In distress in the Pacific: First the rudder stock breaks, then the Arcona sinks
Nils Leiterholt
· 11.04.2024
The Swedish-flagged Arcona 460 "IdaLina" was travelling in the Pacific when her rudder shaft broke. A large hole in the hull meant that the ship ultimately had to be abandoned and disappeared into the depths of the sea. The crew reported the incident filmed by myself.
Arcona Yachts, the shipyard from which the "IdaLina" originated, has responded to the incident. In a statement, managing director Fredrik Malmqvist expressed his sympathy to the owners of the sunken ship. He also says that safety is a top priority for his company and that it will therefore investigate the case. However, it is still unclear how the rudder shaft broke.
The Arcona's steering gear comes from the Danish manufacturer Jefa. Jefa is known worldwide for the quality of its products, thousands of which are installed in various ships.
Breakage of the rudder stock led to the sinking of the Arcona
On the video filmed by the owners, it can be seen in the first few seconds that the rudder stock is broken. This is broken directly below the point where the rudder quadrant sits on the shaft. The breakage of the rudder stock caused a lot of play due to the resistance on the rudder blade. The lower rudder bearing, which is laminated directly into the hull, can compensate for the oscillation in a range of a few degrees, but as the rudder stock lacked any guidance at the top, the lower bearing probably tore a large hole in the hull and the Arcona sank to the bottom.
Video of the Arcona sinking:
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After the video shows the rudder shaft breaking, there is a cut. At this moment, the man and the woman are already sitting in the life raft. You can hear the woman crying in the background. They try to push themselves off their sinking ship several times. The man comments in Swedish that they don't succeed straight away: "Goodbye, proud 'IdaLina', I thought we'd get away from you, but it's not that easy and keeps pulling us back to you." A little later, the sail bags tied to the deck float up and only the rigging is visible. As the Arcona finally sinks into the depths of the Pacific, the cry is: "She's gone, she's gone!"
Although it is no longer visible in the video, it is known that the crew of the Arcona 460 was eventually rescued by the sailing yacht "Pacific Wind", which was also sailing under the Swedish flag.
