Twenty years ago today ...

Twenty years ago today ... the RORO (roll on, roll off) ferry MS Estonia sank in the Baltic sea, claiming 852 lives.  Most of the victims were Estonian or Scandinavian, many were children.  This occurred as I was just starting to get to know the country of Estonia, its people, and its culture.  I visited the country just a couple of weeks after the sinking, and the shock and grief were evident everywhere I went.  Estonia is a very small country, and it seemed like everyone knew someone who had been on that ferry...

This morning I ran across a transcript of the inter-ship communications starting with the first report of trouble on the MS Estonia and continuing through the rescue efforts.  Reading it (there's an English translation) brought lots of memories flooding back...

The closest piece of Estonian land to the site of the sinking is the northernmost point of land on Hiiumaa (an island off Estonia's west coast), a little spit called Tahkuna (see map at left).  Just northwest of the lighthouse there (the Tahkuna Tuletorn), the grieving Estonians built a simple, but hauntingly beautiful monument to the children who died.  It's a bell in a simple tower, and the bell is adorned with the faces of children (my photo of it at upper right).

I first visited the monument entirely by accident, while exploring the beautiful island of Hiiumaa.  I first visited the lighthouse – a popular tourist attraction – and then wandered toward the beach where I spotted the monument.  Until that moment, I had no idea that I was on the piece of Estonia closest to the site of the sinking.

I've visited that monument five times over the years, most recently in 2003.  Even though it is in quite a remote place, fairly difficult to reach, there are usually people there.  On my second visit, an older couple in traditional Estonian knit sweaters sat on a log, looking to the northwest, (toward where the ferry sank), weeping.  Later they rang the bell on the monument and left.  The memory of that couple still affects me deeply, many years later.  Other pieces of art have been installed there in more recent years, and there's a traditional Estonian maze there now, too (rocks arranged on sand).

I'd like to return to that place some day, and show it to Debbie...