ABSOLUTION: The Oceanos Sinking. (FULL FILM)

MTS Oceanos was a French-built and Greek-owned cruise ship that sank in 1991 when she suffered uncontrolled flooding. Her captain, Yiannis Avranas, and some of the crew were convicted of negligence for fleeing the ship without helping the passengers, who were subsequently rescued thanks to the efforts of the ship's entertainers, who made a mayday transmission, launched lifeboats, and helped South African Marines land on the ship from naval helicopters. All 571 passengers and crew survived.

Epirotiki Lines had lost two other ships within the three years preceding the sinking: the company's flagship Pegasus only two months before, and MV Jupiter, three years before.[1]

History
Oceanos was launched in July 1952 by Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde in Bordeaux, France as Jean Laborde, the last of four sister ships built for Messageries Maritimes. The ships were used on the Marseilles – Madagascar – Mauritius service. Jean Laborde went through many different owners and name changes (Jean Laborde, Mykinai, Ancona, Eastern Princess) in the succeeding decades. In 1976, she was acquired by Epirotiki Lines of Greece and registered under the name of Oceanos.[2]

Oceanos was briefly featured in the 1985 film Sky High and with another Epirotiki ship, Apollon XI, in the 1986 film Hardbodies 2.

Final voyage Under charter by TFC Tours,[1] Oceanos – initially delayed by a bomb threat – set out from East London, South Africa on 3 August 1991, and headed for Durban. Captain Yiannis Avranas (born c. 1940) had been an officer for twenty years and a seaman for thirty.[3][4] Oceanos headed into 40-knot winds and 9 m (30 ft) swells.[2] Usually, there would have been a "sail-away" party on deck. However, rough seas caused the party to be held inside in the Four Seasons lounge;[5] most passengers chose to stay in their cabins.[citation needed]

While trying to make up lost time, Oceanos encountered rough seas. The storm worsened as the evening progressed and when the first sitting of dinner was served, the waiters could hardly carry the trays of food without dropping something.[5]

Flooding
Earlier repairs to the waste disposal system had not been completed, which meant that a vital ventilation pipe which ran through the watertight aft bulkhead and the non-return valves were not replaced. It is believed that after a series of freak waves slammed against the ship, the pipe's shell plating burst open and began filling the compartment with seawater. At about 9:30 p.m., a muffled explosion was heard and Oceanos lost power. The ship started taking on water, rapidly flooding the engine room.[citation needed]

Once the engines stopped, the ship had rolled over to the point that in the lounge, which is where the passengers had gathered, crockery and cutlery began sliding off the tables and potted plants fell over.[5]

No alarm or announcement had been given that the ship was in trouble; with other entertainers working on the cruise, Moss Hills, a musician from Zimbabwe and former member of Four Jacks and a Jill who had been performing with his wife Tracy in the lounge, explored below decks, discovered that Oceanos appeared to be sinking, and were informed by the cruise director, Lorraine Betts, that the captain had given the order to abandon ship and some crew had already left in a lifeboat. They began launching the remaining lifeboats, with up to 90 people in each, but were unable to start their engines.[6] When the ship's worsening list to starboard made it unsafe to continue, Hills and several passengers went to the bridge to look for the crew, but found it unmanned.[5] They used the radio phone to broadcast a mayday distress call until Moss received a response.[7]

By the next morning rescuers found Oceanos adrift just off Coffee Bay, on the Wild Coast.

Wreck
The Oceanos wreck lies at a depth of between 92 m (302 ft) and 97 m (318 ft), about 5 km (2.7 nmi; 3.1 mi) offshore.[2] Divers have visited her, but strong currents make the dive difficult.[2] Photographs taken in 2002 show that the bridge section has collapsed.[25]