsterdam on 13 February 1946. Her sister ship, Marnix van St. Aldegonde, also served as a troop ship. German aircraft sank her by torpedo off the Algerian coast, but all 3,000 troops and crew were saved by rescue ships.

After Johan van Oldenbarnevelt was released from government service, Netherland Line had her refitted and in 1946 returned her to service on the Amsterdam – Batavia route. From 1945 until 1949 Indonesians fought for their independence from the Netherlands. For several years the ship ferried Dutch troops returning home from Indonesia. By 1950 Indonesia was independent and the ship was withdrawn from the East Indies service. She was transferred to the Amsterdam – Australia service and began her first voyage to Australia on 2 September 1950. She serviced Australia and New Zealand for the next twelve and a half years, with occasional service to Canada and the United States. The Australia run was an instant success, and 1951, Johan van Oldenbarnevelt was put into dry dock in Amsterdam for refitting. She was refitted as a one class ship with berths for 1,414 passengers. Her lounges were restored to their original and additional passenger facilities were installed. Eight lifeboats were added, bringing her total number of boats to 24. On 23 January 1952 she left for Australia but was forced to return to Amsterdam after four small fires were discovered aboard. The fires were quickly extinguished. Arson was suspected, but no suspects were ever arrested. In 1958 Johan van Oldenbarnevelt was refitted again, reducing her berths to 1,210. The Amsterdam Dry Dock Company completed the refit in three months at a cost of A$800,000. Three luxury suites were added, as well as a nightclub, cinema, gift shop, promenade lounge and second swimming pool. All public rooms were refinished and restored. Her main mast was moved to atop the bridge, and her decks were extended aft. Her funnels were raised, given rounded tops and painted yellow and black. Her black hull was re painted grey. On 2 April 1959 the ship was assigned to her new port, Southampton, England. She offered round the world service, making stops in Australia, New Zealand, Bermuda and New York City. She was now a cruise ship instead of an ocean liner. Johan van Oldenbarnevelt left on her last round the world voyage for the Netherland Line on 30 June 1962. She arrived in Sydney, Australia on 3 February 1963 and was decommissioned by the Netherland Line that day, ending a 33 year career for that shipping line. She then sailed for Genoa, Italy, and arrived on 7 March 1963.

On 8 March 1963 Johan van Oldenbarnevelt was sold to a Greek company, the Shipping Investment Corporation. Her decks and public rooms were renamed and the aft swimming pool was enlarged. 12 extra cabins were added, and air conditioning was installed throughout the ship. Her hull was painted white, and her tonnage increased to She was renamed TSMS Lakonia. Ormos Shipping Company, also known as the Greek Line, operated Lakonia offering cruises from Southampton to the Canary Islands. She left Southampton on her first voyage as Lakonia on 24 April 1963. She proved very popular, and Greek Line planned 27 cruises for 1964. From 9–13 December 1963 she underwent another minor upgrade. A new pneumatic fuel injection system was installed. Cabins were redecorated, and the kitchen and pantry were completely remodelled. Lakonia was fitted with a number of safety features. She carried 24 lifeboats capable of holding 1,455 people. She had an automatic fire alarm system and two fire stations with specialist firefighting equipment. She had lifejackets for every person aboard and an extra 400 stowed on deck.

Lakonia left Southampton on 19 December 1963 for an 11 day Christmas cruise of the Canary Islands. Her first scheduled stop was to be the island of Madeira. She carried 646 passengers and 376 crew: a total of 1,022 people. All but 21 of the passengers were British citizens. Most of her crew were Greek or German. The captain of Lakonia was 53 year old Mathios Zarbis. The crew had conducted a boat drill a week before, and the ship passed a safety inspection by the British Ministry of Transport 24 hours before sailing. She carried a Greek certificate of seaworthiness. Passengers took part in a boat drill on 20 December, but one passenger noted that he was the only one at his lifeboat Station. On 22 December, at around 11:00 p. m., a steward noticed thick smoke seeping under the door of the ship's hairdressing salon. Upon opening the door, he found the room completely ablaze, and the fire rushed into the hallway toward the state rooms. He and another steward tried to fight the flames with fire extinguishers, but the fire spread too fast to be contained. One of the men ran to notify the ship's purser, Antonio Bogetti. Fire alarms sounded, but too softly to be heard by most passengers. "The fire alarm bell was so weak that it sounded like someone calling the waiter to ask for tea," one survivor later told reporters. An alarm went off on the bridge, showing the fire's location. The ship was about
200 mile (322 km) north of Madeira at . [A]

At the time the fire was discovered, most of the passengers were in the ship's ballroom, called the Lakonia Room, dancing at the "Tropical Tramps' Ball." Passengers began to notice the smell of smoke, but most dismissed it as strong cigar smoke. Captain Zarbis, who had been notified of the fire, tried to make an announcement on the ship's public address system, but the fire had disabled it. As smoke began to fill the ballroom at about 11:30, the band stopped playing and cruise director George Herbert ushered the frightened passengers to the boat deck. The upper deck was ablaze within 10 minutes. Many of the passengers who had been asleep in their cabins found themselves unable to escape the fire. Some passengers were told to go to the main dining room to await instructions, but most ignored this order, since the dining room lay directly in the path of the fire. At 11:30 p. m., the ship's chief radio officer Antonios Kalogridis sent out the first distress call: "Fire spreading up. Prepare evacuation on ship." At midnight, a second distress call was sent out: "We are leaving the ship. Please immediately give us assistance. Please help us." Kalogridis sent out the last call at 12:22 a. m., just before the radio room caught fire: "SOS from Lakonia, last time. I cannot stay anymore in the radio station. We are leaving the ship. Please immediate assistance. Please help." A six man fire crew tried to fight the blaze, but the fire spread too quickly to be contained. Boilers began to explode, filling the rooms and hallways with thick, black smoke, and the suffocating passengers were forced on deck.

The ship's purser gave the order to abandon ship shortly before 1:00 a. m. Dazed passengers made their way to the lifeboats, some in their pyjamas and others still wearing their jewellery and evening wear. A few crew members went below decks to try to save passengers from their burning cabins. The ship's swimming pool attendant and a steward lowered themselves over the side of the ship, by rope, to pull trapped people from portholes. Evacuation of the ship was very difficult. Some lifeboats burned before they could be lowered. Two of the lifeboats were swamped, spilling their occupants into the sea; one when it was lowered only by one end, and the other when its davits broke off. Chains had rusted in many of the davits, making boats difficult or impossible to move. Only just over half of the lifeboats made it safely away from Lakonia, and some of them less than half full. Several people who dove overboard struck the side of the ship on the way down, killing them before they hit the water. Passengers were angered when the radio operator left the ship in a launch, with a nurse and two musicians. Kalogridis later testified that he had left to rescue people from the water. He stated that he did not return to the ship because the current pushed the launch away. [B] Passengers also claimed that some of the crewmen took advantage of the chaos to loot state rooms. When all of the boats were away, there were still people in the water and over 100 people left aboard the burning ship. Lakonia continued to burn fiercely and was rocked by violent explosions. Those who remained aboard flocked to the glass enclosed Agora Shopping Centre at the stern of the ship. After several hours, the flames closed in on them, and they were forced to descend ropes and rope ladders into the ocean. The port and starboard gangways were lowered as well, and people walked down the gangways single file into the sea.