The MV Maassluis was a tanker owned by the Dutch shipping-company Nedlloyd

Nedlloyd

Nedlloyd was a Dutch shipping company, formed in 1970 as the Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Unie in a merger of several shipping lines:*Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland *Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd...

. On 15th Februari 1989 the ship was lost in heavy weather near the port of Skikda

Skikda

Skikda is a city in north eastern Algeria and a port on the Gulf of Stora, the ancient Sinus Numidicus. It was known as Philippeville until the end of the Algerian War of Independence in 1962...

 in Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

.
Two sailors, who were swept overboard when they tried to work on the anchor, survived this accident. The other 27 crew lost their lives.

For his brave actions in trying to rescue the ship and her crew first officer Peter Korsen was posthumously promoted to captain.

Events

The ship was empty and with a minimum amount of ballast lie for anchor for the port of Skikda when very bad weather and high winds were expected. When the wind reached force 10 on the Beaufort

Beaufort

-People and titles:* Beaufort , the surname of many people* House of Beaufort, English nobility* Duke of Beaufort , a title in the peerage of England* Duke of Beaufort , a title in the French nobility-Places:...

 scale the ship pulled loose from her anchors and smashed against the piers of the harbour.

The captain and first officer had tried to start the engines to sail clear from the nearby pier-heads, but it was to late. The disaster with this Dutch ship was the single most serious shipping disaster for a ship under Dutch flag since the second World-War.

Cause

As the Maassluis was expected to enter the port of Skikda the next day to load the captain dropped her anchor very close to the head of the pier of the port. Also because she would enter the port the next morning to load up the ship was empty and her ballast-tanks were also (nearly) empty. During the evening a fierce storm broke out and waves reached an height of 9 to 12 meters. The wind reached a force of 10 Beaufort and was directed inland.

Around 23:00 hours the captain, with help from the 1st officer, started the engines and tried to sail free from the pierhead using full power. Two Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

n sailors were sent forward to raise the anchor so the ship would be able to sail away from the shore.
These two sailors were swept overboard by the wind and waves but managed to reach the shore with minor wounds. These two sailors were the only survivors of the disaster.

Despite using full engine-power the Maassluis wasn't able to move free from the piers and around 23:30 the ship comes in contact with the piers and breaks up.

Of the 27 people that lost their live the remains of only four were discovered and preserved: of the 23 other crew no remains were ever found.