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ca. 240 millioner kr. De to søsterskibe klarede sig økono-
misk set elendigt i de efterfølgende år, og kommanditister-
ne måtte indbetale store ekstrabidrag. Lidt bedre gik det for
rederiet Mercandia, som havde fat i den lange ende, da for-
sikringssummen skulle deles mellem kommanditister og
rederi. Ifølge aftalerne skulle rederiet have en salgsprovisi-
on ved salg. Det fik rederiet også i dette tilfælde på trods af,
at skibet var forlist. Rederiet måtte dog acceptere en ned-
sættelse af provisionen, da salgsarbejdet ret beset ikke kun-
ne siges at have været særlig stort.
Noter
1. En stor tak til Debbie Klockmann og Per Sørensen for
deres førstehånds beretninger om sejladsen med Mercandi-
an Atlantic II og skibets forlis. Forfatterne ønsker desuden
at takke Niels Mogensen, Søfartsstyrelsen, for stor hjælp
med at fremskaffe dokumenter i sagen samt til arkivar Erik
S. Christensen, Bangsbo Museum & Arkiv i Frederikshavn,
som har været behjælpelig med at fremskaffe tegninger og
billeder af skibet.
2. Søfart 39/1987, p. 6.
3. Søfart , årgang 1987-1990 (positionslister).
4. Udskrift af Sø- og Handelsrettens Søforklaring vedrøren-
de forlis af Mercandian Atlantic II afholdt den 21. og 22.
maj 1990 samt Svensk Sjöfarts Tidning 17 - 18, 1990, p. 3.
5. Rapport fra skibsføreren på M/V Hual Margarita til rede-
riet Ugland Car Carriers A/S, Grimstad, Norge.
6. Sø-Restaurationen 7/1999, p. 4-5.
7. Søfart 16/1990, p. 11.
8. Søfartsstyrelsens Opklaringsenheds Søulykkesrapport,
august 1990.
9. Jørn Lyngsø: På slingrekurs med Mercandia, eget forlag,
1994.
Summary
On the 7th April 1990, the Danish merchant fleet experien-
ced its biggest shipwreck in recent times. On that day, the
164m long freighter, Mercandian Atlantic II, en route from
West Africa to Europe with a cargo of mixed goods and
containers, capsized and sank in the Atlantic Ocean. It was
a fairly new, modern ship, built in Frederikshavn in 1987.
After its completion at the wharf, the ship spent a period of
time on a permanent route between South America and the
east coast of North America but later was put into service
between Europe and West Africa.
The 7th African trip went after plan until, in the last loa-
ding port in Africa, there were problems with overload.
There was a discrepancy between the loading papers and
the actual load. But Mercandian Atlantic II sailed anyway
and everything went fine until the ship reached a position
south west off Gibraltar. During an evasive action, the ship
began to list and could not right itself. The situation became
critical and the decision was made to abandon ship. Two
crew members have given a detailed account of the diffi-
culties in getting the lifeboats into the water and then get-
ting into them via a 25 m long pilot ladder. They succeeded,
however, and shortly afterwards, all 17 people on board
were rescued by the Norwegian ship Hual Margarita, which
took them safely to Spain. The Mercandian Atlantic II sank
in water several kilometres deep and therefore all thoughts
of salvaging her were abandoned.
The shipwreck carried with it major consequences in the
Maritime and Trade Courts in Copenhagen. The ship and its
cargo had a total value of almost 1/2 billion DKK, so there
was a lot to sort out for the various involved parties. The
shipping authorities also looked more closely into the ship-
wreck and came to the conclusion that the ship was greatly
overloaded when it sailed from West Africa and furthermore
had poor stability. On the trip northward, its stability was
further compromised because of the store of fuel in the ship’s
lowest tanks. The change of course off Gibraltar was enough
to cause a list that could not be righted, resulting in the ship-
wreck.
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