MV Protektor

MV Protektor was a bulk cargo ship that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in January 1991 with the loss of her entire crew.

Protektor was built by Flender Werke in Lübeck, Germany.[1] She was launched on 17 December 1966 and delivered on 22 March 1967, bearing the name Ursula Schulte and sailing under the German flag.[1] In 1978, she was renamed Protektor, and was registered in Singapore at the time of her loss.[1][2] She had a gross tonnage of 43,218 GT and a deadweight tonnage of 78,918 DWT, and measured 253 metres (830 ft) in length, with a beam of 35.2 metres (115 ft).[1] She was powered by a single diesel engine that gave her a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h).[1]

In January 1991, Protektor was sailing eastbound from Port-Cartier, Quebec to Oxelösund, Sweden with a cargo of iron ore when she ran into a severe winter storm about 260 miles (420 km) southeast of Newfoundland.[1][2] Early on the morning of 13 January, the crew made a distress call indicating that the ship's cargo hold had been breached and she was taking on water, leading the crew to prepare to abandon ship.[2] The Canadian Air Force dispatched a search plane, but radio contact was lost with Protektor before she was ever located.[2] A search effort continued, but with severe weather remaining in the area it was called off at the end of the following day, with all 33 crew members presumed dead.[3]