Hiiu Shoal

Hiiu Shoal (Estonian: Hiiu madal) or Nekmangrund is a shoal located in the Baltic Sea, off the northwestern shores of Hiiumaa Island.[1] It is known as Neckmansgrund in Swedish, as Nekmangrund in Russian and as Neckmangrund in German, the loan translation in Estonian being Näkimadalad.[2]

Hiiu Shoal
Nekmangrund
Hiiu Madal
Submerged bank
Hiiu Shoal is located in Baltic Sea
Hiiu Shoal
Hiiu Shoal (Baltic Sea)
Coordinates: 59°3′N 22°15′E
CountryEstonia
CountyHiiu County
SeaBaltic Sea
AreaOff Hiiumaa
Minimum depth1.2 m

The submerged shoal is 9 kilometers long and 5.5 kilometers wide. Its shallowest point is only 1.2 meters deep at the time of the lowest astronomical tide.

History

Since it is a dangerous shoal for ships entering the Gulf of Finland while approaching St. Petersburg, the Nekmangrund —a lightship of the Russian Hydrographic Office, was anchored on the reef until 1941.

During the war, the lightship Nekmangrund ("Hiiumadal" Estonian) was ordered to leave the shoal and return to Tallinn. During the night of June 23, 1941, at 1:30 in the night, it was hit by a German torpedo and sunk[3] with the loss of at least 6 lives (there was confusion about who actually was aboard at the time).[4]

The wreck of the ship lies now on the bottom of the Hiiu Shoal.[5]

Lightship Nekmangrund (1898)

The Sheaf Water, a cargo ship of the United Kingdom, ran aground on the Nekmangrund Shoal on 19 June 1933. She was refloated a week later.[6]

In 1984 Estonian writer Herman Sergo published the novel Näkimadalad, whose title is based on the name of the shoal. In his three-volume work Sergo portrays the tragic fate of the Estonian Swedes of Reigi village, located to the south of the shoal on Hiiumaa Island, which were deported in the 18th century to Southern Ukraine following a Russian Imperial decree.[7]

See also

References
  1. "Hiiu Madal, Estonia". Google Maps. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  2. Linda Kaljundi. "Eesti lugu: Herman Sergo "Näkimadalad"". Eesti Päevaleht 19 December 2008
  3. Kultuurimälestiste riiklik register - Hiiumadal Navigeeri
  4. Mis sai tulelaeva Hiiumadal meeskonnast?
  5. Lightship "Nekmangrund"
  6. "Casualty reports". The Times. No. 46475. London. 20 June 1933. col G, p. 5.
  7. "Estonian Literature" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-22. Retrieved 2016-08-31.
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