According to Federal government of Brazil official confirmed report, the Passenger ship sinks at the mouth of the Cajari River, Pará States, Brazil, 186 persons were rescue and survived, killing more than 130 people.[citation needed]
The ferry caught fire and sank in a storm in the Java Sea 500 nautical miles (930 km) north east of Java. She was carrying a 1,136 people,[6] of whom 762 were reported to have been rescued.[7]
The cargo ship sank after colliding with (United Kingdom) in the River Thames at Greenwich. All five crew were rescued by the tugRedriff (United Kingdom).[9]
The Troubles: sunk at Lough Foyle after being boarded and bombed by an IRA team on a hijacked lifeboat, raised and refitted in 1982, sold to an Irish company and renamed Ellie (Republic of Ireland).[10]
8 February[]
List of shipwrecks: 8 February 1981
Ship
Country
Description
Panama
Burgundia.
The coaster was driven ashore at Castlerock, County Londonderry, United Kingdom. She later caught fire and was declared a constructive total loss and consequently scrapped. Burgundia was on a voyage from Coleraine, County Londonderry to Portugal.[11]
The cargo ship sank in rough seas approximately 100 nautical miles (190 km) southeast of Bermuda. Eleven of 35 crew rescued.
13 March[]
List of shipwrecks: 13 March 1981
Ship
Country
Description
Daito Maru No. 55
Japan
The 105-foot (32.0 m) fishing trawler sank in the Bering Sea approximately 380 nautical miles (700 km; 440 mi) northwest of Adak in the Aleutian Islands with the loss of her entire crew of 26.[16]
25 March[]
List of shipwrecks: 25 March 1981
Ship
Country
Description
Greece
The cargo ship caught fire and sank 600 nautical miles (1,100 km) south west of the Azores. All 27 crew rescued.[19]
The Niels Juel-classcorvette was damaged by an engine room fire off Bornholm during her sea trials. Subsequently repaired but commissioning delayed from 25 May to 16 October.[20]
19 May[]
List of shipwrecks: 19 May 1981
Ship
Country
Description
Bering Scout
United States
The 65-foot (19.8 m) tug sank with the loss of three lives in Etolin Strait on the west-central coast of Alaska.[1]
20 May[]
List of shipwrecks: 20 May 1981
Ship
Country
Description
Greece
The cargo ship collided with the motor vessel (Spain) in the English Channel and sank. All 28 people on board were rescued by helicopter and taken to Cherbourg, France.[21]
The inactivated missile range instrumentation ship was sunk as a target by Harpoon missiles.
20 July[]
List of shipwrecks: 20 July 1981
Ship
Country
Description
Shoshone
United States
The 76-foot (23 m) fishing vessel struck a rock and sank 2 nautical miles (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) north of Egg Island in the Aleutian Islands. The fishing vessel Captain Banjo (United States) rescued her entire crew of five.[25]
After the 43-foot (13 m) fishing vessel began taking on water, she drifted onto the tow line of a passing barge and sank in Cook Inlet 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi) off Clam Gulch, Alaska, after the barge collided with her.[13]
10 August[]
List of shipwrecks: 10 August 1981
Ship
Country
Description
Karen E
United States
The 35-foot (11 m) cabin cruiser sank with the loss of five lives in eastern Long Island Sound off Rocky Point, Long Island, New York, in waters probably over 100 feet (30 m) deep after colliding with a barge.[29]
The crabber-trawler sank in the Bering Sea approximately 72 nautical miles (133 km; 83 mi) north of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. A Japanese fishing trawler rescued her crew of six 28 hours later.[28]
The ferry sank in the harbour of Óbidos, Pará with the loss of an unknown number of people. Estimates range from 50 to 300.[33]
20 September[]
List of shipwrecks: 20 September 1981
Ship
Country
Description
Iceland
The coaster sank in a storm 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) off Land's End, Cornwall, United Kingdom. All of the crew were rescued, either, by helicopter from RNAS Culdrose or the Sennen Cove lifeboat.[34]
The Whiskey-classsubmarine ran aground off Karlskrona, Sweden and was damaged. After a diplomatic incident and military standoff, the submarine was refloated on 5 November and towed into international waters for handover to the Soviet Navy.
