Murmansk
Copyright
© 2003, Hasvik Hotel AS
The boat should be pulled to India where it was to be taken apart, but
was lost in bad weather outside the island of Senja (in the county of
Troms) when the steel ropes attached to wreck broke. It drifted without crew or captain in
rough weather for several days, and neither the coast guard nor the Norwegian
Navy managed to gain control over the ghost ship
Ironically, the wreck ended up
as a neighbour to the NATO radar station in Sørvær!
Now the wreck lies in shallow water
close to a steep, rocky cliff, just some metres from the picturesque coastal village of Sorvær. The rusty bunch of metal with a length
of 211 metres and a weight of 17.000 tons has become an unwanted landmark for
the small coastal community with its 300-400 inhabitants.
The wreck lies in a
depth of about 15 meters, the keel has sunken long into the sea bed. The wreck
has helped secure Sørvær a regular appearance in the media. The failed efforts
to move the ship to deeper water as well as the fear that the wreck may still
hide up to 400 tons of oil have been of interest for the media. In July 2001,
news spread that a company specialised in the disassembling of ship wrecks, the
largest of its kind in the whole of Norway, had planned to take a closer look at
the "Murmansk".
The
"Murmansk" once upon a time
1800 russian sailors used to be onboard
of this war-machine, and still a touch of the Cold War era hangs over the
wreck. Much of the ship's facilities with old instruments and instructions in
Russian are still visible, almost untouched by the nick of time. The commando
bridge shows a striking resemblance to Hitler's bunker in Berlin and should secure that the people in
there could survive almost any kind of attack.
Today, the "Murmansk" ghost ship still lies along the rocky
shoreline. The wreck has become a very special "attraction" Hasvik kommune
gladly could live without. The only comfort is that winter storms and ocean
currents, within the next decade or two, will remove most of the parts above
the surface.
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