The 458-gross register ton 138.2-foot (42.1 m) scallop-fishing trawler was abandoned in the Gulf of Alaska 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) east of Marmot Island near Kodiak, Alaska, after a large wave laid her over. Only two men of her crew of 11 men and one woman survived. Days later, Saint Patrick was found floating derelict in the outer part of and was towed to Womens Bay, Alaska, where she sank.[25]
December[]
8 December[]
List of shipwrecks: 8 December 1981
Ship
Country
Description
Panama
The reefer collided with (Liberia) ten kilometres (6.2 mi) off Port Said, Egypt and was beached to prevent sinking. One crewman was killed. The ship was abandoned as a constructive total loss. Later refloated and towed to deep water and scuttled.[45]
Liberia
The tanker collided with (Panama) ten kilometres (6.2 mi) off Port Said, Egypt and was beached. Later she was able to resume her voyage.[45]
13 December[]
List of shipwrecks: 13 December 1981
Ship
Country
Description
Ecuador
The cargo shipcapsized when two massive waves struck her in the English Channel 40 nautical miles (74 km; 46 mi) north of Guernsey while on a voyage from Hamburg, West Germany, to Panama with a cargo of fertiliser. One member of her crew was lost; the rest were saved by a Royal Navy helicopter and the St Peter’s LifeboatSir William Arnold (Royal National Lifeboat Institution).[46][47]
The cargo ship foundered off County Wexford, Ireland. Five of her nine crew were rescued.[49]
19 December[]
List of shipwrecks: 19 December 1981
Ship
Country
Description
Panama
The coaster was lost in Mount's Bay, Cornwall while bound for Spezia, Spain with a cargo of china clay from Teignmouth. All six of her crew were lost and the wreck has never been found.[50]
Solomon Browne
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Penlee lifeboat disaster: The lifeboat was lost in a gale while attempting to rescue the crew of Union Star (Republic of Ireland) off Tater Du, Cornwall, England. Her entire crew of eight was lost along with all survivors of Union Star she had taken aboard.[51]
Union Star
Republic of Ireland
Penlee lifeboat disaster: The coastal cargo ship was lost on her maiden voyage due to engine failure in a gale. She was wrecked off Tater Du, Cornwall, England, ending up capsized on the rocks. All eight people on board – her master, her master's wife and two daughters, and her four crewmen – were lost, either on board Union Star or in the sinking of the rescue lifeboatSolomon Browne (Royal National Lifeboat Institution).[52]
20 December[]
List of shipwrecks: 20 December 1981
Ship
Country
Description
Greece
The ferry, arriving at Haifa from Greece, suffered onboard explosion and fire from a terrorist bomb and was beached. Later towed to Piraeus for lay-up, and to Spain for demolition in 1984.[53]
23 December[]
List of shipwrecks: 23 December 1981
Ship
Country
Description
Dimitrios
Greece
Dimitrios
The laid-up cargo ship was swept from her offshore anchorage by a storm and wrecked on the beach at Valtaki, near Gythio, Greece.
The navy patrol vessel was sunk by three Royal Thai Navy vessels off , Cambodia. Of her crew of six Vietnamese and seven Cambodians, eight were killed and five became prisoners-of-war.[54]
The fishing trawler, a former yacht, sank in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel after sriking an unidentified object. she was later refloated and restored to her original configuration as a yacht.
Serving as a target ship, the decommissioned sank in the Gulf of Mexico 28 to 30 miles (45 to 48 km) due south of Destin, Florida, the day after being hit by a Maverick missile fired by a United States Air ForceF-4 Phantom II aircraft from Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
^"Four missing as ship sinks in a storm". The Times (61108). London. 15 December 1981. col D-G, p. 1.
^Williams, John (18 December 2014). "Lifebelt recalls forgotten tragedy". The Cornishman. Cornwall & Devon Media. p. 10.
^Corin, John; Farr, Grahame (1983). Penlee Lifeboat. Penzance: Penlee & Penzance Branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. pp. 120. ISBN0-9508611-0-3.
United States
Brazil
Soviet Union
Greece
Indonesia
West Germany
Belgium) off Happisburgh, England (52°55′N 1°37′E / 52.917°N 1.617°E).[8] Six crew rescued by Undine and taken to Vlissingen, Netherlands. Thirteen others rescued by helicopter and taken to Great Yarmouth. Four crew were killed.[9]
United Kingdom) in the River Thames at Greenwich. All five crew were rescued by the tug Redriff (
Republic of Ireland).[10]
Panama
United States
South Korea
Israel
Japan
Denmark
Spain) in the English Channel and sank. All 28 people on board were rescued by helicopter and taken to Cherbourg, France.[21]
Libya
Netherlands
Korean People's Army Naval Force
Canada
Royal Navy
United States Coast Guard) rescued her entire crew of six. She later was salvaged, repaired, and returned to service.[30]
Royal Danish Navy
Brazil
Iceland
Philippine Navy
Soviet Navy
Gibraltar
Yugoslavia
Liberia) ten kilometres (6.2 mi) off Port Said, Egypt and was beached to prevent sinking. One crewman was killed. The ship was abandoned as a constructive total loss. Later refloated and towed to deep water and scuttled.[45]
Ecuador
Royal National Lifeboat Institution).[46][47]
People's Republic of Kampuchea
Italy
Australia
